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I find as a viewer, when I go to see comedies, the strain to be funny throughout the whole thing. I start to lose my sense of reality, and it ends up feeling like an empty experience; there's funny stuff in it but I've lost the emotional connection to the characters because it's just so bananas.

Comedy is like horror - you have to shock something in the viewer's system to make them feel it.

If you're doing a drama that has some comedic elements you can't forget that it's primarily a very serious film that has some light relief.

A lot of modern comedies are difficult to watch too, because they're so ironic and so detached and so quote-unquote clever. They kind of keep you at arm's length. They can be really funny, but they're not really nourishing.

The problem with comedy audiences - it's like the Coliseum - when they see someone struggling, they don't feel altruistic towards them. They feel slightly repulsed by it.

Comedy tends to come out of things which are quite painful and serious.

Even in the depths of dreadful situations, there's usually something rather comic, or something you can laugh about afterwards, at least. So, I do look for the comedy in those things.

There's an absolute prejudice that good movies are dramas and comedies are more dismissable. But I couldn't disagree more.