There was a phase in my career in my late 20s and 30s when I was doing strange, arty-farty Euro films that were, you could tell, never had much chance of any release anywhere in the world.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
It was always something I knew I was capable of and from an early age my mother was involved in the film industry. She used to work at a production company. So I was exposed to a renaissance period of films in New Zealand back in the early 80's.
In my early days, I didn't know what a good film or a bad film was, and I was trying to make some money. As it happens I was lucky. I made some good films.
Growing up, I was on film sets occasionally, when my dad was acting, so I got to run around and do odd jobs on films like 'Labyrinth' and others... I seemed destined to make films.
I had been working early in my life in films - since I was 11.
I did my first film when I was in the final year of my graduation. At that time, I was still a kid, and I couldn't read the industry very well.
I grew up on Mel Brooks films. That was film to me until I got a little bit older and realised there were other kinds of movies.
Growing up, I spent a lot of time on film sets all over the world.
I think I've made some pretty decent films in the '80s and '90s.
I've been lucky enough to build a career outside of America, where I got 18 years and over 60 films of experience.
I grew up cinematically in the '70s. I was watching a lot of Godard, Bresson, Dreyer, and all sorts of old films and the Czech New Wave.