I think you can get away with being a bit more political in science fiction.

Trying to ground everything in reality was the most important thing to me.

We just did the best we could with quite a limited budget, to be honest, and had a lot of success.

I read every screenplay that was being sent to the other directors. None were being sent to me, but I was reading what others were choosing and what the best writers were writing.

You cannot reduce the power of story with the tag of money because it's not a share market. So you must know the seriousness of the power of storytelling.

Apart from earning an awful lot of money, why would you go to Hollywood?

I didn't really enjoy being at college, because I was putting myself through college. We just didn't have the money. I was responsible for that, so I was constantly looking for scholarships, grants, and work-study opportunities.

In occupied Iraq, the introduction of new paper money took almost a year, 20 or so Boeing 747s, the mobilisation of the U.S. military's might, three printing firms, and hundreds of trucks.