I grew up on film noir.

I love Aphex Twin's 'Rhubarb.'

A 30-day shoot is a nightmare.

I just like working with good actors.

Getting finance together can take a while.

I think audiences are quite sophisticated.

I don't want to become a director for hire.

I'm attracted to challenging subject matter.

Short stories can make for really good adaptations.

Gasman' was something I wrote on a beer mat in a pub.

My adaptations are just as complicated as an original.

Just being in love with making films makes me carry on.

I don't want to do worldly cinema: 'Hold your breath, this is art.'

I think you're always learning how to explore different territories.

Ultimately, you're happiest in yourself when you make your best work.

I think you can say so much about a character in lots of subtle ways.

I love to see great dialogue in the cinema but I hate to see 'Film TV.'

Cinema is a great medium for creating a dream world and entering into it.

I've found that film-making's not just a job, it becomes part of your whole life.

I try to keep very simple ideas and keep them as emotionally powerful as possible.

I love movies like 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' that are based on short novellas.

Working with cool people helps when working with few shots. You trust yourself and them.

Where I find things tough is when things are hidden, and people don't say what they mean.

You know when people ask sometimes what are you doing, and you say just something to them.

Straight talking and going on your instincts was important when I grew up. And being funny.

99 percent of the time when you cast right, it's a dream. If you cast wrong, it's a nightmare.

They thought I was deaf when I was a kid because I was always totally off in my own little world.

Kevin' is a psychological horror film. It uses genre elements, so hopefully it's exciting to watch.

I don't need to own one but I like to look at Diane Arbus's pictures and anything by Jackson Pollock.

I guess I've never really done a straight adaptation. It's been more like 'in the spirit of,' you know?

When I walk into a cinema, I want to leave with an experience unrepeatable, unquotable and indescribable.

Film school was frustrating for me at first but I met some cool people like Lucia Zucchetti - she was amazing.

I came from a background of photography so I look at details and visuals, and I see things in pictures or signs.

I love the discipline of shooting film, because you don't cover everything, and I'm glad that I learned that way.

I hate exposition and superfluous dialogue. I hate when dialogue is trying to explain or patronize or finger-point.

I've had some bad experiences, but I've also been lucky and I just feel so privileged to be able to even make films.

It interests me when I hear people quoting great thinkers, because it's like, OK, but does that make you any brighter?

I was at film school when I made 'Small Debts' and I was a cinematographer, so I didn't actually study to be a director.

I hate being safe. There's a lot of easy rides and boring films out there, but I've stuck to my guns. It's not an easy path.

I don't really watch TV; YouTube is far more entertaining. But I have tuned in to 'X Factor' - I like trash and nature programmes.

To me violence, once you've done one violent act it leads to another, it leads to another, it leads to another, it becomes routine.

I love writing openings, and I think that can give me the key to the movie. So somehow, that can be the easiest part, to be honest.

There's something fascinating about record collector minds, hoards of quotes shared and dealt like cards, lines traded, images bought.

It's a real skill to take a piece of literature and make it in cinema. It's quite a different form, and I think I have to respect that.

I always say I thought I was making this exciting action movie but I actually always end up making character studies. Every single one.

I find it difficult to write with reference to the most memorable moments in film, when for me the best moments in films are truly irreducible.

Where you're running out of time, you have these brainwave moments. It's allowing the space to have them, even in an incredibly tight situation.

It's funny - sometimes when you approach people they get freaked out but occasionally you'll find a gem who's unselfconscious in front of the camera.

It was quite a macho world I grew up in, but it was always cheeky and funny, and the women were the ones in the background that were really in control.

There's something called toxic stress, which is repeated exposure to trauma. I was fascinated by how it affects the brain and the development of a person.

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