One of the best things about growing up in New Zealand is that if you are prepared to work hard and have faith in yourself, truly anything is possible.

People sort of accuse Tolkien of not being good with female characters, and I think that Eowyn actually proves that to be wrong to some degree. Eowyn is actually a strong female character, and she's a surprisingly modern character, considering who Tolkien actually was sort of a stuffy English professor in the 1930s and '40s.

I think everything that you do, you're learning. I mean, every movie that you make is like a film school; that's one of the things that I enjoy about filmmaking.

Learning how to edit movies was a real breakthrough.

I am concentrating on my fitness levels so that I don't look old.

Smart people are no different than anyone else. Sometimes they exercise bad judgment, like we all do.

Now that I have a dog, I frequently have to take him out and get some exercise, which also gets me exercise.

I think the way we talk about cancer has really evolved. I remember the way my grandmother used to talk about it, like a death sentence, no-one would even mention the word.