I loved making 'Rising Sun'. I got into the psychology of why she liked to get strangled and tied up in plastic bags. It has to do with low self-worth.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
'Sunshine' is really an experiment for me to see if I am a filmmaker beyond having my own stories to tell.
I grew up reading - and loving - stories by Andre Norton. I admired and idolised her from afar. Her stories helped shape my own internal world.
I read The Bell Jar, and then I read her memoir and her diaries, and a third book, an outside opinion. Just the way she made the pillows so neat on the oven door. It just seems to be the opposite of, if you're going to take your life, in a horrible rage it happens.
I like to look at 'A Place in the Sun' every now and get inspired by it.
'Little Miss Sunshine' was really important to me.
One of my biggest inspirations was Alanis Morissette's 'Jagged Little Pill.'
When I was really young, I wanted to grow up and be the sun. Which shows an early penchant for ambition or narcissism or grandiosity or delusion - all of which are bellwethers for becoming a writer.
As far as 'Windup Girl' becoming a hit - none of us expected that. 'Night Shade' was just hoping not to lose their shirts, and I had grown up hearing from everyone that science fiction didn't sell, so all of our expectations were very low.
I loved playing the headmistress in 'The Falling' - she was so spiteful. She certainly fancied herself quite a lot.
I was attracted to 'Half of a Yellow Sun' because of the story.