Tender Mercies is a very low-budget film, but it was a huge budget compared to anything I had done in Australia. My fee for Tender Mercies was something like five times all of my Australian films combined.
The music of the most popular operas is so highly esteemed, it can stand endless revivals.
The number of opera houses around the world and the high attendance rates show that opera an art form that is more popular than ever.
There were movies that always made me want to be a director. You see brilliant scenes and the way the emotions were handled. I thought, I'd really like to do that.
When the music and the characters are flawlessly synchronized, the opera develops an emotional force that movies and plays cannot match.
When we were trying to get the money for Driving Miss Daisy, everyone kept saying no one could direct it well enough to entertain an audience for 100 minutes essentially watching three people chatting in the kitchen.
With a film, I do my best to understand the author's intentions and try to bring the characters to life.
With Cold Sassy Tree having its first production, I saw no necessity to do anything other than produce it with the correct setting.
