What irritates me about sci-fi is that it got hijacked by video games and also became so high-concept it was all about ideas and gadgets and technology and nothing about the human experience.
Everyone has a family, even if they're at war or fallen apart. It's the closest initial bond, and there's a sort of primal element to that. Your primary relationships are formed out of family.
My own personal aesthetic is all to do with real actors and real locations and a kind of almost hyper reality and actuality to things. But the digital world, I explore that through other mediums, with music videos and commercials. Even 'The Road' was a real learning curve for me with digital effects.
It's the aspirations that capitalism is promoting as beautiful, positive attributes that are dangerous. All that is in the bedrooms of the poor and in the villages of the Third World, and it's like a cruel carrot that's being waved in front of people's noses. It's a seduction, an unattainable dream.
Radiohead showed a real affinity to being bold with visual imagery, so it came as no surprise when Jonny Greenwood did 'There Will Be Blood.'
I love 'Alien' and 'Blade Runner' and '2001.'
I love the sci-fi movies where it's from the point of view of humans in that situation... When it becomes too clever in its ideas, the cyber-punk, high-tech thing, it becomes more about something else.
I have very mixed feelings about big corporations. Oftentimes, they're more troublesome than not.
There is a capacity for violence we all harbour, and under certain circumstances, it comes out.
Bands are actively seeking more film involvement - because the days of recording albums and MTV and even touring, to some extent, are gone.
What was so amazing and inspiring about 'GoodFellas' was that it showed the foot soldiers; the people more at the bottom as opposed to focusing on the godfathers and the guys at the top.
Any way you want to slice it, the thing about the apocalypse is, since the beginning of time, it's the projection of mankind's worst fear. The day that, as a race, our number is up.
I'm an Australian. And I'm speaking generally here, but Australians in general aren't patriotic or nationalistic. Our country was built by immigrants. So, by my experience, I've seen the way immigration has transformed nations. They are the key people who quite literally build civilizations, be it culturally or musically.
I'm actually a humanist, believe it or not, and I believe even when people are corrupted, even when they've gone to the dark side, they are still human beings.
When you're working with an ensemble, I think you really need different energies because you don't have much time with each character to make them feel real. You want strong personalities that are very different.
I've realized I've become a bit reactive to each film I do. After 'The Road,' I was desperate to do something that had color and warmth to it and a stronger sense of community.
I like to keep a calm set.
The last time I played video games was 'Space Invaders.'
I consider myself a humanist. Even if I do very dark worlds, I try to make those characters real humans as opposed to just cartoons.
I know the power of going to Mount St. Helens, and to see that level of devastation is quite something - the power of tsunamis, etc. But it's human cruelty, the base level of humanity, that scares me most.
