Director

I don't consciously go out looking for themes. They attach themselves to me.

Boys are lacking in female skills, dropping out of schools and ending up in jails and unemployed because they lack these skills.

It only happens once - that an actor is suddenly recognised as the star they are.

There's nothing like a fresh scone.

I do think the moral line you walk all the time about putting something in for the sake of the film and not being affected by people's lives is a very tough one.

When I was 18 years old, I had never before seen Australian film on the big screen.

I have worked with some of the most amazing costume designers in the world.

I was a young film student around the time of the new wave in film in the 1970s; old Hollywood was naff and over. For me, as a film student, I was going to see French and Italian cinema; American cinema was 'Easy Rider' and 'Taxi Driver.' Everything was gritty.

Sure, you always put some of your own experience into a film.

It often takes a couple of years to get a script right and then takes a couple of years to get financing together.

I put on 'Starstruck' for my kids, and they started getting bored. I was so upset, I took it off. They preferred 'Home Alone.'

'Little Women' has interesting gender connotations. There are generations of women who love the book. But there are a lot of men who think it's sentimental, gooey stuff.

I have major credibility as a hip, out-there documentary filmmaker, and I'm not going to say, 'I'm only a drama filmmaker' anymore.

Maybe women should leave time for themselves and their relationships and just have some fun.

Australia is much more liberal in accepting de facto relationships than the U.S.

Maybe not many women are going to film school.

After Sept. 11, there was a reticence and worrying about films that touched on war, and even more on terrorism.

You rarely, in the professional world, have the chance to express yourself as an individual.

I never worried about topping myself.

It's really actually been pretty shoddy and appalling, the amount of local content, Australian drama, on ABC TV.