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The fact is that HBO is doing the kind of films and the kind of stories that the movie industry used to do. You look at a lot of the specialty sections of studios that have gone under... and there's no doubt in my mind why filmmakers and screenwriters and actors are ending up at a place like HBO. They do it better than anybody.

There are only a few TV networks that really invest in production in the way that I think they should. HBO, obviously, is one of them.

Working with HBO was an opportunity to experience creative freedom and 'long-form development' that filmmakers didn't have a chance to do before the emergence of shows like 'The Sopranos.'

HBO is really famous for hiring good people and staying out of their way until they ask for help, or need it. And that reputation is earned.

The more unique your film is and unusual it is and difficult it is, the harder it is to get it financed. That's why a lot of good filmmakers are doing television. They do HBO movies.

People get on a show and they fought tooth and nail. Almost 95% of the actors out there want to be on a television series. Then as soon as they get onto one, no, no, I want to be a movie star. This television series stuff, no, no no.

At HBO, they seem to be well-informed. They make what I think are really quite mature films.

Nowadays, there are sometimes more producers than there are people in the cast, because it takes that much money to put a show on.

Usually the films that I do are released theatrically in foreign markets. In the U.S., they're either picked up as HBO premier films or Showtime first-runs. In today's market, in America, you need at least $50 million for your budget to go to the big show, and I'm not quite there yet. But keep watching - maybe someday I will be.

It has given me an insight into what it's like as an actor to come into a show in the middle of a production and fit into a group that's already established.