I think Michael Caine is a perfectly good actor but it's obvious he's not going to be in one of my films.

When I was young I used to sit in the cinema thinking wouldn't it be great if you could have a film in which the characters were like real people instead of being like actors.

I try and create for the audience something that relates to real-life experience.

Given the choice of Hollywood or poking steel pins in my eyes, I'd prefer steel pins.

I hope I make films where you walk away . . . with work to do, arguments to have, things to worry about, things to care about. In that sense, I would regard what I do as political.

My work is about life as you and I experience it. You're either lucky or you're not lucky; either your relationship works or it doesn't.

But films should be voyeuristic. What else is a film if you’re not snooping into somebody else’s lives?

There's a constant drip and trickle of life that goes into one's awareness really and consciousness of things.

I discover what my film is by embarking on the journey of making it.

The way an actor is trained doesn't ultimately have much bearing on my work. I'm interested in the actor as artist.

It's an unhealthy habit to say that life is what you make of it, and if you want to be happy, then you can be happy. That's just rubbish, basically.

I'm very confident. Even when I read people saying horrible stuff about my weight.

I love a woman who can out-eat me.

We live in a world that is crying out for better leadership.

A pupil is a great resource.

There is a difference between conceit and confidence.

I know how to tell a story to a thousand people. Sometimes I don't know how to tell a story to a piece of tape on a wall and a camera.

Woo-hoo! I'm 40. I can say that now.

One man or woman called of God is worth a hundred who have elected to work for God.

A laugh is the loud echo of a sigh; a sigh the faint echo of a laugh.

I will take questions from the guys, but from the girls I want telephone numbers.