I’m a big fan of the Harry Potter books, but I’d love to do one where one of the kids dies, or one of the main characters dies. I love for those things to have a little bit more tragedy.
I think once a Catholic, always a Catholic. You never escape. I still have Catholic guilt. It is in its basis a really powerful religion and a really strong set of beliefs. They permeate my work in many ways.
When I stage a violent scene, I try for it to serve a purpose. I do love those things, the makeup effects. But I love them more with the monsters. I never was much of a gore guy. I’ve always enjoyed just creating monsters.
What we read and why we do so defines us in a profound way. You are what you read, I suppose. Browsing through someone’s library is like peeking into their DNA.
But I think we are seeing a resurgence of the graphic ghost story like The Others, Devil’s Backbone and The Sixth Sense. It is a return to more gothic atmospheric ghost storytelling.
You can always go back to not making any money, and then you get the freedom. And I’m going to continue doing it, because it really is a fantastic sense of liberation.
I’m a movement Nazi. It used to be my way before. Now, in the last three projects. I found a way to let the actors find their comfort and still find the precision in the show. It’s a change in me.
