When I was 10, my father had to go to the local library to sign a release form stating that I was allowed to borrow books from the adult section.
It doesn't take much to get a high profile in Australia.
I have nothing but praise for J. K. Rowling. Her contribution - apart from the books themselves, obviously - is showing writers how to interact with the 21st Century.
On a deeper level, I think many stories - especially thrillers - can be a journey to the heart of darkness.
A hero can only be as good as the bad guy.
I think I can speak with a degree of authority... today, the biggest driving force of movies is pace; God help you if you try to put in a scene that is about character and not plot.
When I was a kid, I went through the whole process of reading great literature and trying to be very widely read.
Movies are a team sport now, and I want to play singles.
I went to Australia from England when I was right at that age when you learn to read. It's a very confronting thing, traveling halfway around the world and having a mother who was deeply unhappy at ending up in Australia, so you look for some way to find comfort, I guess, and I found it in books.
The problem with movies is you are over-rewarded for the work you do. It's hard to give up, and I got used to a certain lifestyle.
Movie studios could learn a thing or two from British publishers. There is an intelligence, and a respect for writers; things that you hope for and never get in Hollywood.
I got to know Australians well working on the 'Mad Max' franchise with director George Miller.
I've read and traveled a lot in the Middle East, and I built on eyewitness accounts of horrific executions that would shape a boy's character and beliefs if he watched his father die that way. These are the stuff of which nightmares are made.
We all have to take responsibility for what we say and do.
I used to be a journalist.
The natural milieu I inhabit is more in epic storytelling.
I've always had a great affection for espionage stories. I like weaving them, and I like thrillers.
