Director

I'm very interested in dance, and I'm very interested in how people express themselves through movement. And of course, cinema is a kinetic art form. It's almost the point of cinema - it's time-based and movement-based.

I like the idea of doing something outside my comfort zone.

I see the job of directing as being one of creating the right atmosphere, creating an environment where people can realize their full potential.

A lot of directors don't really like actors.

I find man's inhumanity to man extraordinary,,, I can't get my head around it.

An artist needs to live to create, and to live means to suffer.

I'm not good when idle.

Generally, I've never known quite how to fit in in civilian life, but on set, making a film, I know exactly where to go, how to behave and how I fit.

I find it ironic that happy endings now are called fairytale endings because there's nothing happy about most fairytale endings.

There's good art and there's bad art. A lot of action films are bad art, but Paul Greengrass showed us with the Bourne films that it's possible to make an action film with a political, social conscience.

I fell in love with film and its potential. The idea of putting one image next to another image and creating meaning blew my mind.

American actors are very different to British actors who have generally studied and been brought up culturally with the sense that the writer is the star and that their job is to serve the writing. Whereas Hollywood actors are brought up to believe that the actor is the star, and everything and everybody is in the service of them.

Fairy tales to me are never happy, sweet stories. They're moral stories about overcoming the dark side and the bad.

I think my dyslexia was a vital part of my development because my inability to read and write meant that I had to find knowledge elsewhere so I looked to the cinema.

'Pride' is my first film with a happy ending. Before, I naively thought they were a cop-out, but now I've come to believe that happy endings and wish fulfilment are an incredibly important part of our cultural life.

My father was 65 when I was born so we didn't have much time together.

It's not something someone sets out to do - I never really set out to make movies about strong fighting women, but it just seems to happen that way. I've certainly known some, and I think my sister was probably a big influence.

I'm interested in people with very exceptional world views or realities.

I feel more in touch with the world when I'm filming.

I was once called a hack, and when you put as much emotion into a piece of work as I do, to be called a hack is really heartbreaking.