“I’m always afraid someone’s going to tap me on the shoulder one day and say, ‘Back to North London’.”

Ive never actually watched another director work.

Making a film is so hard that if you don’t have your main actors going along with the ride with the rest of the crew it can make your life very difficult.

I’ve had some fantastically good people help me make the movies.

It doesn’t matter what the technology is – no one will watch a Peter Greenaway film anyway.

Well, if you ask any filmmaker how they got into it, everyone came a different route.

So fine that the Irish don’t even acknowledge that it exists.

If you’d been where I’d been… if you’d seen the things I’d seen!… you… you’d be me… Or someone following me around.

Have a go. Anybody can do it.

I was once described by one of my critics as an aesthetic fascist.

I’m a pluralist. I’ve always argued that as many different films as possible should be made.

Rain is also very difficult to film, particularly in Ireland because it’s quite fine.

A Great Movie Evolves when Everybody Has the Same Vision in Their Heads.

The films that I do tend to polarise people’s views.

I’ve always been completely autocratic. I’ve never learned to be diplomatic or democratic.

Personally I am very much against the death penalty for several reasons.

Most directors have little lists in their heads of people they really want to work with.

Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.

It’s a privilege to be in a position to give back, and one that I take pretty seriously because I know what it’s like… to be less fortunate, to be less privileged.

I was young and dumb back in the ’90s, but I had a lot of fun.

I remember my first test in F1. After five laps, I came back to the pits and tried to play it cool – ‘Oh yeah, I’m fine, I’m on top of this’ – but I was completely lost.

Courage! Do not fall back; in a little the place will be yours.

I would walk off a course. I think I lost a little bit of respect, but hopefully I’ve gained that back.

I knew when I got on tour that if I had the opportunity to give back to my community, which is Rose Park, I would.

I guess when we get older, we try so hard to get our game back. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn’t.