Someone said to me, early on in film school... if you can photograph the human face you can photograph anything, because that is the most difficult and most interesting thing to photograph.

I think of filmmaking as a form of communication. Maybe it's also an art, but that's for somebody else to decide.

I don't really believe in the mystery of cinematography - what happens in the camera is what the cinematographers create and all that nonsense.

Every shot I have ever made has been a compromise in some way. No image has ever been as good as the one I envisioned in my mind's eye.

Maybe that sounds a bit pretentious, but I think life experience is always more important than technical knowledge.

The balance of the frame - the way an actor is relating to the space in the frame - is the most important factor in helping the audience feel what the character is thinking.

If reviewers don't mention your work, it's probably better than if they do.

I am not a fan of having too much gear.

Your whole life informs your eye.

I want a script to affect me in some way. I am usually drawn to character studies, scripts about real people and the world we live in not some fantasy.

I never really considered film as a career, but I knew I didn't want to be a builder. So I went to art college, and it just gradually happened.

Keep the dream alive and the heart open

Our government shouldn't make promises we cannot keep, but we must keep the promises we've already made.

The doors of the world are opened to people who can read.

A man who trims himself to suit everybody will soon whittle himself away.

The only causes of regret are laziness, outbursts of temper, hurting others, prejudice, jealousy, and envy.

One thing that previous practice doesn't always make perfect: Marriage.

Yeah, there's a tendency to get pigeonholed in Hollywood.

There is a huge difference between danger and fear.

She was the only woman in the homicide unit, and already there had been problems between her and another detective, charges of sexual harassment, countercharges of unrelenting bitchiness.

I know I'm not a showy politician... I don't go drinking in parliament's bars. I don't wear my heart on my sleeve, I just get on with the job in front of me and you can judge me by my record.