This idea that we're all alike, and that's what is good, is bullshit. What you learn from [Mike Leigh] is, no, no, we're vastly different. The more we look at each other, the more we realize that we are vastly different - but that's no reason not to have understanding and compassion for each other. I don't think the world is easy for anybody.

Movies that claim they dispel stereotypes, all that they actually do is avoid them. That's fine as long as they avoid stereotypes in a way that is truthful and honest - and not a matter of self-consciously making this guy who lives in the south a Rhodes scholar.

I don't feel that I have to be making a movie constantly. I tend to never do anything immediately.