I'd worked in Clockwork Orange with Stanley Kubrick and since Stanley was such a prestigious director this opened all sorts of doors for me - one of them being Star Wars.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Really, what I'm doing is an attempt to continue the best work of the people I adore: Francis Coppola and Scorsese and Robert Altman and Stanley Kubrick and those amazing directors whose work I grew up with and loved.
Directing a film was something I always wanted to do, something that seemed an inevitability in my development as an actor.
I became a director just for the love of movies, because of the power of cinema.
A whole new career opened up for me when I was in 'Lord Of The Rings' and 'Star Wars.'
Stanley Kubrick's '2001' was the door that opened up the possibility of science fiction for me. Everything else up to then was fine, but didn't quite work for me.
I'd say that the director I had most involvement with was Alex Rockwell in 'In the Soup'. It was one of my earliest leading roles, and he gave me a lot of responsibility as an actor.
George Lucas was casting about and had heard favourable things about my work in Clockwork Orange and asked me to come in, which of course I did even though no one knew what the film was about!
Directing a film was something I was yearning to do. I always wanted to see if I had the capacity to be a good storyteller.
I am definitely writing letters to lots of directors in my mind when I'm making a film. I'm chasing Woody Allen and Godard and Milos Forman and all these people.
The director I had most involvement with was Alex Rockwell. He gave me a lot of responsibility as an actor.