Once you realise that heroes die, everything becomes that much more terrifying.

If you bill something as a memoir, you're implying that everything in it is true.

When you are older, you realise that everything else is just nothing compared to painting and drawing.

And I didn't grow up wanting to be a director. I grew up wanting to be a writer, so for me, that was always the goal - to be a novelist, not a screenwriter. And I think, again, if I didn't have the novels, maybe I'd be much more frustrated by not having directed yet.

It's always easiest for me as a writer if I know I have a great ending. It can make everything else work. If you don't have a good ending, it's the hardest things in the world to come up with one. I always loved the ending of 'The Kite Runner,' and the scenes that are most faithful to the book are the last few scenes.

With the movies, people are not going to wait around. The deadline is a deadline. In publishing it's more a polite suggestion.