I suppose I am gently cynical about notions of who we think we are, but I certainly don't hate my fellow man. I think my cinema, although it might often deal with death and decay, is highly celebratory.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I think people who live in the worlds that movies are based on end up disliking them. Unless they're from a different time and era.
The films that I do tend to polarise people's views.
I love a good harsh horror movie, when it's done well. But there are times when it feels cynical. You can tell when a filmmaker loves the genre, and you can tell when someone's just cashing in a paycheck. Then it becomes a dumbing down - a fetishisation of violence that I react very strongly against.
I still think that movies are amazing; I respect actors and directors.
My movies just kind of sneak up on you. I don't have to worry too much about what everybody is going to say. Anyway, I really don't pay attention to what the world says about my movies. I just care about what my buddies think.
I go into any movie that's historical fiction thinking, 'OK, I'm here to watch a work of art, something delivering a series of opinions, and if it's a good work of art, these opinions become so deeply embedded in complexity and richness that I won't even be bothered by the opinions. I'll make my own mind up.'
I prefer to make a film that people have a really intense reaction to than have a film that people feel ambivalent about.
I'd rather make an interesting film that gets people talking, that maybe some people hate, than make the kind of 'entertaining' film that everyone feels ambivalent about.
I'm very emotional and possessive about all my films.
I think I'm a very sentimental person. Conscious or not, that's what draws me to the kind of films I want to make.