[One afternoon in 1989, in the Scripts Department of the Royal National Theatre, the young Daldry expressed his frustration at trying to find regular work in London] I'm not trendy enough to get a job as a bicycle messenger.

They never met. We shot Meryl first, then Julianne, then Nicole. The first time they got together was on the Oprah Winfrey show and talked about cornflakes. [on 'The Hours']

I get frustrated about it because they say, "How can a man talk about women? I say, "Steven Spielberg didn't need to be an alien to talk about ET. You don't need to be a dog to direct Lassie. It seems to be a denial of the process of imagination, which is a posh word for "guesswork" [on 'The Hours']

When I made Billy Elliot, people asked me, "Oh, did you want to be a dancer when you were young, then?" I didn't even like dance before I made the film. "Do you come from the north-east?" No, Somerset. "Is it based on someone?" No. We made it up. We just made it up. The act of making something up seems to be very difficult these days.

One of the great things about directors is how collegial we feel with each other. We share huge amounts - I get other directors in to see my work all the time and they do the same with me. It's a very warm and generous group of people.

"What's so funny is when people say, 'Oh, does that mean you're not gay anymore?' And you go, 'Oh, give me a break. What do you mean?' We wanted to have kids! We thought we'd get married and have kids. We're allowed to do everything. I refuse to be boxed in to the idea that 'Oh, no, I can't have kids 'cause I'm gay.' I can have kids if I'm gay. And I can also get married and have a fantastic life...To all questions [having to do] with my marriage, the answer to everything is yes. Do I have sex with my wife? Yes. Is it a real marriage? Yes. Am I gay? Yes." (quoted in The Advocate after the birth of his daughter Annabel Clare)