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.

When I was growing up, we didn't have much money. What was important in my house was to have food on the table, be happy, and have our family.

I did not come into football to make money. I had already made millions.

The 'stuff' in novels touches on every aspect of the world and people's lives. That's what makes it so remarkable just how little there is in the novel about the world of money.

My second film ‘Johnny Gaddar’ got delayed because of financial reasons. The film was taken over by another production house and in the process we lost a year.