I aim my movies, as much as I can, at myself. I think that those movies have an interesting quality. They're very movieish. They are movie movies. Like I think Watchmen is a very self-aware movie. 300. Dawn of the Dead definitely. That's really where I've ended up.

I think I just have a natural operatic aesthetic. I can't help it.

Look, if you have a problem with distilling the Battle of Thermopylae down to freedom versus tyranny, you need to read Herodotus because he's the one. It's his fault, not modern culture's fault. He did it.' [Victor Davis Hanson] references a lot of things like that because he feels like the spirit of the book and of the movie ["300"] are very close to the Spartan aesthetic. That's really kind of what he feels."

You can't will something into being. If you follow that philosophy all the way, to will something into being, that's animal style. That's what man does. But if you're looking at the philosophy correctly, and I never did - I like to think I did sometimes - you have to do it without ego, without the I. You have to separate yourself.

Of course it would depend on the project, but I don't think I could ever separate myself from my aesthetic.

One of the things I think is important about 'Watchmen' is that it have resonance within cinematic pop culture as well as superhero culture.

I guess for me - in the TV commercial world I was known for shooting locations, beautiful landscapes and things like that - so, it's interesting.