'Hanna' was nice. It was Saoirse Ronan's idea. Usually, the director casts the actor, but in this case, the actor cast the director.
A lot of directors don't really like actors.
An artist needs to live to create, and to live means to suffer.
Every time I make a film, I feel it gives me the chance to learn something new.
Fairy tales to me are never happy, sweet stories. They're moral stories about overcoming the dark side and the bad.
I can understand how it appears from an outside perspective.
I couldn't be a cameraman or a designer or an actor - I have to be a director because I learned how to do that from my dad.
I don't make a division between an art film and commercial art.
I feel more in touch with the world when I'm filming.
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.
I find it ironic that happy endings now are called fairytale endings because there's nothing happy about most fairytale endings.
I find man's inhumanity to man extraordinary,,, I can't get my head around it.
I find men odd. I don't really understand men. I kind of feel like I understand women better than I do men, really.
I had a breakdown after making 'Atonement.'
I like the idea of doing something outside my comfort zone.
I'm not good when idle.
I've made some films that were very much image based 'Anna Karenina' and 'Pan,' for instance.
I've been lucky over the past few years. Things have just happened for me.
That luxury, ossified Los Angeles world isn't good for the soul.
I wouldn't presume to know something, but I have lots to learn and that's what I attempt to do through my work.
