If you've been fortunate enough to do a film that appeals to the entire family, that's the audience that's probably going to come back to you in something else.
Communication is very important. And the arts do that, whether it's film or theater.
When I do a film score, I am basically nothing more than a fancy pencil for hire. I don't own any of the music when I am - it belongs to the film company - and likewise, when I am done, even if I come up with something astounding that I may want to revisit... in the world of film composition, you can't do that.
I would rather portray the hero if it's a really great film. All my favorite fictional film characters are heroes, such as in 'The Last of the Mohicans' and 'Robin Hood.'
To do a studio film, something with Disney. My father is thrilled.
To be honest, when I started watching VR content, I was mostly disappointed and thought people could do better - not that different from when I set out to make 'Swingers' and thought, 'There's a better way to make an independent film.' Which is why 'Swingers' ended up being so much less expensive than anything like it.
My study is a converted garage which is largely lined with bookshelves and cardboard boxes filled with manuscripts of my film scripts, plays and books.
How can you judge one film against another?
I have only recently got interested in film, and it is a strange way of working in many ways. But actually, when it is at its best, it's quite an extraordinary way of working between a director and an actor, to really explore an inner life.
With this film, 'Need For Speed,' with this, we had a blank canvas to work with. What we had to do was have fast cars, and that's it.
A British director directed 'American Beauty,' an important film about American life, and it didn't matter. What only mattered was everyone's sensibility.
I think the executives at the studios today realize that it's easier and safer to go the - to some known territory which is a remake of a successful film. It's less chancy than taking a fresh idea.
I'm a tomboy at the end of the day, so anything that causes me to have to run around, fight people, roll in the dirt, hop a fence - I'm all for it. So I really would love to do an action film.
I know that a lot of people take inspiration from the fact that I was just a common man with no film background who turned into a star.
I want to do everything and be greedy in that way - film, TV, radio, theatre. If it's juicy work, I want it!
When we finished 'Stop Making Sense,' we went right to the San Francisco Film Festival for the world premiere, and people swarmed the stage and started dancing before the first song was even finished.
The main thing that's important to me is getting to do whatever project it is the way that I do what I do, and that's different. To go to an entity - whether it's a traditional film studio or some newer company, or HBO, Amazon or Netflix - they would have to know that I need to work the way I work.
I did some writing and bought a book, and have been working on that as a film to act and direct in.
Before the release of my film, small or big, the feeling is always the same.
No one knew what Rodney King had done beforehand to be stopped. No one realized that he was a parolee and that he was violating his parole. No one knew any of those things. All they saw was this grainy film and police officers hitting him over the head.
I saw the film 'Amadeus' from when I was five, which made me want to take piano lessons.
I tried working odd jobs that had nothing to do with creating, and it was difficult for me. In the end, I just always loved movies. When I'm making a film, I feel most alive, like I'm doing the right thing, and I'm in the place where I need to be.
You don't get time to rehearse in film and TV at all.
I plough all my money into my next film, so I never actually have any money. It's always invisible.
What happens a lot in film, though not so much in the theatre, is that you get stroked and sort of massaged, like a little guinea pig.
I've had tremendous opportunities in film and continue to have them, but it's such a different thing to do a television show, and I'm very lucky to be able to do them both.
You can't expect a man to change in one day by watching a film, right?
We're all humans. Any human can tell any human's story. I don't want to have this conversation about black film or white film anymore. I wanna have conversations about film.
I got a film fairly quickly and felt like I was on a roll. I would walk into auditions sounding like Crocodile Dundee, thinking, 'This is going to be a novelty for them.' Then I realised that there are a million other Australians here, and I should just shut up.
I do wish somewhere there was a film of our stage production of 'My Fair Lady.'
Well, I wouldn't say that this experience had any influence on my decision to do this film about Andy, because Andy was apolitical. Andy was never political.
Don't squander beautiful moments by always trying to snap the perfect picture or record the event on film. Sometimes it's better to watch things as they happen with your own eyes, knowing that the memory of the experience will always be with you.
I think, for me anyway, music and film is where you can really transport yourself to another universe.
I wish I could create an IMAX film that would make my work accessible to a broader audience.
It's so exciting to headline a film. It's not every day you see a Latina carrying a full-length feature.
My first job was to run a concessions cart. Later, I found a position at the Pacific Film Archive. Thus began a long series of jobs, each one slightly better than the last, that continued for a decade, until I sold my first novel, and still goes on, even now.
