In silent movies, they tended to put the camera down, and everybody walked in front of it and acted, and then they all walked off. Cutting was quite infrequent.

In Australia, they set up a special fund to kick films off. It was quite an enlightened sort of move. You could go to this government bureau with scripts and and get finance for films.

When the music and the characters are flawlessly synchronized, the opera develops an emotional force that movies and plays cannot match.

At HBO, they seem to be well-informed. They make what I think are really quite mature films.

Quite a few operas are still being commissioned around the world, although nothing apart from audience popularity can ensure more than a few performances.

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.