There's a very go-to kind of attitude in New Zealand that stems from that psyche of being quite isolated and not being able to rely on the rest of the world's infrastructure.

One does not simply walk into Mordor.

The big-budget blockbuster is becoming one of the most dependable forms of filmmaking.

The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.

Remember, pain is temporary; film is forever.

If you work at love, you will find love at work.

Everybody's life has these moments, where one thing leads to another. Some are big and obvious and some are small and seemingly insignificant.

Filmmaking for me is always aiming for the imaginary movie and never achieving it.

Actors will never be replaced. The thought that somehow a computer version of a character is going to be something people prefer to look at is a ludicrous idea.

Every film is a challenge. I always say that making a movie is like film school - you're always learning. But unlike most schools, you never get done with it. You never learn everything.

I think that's the job of a director really, to sort of funnel all the creativity into one centralized point of being.

We must seek spirituality above all things.

I felt like I wasn’t living thoroughly enough — I was distracted in ways I wouldn’t be if I’d been born in 1929.

However motherhood comes to you, it's a miracle.

I hope to live all my life for my art, without abandoning my principles one iota.

I think, if I had a dad, I would have went the normal college route. I'm so stoked my life panned out how it was.

Nobody wants to watch perfect people.

What we do, our choices, that's what defines us

I'm as corny as Kansas in August.

There's no present, there's no future, I don't even know about the past.

I'm a control freak. Totally.