When I was writing 'The Luminaries,' I read a lot of crime novels because I wanted to figure out which ones made me go, 'Ah! I didn't know that was coming!'

There was a computer in our garage when I was growing up, and I'd go out there in winter and wrap myself in a blanket and write a story.

I really wanted to write an adventure story, a murder-mystery that was set during the gold-rush years in New Zealand.

The books that really made an impact on me were not set in New Zealand. Some were New Zealand novels, but the New Zealandness of them was not what carried me or excited me.

In terms of my childhood, it was normal. You go through school, do well in school, and then I went to university. The performance arts aspect was never really an option because it was never in my family. Nobody was there to teach me anything about that. It wasn't until maybe my second year of university that I got inspired to dance.

I think my dad would make an incredible president, and it would be great if he'd run again. But personally, for our family, part of me is glad that he didn't. We lost our mother recently, and we need to focus on ourselves.

Every mom knows it's hard to take care of yourself while you're trying to take care of your children because, when you become a mother, you become so selfless.

Movies like that aren't about the visual effects and explosions. They're human stories about family, about life, about death.