I had been doing something for more than half of my life that I wanted to continue doing - I really loved making the film and I really love acting and it is what I want to do.
All through my life what I've loved doing is watching movies. I love the escapism of film, I love stories. So it is incredible to be able to be in them as much as I am, to see them from the first stitch in a costume to the end product.
Danny Boyle has been a huge, has had a huge effect on me. His movies, early movies like Trainspotting and those movies. So I've always loved the energies of those movies. But also, that they are very focused on the characters. Cause it's not only gimmickery, it's not only about visuals. You feel a real need, a love for the main characters. So that's what I've always loved about watching movies myself.
Am I doing the movie because I'm really excited about it and want to do it, or am I doing it because it seems like it's a big budget or something like that? It would still have to be the right thing, because my lifestyle's really cheap and I'm able to exist doing smaller movies, so if I'm able to do that, I'm happy to do that. But if something bigger came along that seems really cool, then that would be great.
I love making movies. I love writing. I love acting. I love it, and I feel really blessed to be able to actually make a living with something I love doing.
I love shooting movies. I love the shots. That's the thing that I love doing, and I've just never been able to do it.
I've been really lucky from eight years old to continue doing what I do and continue to love it. I've been able to travel all over the world. I've had experiences at my age that a lot of people haven't. So, you know, I've missed out on certain things, but in other ways I've gained, so it balances itself out.
I am happiest when I am working though, when I am being creative. I realized at a very young age what I loved doing. I think it is so important for people to pursue the things that they love and not give up on their dreams.
I only want to make movies that I believe in, that I care about and that mean something to me. At the end of the day, that's the only reason I'm doing this. Hopefully I can continue to grow and challenge myself to try to do things I've never done before, and make different kinds of movies that still maintain what makes the film my film.
I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love, because that liberates. Love liberates. It doesn't just hold - that's ego. Love liberates. It doesn't bind. Love says, 'I love you. I love you if you're in China. I love you if you're across town. I love you if you're in Harlem. I love you. I would like to be near you. I'd like to have your arms around me. I'd like to hear your voice in my ear. But that's not possible now, so I love you. Go.'
I loved movies. In particular, I loved movies depicting places and events that obviously you couldn't have gone out and shot. It was obvious you were looking at something that had been manufactured in some way. I was fascinated by that.
I'm very fortunate, and the movies that I've made, even from the very beginning, have been very eclectic. The thing for me is: Am I emotionally engaged in the idea? Is there something special about it? Does it capture my imagination? So everything that I do is simply something that turns me on. And I have the good fortune to be able to make bigger movies and television that ostensibly pay for the other ones. I don't mean literally finance the movies. But they allow me to work on things for very little pay. I do these things because I love them.
Historically, I've done movies, but I've got a family already. I've been doing this for many years, and the idea of working consistently on something that I really, really love, and the steadiness of it, was really appealing.
I don't have too many plans filled out. I know I want to keep doing more music. I've got a couple of albums worth of songs I'd like to put it out there. As far as movies, I just want to continue how I've been doing it: working with terrific people is certainly on my agenda, and then doing stories that interest me.
I'm a New Yorker, and working in New York was divine for me. I loved working there and going to work there, which I've been able to do three or four times in my career, and I just love it. It's my favorite.
It's been an obsession of various genres, disciplines, and aspects and elements of movie-making. It's always been something that I've really aspired to, so doing something new and different, reinventing myself and working with new people is just the passport to the amazing world that is the movies.