Justin Kurzel

I'd said no to directing 'Snowtown' a few times and was quite scared of it, but I saw a story there that was worth telling.

The first time I went to Cannes, Gus Van Sant was there in competition with 'Last Days.'

The idea that you're made up of the people that come before you and you somehow have some kind of conscious dialog with your genetics - I think it's really deep and interesting stuff.

I'm not a violent person; I'm not interested in violence.

As a white Australian, you're surrounded by this vast landscape you know isn't yours, so you're always intimidated. You expect to vanish up a mountain or get eaten by the ground.

With 'Snowtown,' you either love it or you hate it; there's no middle ground. So I've come to understand and appreciate that's the kind of film that it is.

I love Steve Martin so much, even in 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.'

Directing is a whole series of things that would be awkward socially. But I love that. I love actors. Talking with them, touching, laughing, crying.

I definitely had very strong male figures in my life, who, when I look back, clearly laid the foundations to who I am.

The wonderful thing about cinema is you can bring a 3D world to life.

I actually gravitate toward comedy a lot when it comes to what I'm watching, but maybe that's because I've been on such dark work the last four or five years.

The great thing about first-time actors is that they listen. If you say something in a scene, they were listening to it. They weren't thinking about the return line.