I am not someone who believes to doing a film just because it is off beat.
There are some films that you know will do well. Then there are others which have good stories that ought to be told. But because they are slightly risky, not everybody is willing to take that up. But I think it is important to take risks because at the end of the day, you want to explore new genres and new characters.
What I'm realizing as I get older is that a movie's mainstream success is just as unpredictable as a movie's cult success. Plenty of movies that are truly odd and deserve cults, don't have cults. It's just as much of a crapshoot to be a cult hit as it is to be a mainstream success. Isn't that weird?
I think, since the beginning, I have been attracted to unconventional films.
Lot of people liked me in 'Manorama Six feet Under,' 'Oye Lucky Lucky Oye,' 'Dev D' and 'Shanghai' and the only common thing in all these films is that when we were making them we never thought they would work. The ones that did not work were safe films.
There are some films that really break the mold, and some films that don't. I've been looking for films that break the mold a bit.
I'm not really that keen on mainstream; I'm not interested in doing the normal films. I do tend to go for the quirky, different scripts.
I don't have this crazy dream about going to Hollywood, because I really love to watch movies and do movies that are complicated, and I want more strange things and complicated things.
I like mainstream movies that are completely off the wall.
As an actor, I have always believed that content is the king, and I have always put my neck on the line to choose cinema that is off the beaten track.
When I was doing indie films, it wasn't cool and hip.
I have realised that I am not cut out for the regular, commercial potboilers. I know I don't have it in me to do such films.
I like movies where you can't just put them all in one box.
I love watching film. I love watching stories. I watch the people in them... Even, sometimes, films that nobody else can watch - 'How could you look at that? It's lousy' - I can look at it and be totally into it.
I've done a lot of sorts of films that are under the radar.
People have said that my films are very difficult to watch, that they're experiences you are put through rather than ones you enjoy, and it's true.
There is something about the Australian psyche that seems to like films that are slightly offbeat.
I am thankful for the fact that the audience doesn't expect common, run-of-the-mill films from me. But the fact of the matter is that if the subject doesn't hit me hard enough, I will not do it.
It feels great that with the film choices I have been making have been quite radical and different. I am glad they are commercially working.
I'm never going to be in something as commercially successful as 'Harry Potter' ever again. It's impossible. So that gives me incredible freedom to go off and make the slightly off-the-wall films that I want to make.
Sarah Michelle Gellar's made some really good choices. She's had some bad breaks. She goes with the independent, interesting young filmmakers and then they get slammed, like 'Southland Tales.' I'm proud of what she's trying to do. It's hard.
I like to watch many things, especially strange films and something recent, not just the story.
I mean, everyone says Citizen Kane. It isn't that great, anyway. And Orson Welles I knew well, of course. He made other incredible films that no one would let him make, which were much better than Citizen Kane, really.
I don't have the Tom Hanks fans. When you make the kind of movies I make, you get weird letters from people.
In future also, we would like to back films that can be considered slightly risky since they don't have song and dance.
