Every street in London has a camera, and if you ever travel up the M4, it feels as if George Orwell should be your chauffeur.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Should there be cameras everywhere in outdoor streets? My personal view is having cameras in inner cities is a very good thing. In the case of London, petty crime has gone down. They catch terrorists because of it. And if something really bad happens, most of the time you can figure out who did it.
I love filming in London. In New York, every street is familiar because you have seen it in a movie. They mythologise their own city. You're forever trying to get down streets that have been blocked off because of shooting. In London, they don't put up with it; they're grumpy.
I've decided to recast myself as Utopian. I like this landscape of the M25 and Heathrow. I like airfreight offices and rent-a-car bureaus. I like dual carriageways. When I see a CCTV camera, I know I'm safe.
I love coming to London and seeing what people on the street are wearing.
It is great filming in London. It's difficult, but it looks good. It has its own identity.
I'd always been a great fan of George Orwell.
I love filming in Britain.
Orwell wasn't right about where society was in 1984. We haven't turned into that sort of surveillance society. But that may be, at least in small part, because of his book. The notion that ubiquitous surveillance and state manipulation of the media is evil is deeply engrained in us.
London has always provided the landscape for my imagination. It becomes a character - a living being - within each of my books.
I love going into the centre of London because people don't give a monkey's about you or who you are. You can be in a restaurant and no one notices you or if they do they won't show it.