What's most galvanizing for me is the opportunity to be topical and relevant and entertaining. That's the holy grail.

I'm drawn to filmmaking that can transport me. Film can immerse you, put you there.

I thrive on production. It feels very much like a natural environment for me.

When he brought it to me four years ago, Rodney King had just arrived, I was involved in the clean-up of L.A. and I guess it was part of my experience.

One of the elements in the film that really fascinated me was not to look at the world in bi-polar terms of us vs them or east vs west, which was a by-product of the Cold War.

When James Cameron brought me the script, which I developed with both Cameron and Jay Cocks, I wanted to make it a thriller, an action film, but with a conscience, and I found that it had elements of social realism.