Japan is the most intoxicating place for me. In Kyoto, there's an inn called the Tawaraya which is quite extraordinary. The Japanese culture fascinates me: the food, the dress, the manners and the traditions. It's the travel experience that has moved me the most.
I love 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' and I love 'Bugsy Malone.' I haven't seen 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' in a long time, but I remember loving it as a kid.
A movie that I'm involved with and have a lot of love for, which is 'On The Road,' does use a lot of handheld. It can be done beautifully. I'm proud of that. It's a very beautiful movie.
Years go by. I go here, I go there, I have all sorts of adventures, and then I look back and say, 'Wow that's kind of an unusual way to live your life.'
That's a hobby of mine - to do whatever I can for unusual for-hire creative projects. I am waiting for someone to really challenge me - obviously I'm often approached to do film related work, but I would be very happy to design a bar or an amusement park ride. I would love to be an imagineer!
There are a lot of very flamboyant and outlandish people and attention-seekers in L.A., and I think that's what makes L.A. appealing. A lot of people are attracted to come here to do things and make things happen and the city seems to attract larger-than-life characters.
I like things that are hand made - but personally for a man, I'm not interested in fashion that evolves with time. I like things to be the same. For a woman I think it's fantastic to have things that are different - it's like a flower where every season there's some new exotic bloom.
When I'm in London, Claridge's is a great favourite. I'm a big fan of art deco architecture and the rooms are extraordinary.
I'm a writer and director, and the movie I've seen a million times is 'Stardust Memories' by Woody Allen, starring Woody Allen and Charlotte Rampling.
To make personal movies that you are the author of, is quite a difficult thing. It takes a lot of stamina.
I grew up in San Francisco and moved to L.A. about 20 years ago, and now my main home is in Hollywood.
Sometimes in writing you have difficult periods and then other times it just flows.
The short film project I just finished for W Hotels and Intel, I didn't have my script finished until a few days before we began filming. We edited it very quickly and now it's up online. It was great to conceive an idea and have it premiere just a few weeks later, compared to a feature, which takes a year or more.
The director is the ultimate creative arbiter of what's going to happen. And as a director myself, you really appreciate collaborating with people who are trying to help you find what you need and what you want.
On 'Darjeeling,' I was on set every day and I acted as the second unit director and a producer on that film. I was there throughout the whole process. On 'Moonrise Kingdom,' I showed up for one day.
In my films that I've directed, and my work in commercials and videos, I've rarely used handheld. It's just not something I'm drawn to, but I've seen it done very well.
It's not just people in Hollywood: I'm sure everyone in the world thinks, 'What would be it like if I won an Oscar?'
Don't imitate. Write what you know about, that has to be your goal.
I really value distinctive movies, movies that feel that they came from a person that was really something that they had conceived and they made and is a reflection of who they are.
I've been enjoying 'Life on the Mississippi' by Mark Twain that I picked up at the airport randomly. It's very witty and interesting to read about his time as a steamboat pilot.
