I really like arcade games and like the '80s and early '90s kind of games, just because there's a real kind of naivete to them, but there's like a real inventiveness to it as well.

I'm always fascinated by the theme of children who parent the adults.

I wish I was less good-looking and more unpopular. Then I could get into politics and use my pent-up resentment about being ugly and unpopular to systematically destroy the country.

Characters I create are just mixtures of the people I know.

Actors are terrible at overthinking things before they turn up to work, and they decide on a way they're going to do it, and then it's hard to break them out of it.

My world is not spectacle and explosion. It's two people talking.

At the end of the day, the reality is we're all losers, and we're all uncoordinated. We're the worst of all of the animals on earth, and there's something quite endearing about that.

Most of my films - if you look at the tone, apart from 'Shadows,' which is straight-up comedy - the tone is a mix between comedy and pathos, and I really love that.

My favourite kind of comedy comes from the awkwardness of living, the stuff that makes you cringe but borders on tragic - that is more interesting to me. It resonates; it comes from emotional truth.

I actually keep having this one recurring dream where I'm a little number standing in a line of other numbers that look identical to me. Then there are more and more of these numbers that follow me, again and again and again. It's more of a nightmare.

To me, spending millions of dollars recreating the world's sadness with actors and props and sets - it seems like a kind of arrogant waste of money... Unless, that is, it's a film about an historical event.

I love heroes that really go through ordeals, and they come out the other end completely changed.

I find that relationships between kids and parents are very interesting.

Not every person can be an artist: we need people to run stuff.

Most people in their lives do feel like they are outsiders at some point.

The stuff I'm passionate about is what I write; it isn't multi-million-dollar franchise movies.

I love living in New Zealand.

I'd loved 'Iron Man,' you know, with a passion. I thought that was the most fresh, cool thing, in terms of superhero movies, that I'd seen in a long time.

Films that are easy to sell happen to be the worst films. Look at the poster for 'Wrath of the Titans' and 'John Carter': they're exactly the same. You could switch titles.

I play music all the time because silence freaks me out.

I've loved vampires since I was a kid, or loved a lot of the vampire movies that I saw. Anything with sharp teeth, really. I remember you could get those fake vampire teeth, and I remember just keeping them in all the time.

I think everyone has experienced those boring arguments about whose turn it is to do the dishes.

My father is a visual artist, so I was influenced by him, and my mother is an English teacher who forced me to read a lot of books and poetry and get involved in theatre. I developed a varied taste for different arts.

A set should be like a family, except that you all actually like each other.

I really didn't want to be boxed into becoming a certain kind of film-maker - becoming the Maori story film-maker because I had made those short films.

I come from a country whose idea of masculinity is quite extreme, and I've grown up around a lot of that energy. I've been part of that a lot. And it's very draining; it's quite tiring trying to be macho.

I think... part of life skills is also socialising... I think many people make the mistake of not going out... You can spend a little bit too much time with your nose in your book or with your fingers on a keyboard, and you miss out.

In my films, a lot of the situations come from real life.

The ridiculous events in everyday life are often overlooked - people don't recognise it as potentially cinematic.

I love films that make you feel something but also deliver that payload behind jokes.

Independent films are really the best ones out there. They're the most original stories, and they're very good.

You have to let go of the control and allow things to develop. You need to have a flexible attitude, especially working with kids.

Maori get pigeonholed into the idea they're spiritual and telling stories like 'Whale Rider' and 'Once Were Warriors,' quite serious stuff, but we're pretty funny people, and we never really have had an opportunity to show that side of ourselves, the clumsy, nerdy side of ourselves, which is something I am.

There are 100,000 versions of Jeff Goldblum.

I find that a lot of child actors are ruined once they've done a job.

You have to write what you know.

I always wanted to play a dapper gentleman, and I also always wanted to play my mum.

Kids are always very savvy. It doesn't take long for a kid to realize when an adult is a loser.

'Eagle vs Shark' is a little film I could take risks with and make mistakes on.

I think I'm a better filmmaker than actor, so I already know that. That's OK. I can handle not being a famous actor.

Anyone who has a parent can relate to this idea of not quite understanding who your parents are or making up stories about them.

The thing for me is that 'Thor' was an indie film that just had a few more zeros on the budget. At heart, it is just a simple story about a guy trying to get home to deal with someone who has broken into his house. It's just 'After Hours,' but set in space.

I don't like laughing at people unless they're in a privileged position or if they're in authority. If it's poor people or people who live on the outskirts or on the margins, or the underdog, I'd rather be laughing with them.

There's nothing cooler than going to work and hanging around with your friends and laughing, because it's something that you get told off for throughout your entire time at school... it's just like a big 'in your face' to those bully teachers that you had when you were a kid.

I've always found the script to be more of a skeleton, the template.

As kids, we all thought Bob Marley was Maori.

We all have to remember that New Zealand is built on these kind of people who are rebels and renegades, people doing it their own way, fighting for freedom, and braving the elements. I think it's cool to celebrate that.

There are lots of parts of filmmaking that I don't like. At the end of the day, especially on features, the film turns into a commodity. You have to play this entirely new game I'm very uncomfortable with.

Music - it's motivational and just makes you relax.