I think baseball – the baseball genre – is this mitt, to use a double pun there, to catch a whole bunch of themes.
The filmmaker’s got to make it his story and the actors have got to make it their story.
Although I’m not Christian, I was raised Christian. I’m an atheist, with a slight Buddhist leaning. I’ve got a very strong sense of morality.
Acting is like playing, while directing is really fun, sort of like an orgy.
I found it an interesting portrait of a marriage in exploring notions of how one partner supports the other, whilst not jeopardizing the greater good – which is the family.
There’s a good sense of fun and lack of sarcasm in the Texans, maybe a little earnestness which is kind of why I found it quite Australian.
I’m quite intuitive about what I pick. Often it’s to do with what I’ve just done and how I’m feeling.
I’m pretty ruthless about that; I think when you sign over your story, you sign over your story.
I’m developing some screenplays at the moment with my Australian producer.
I think family movies have gotten so rich in this country.
I just don’t see where I could possibly fit in directing a feature.
I grew up on cricket and I think Australian kids are getting so Americanized, you know?
A Golden Globe is a mood-altering substance, there’s no doubt about that.
You know Texas is – even more now that Enron has bit the dust – it’s held up on the back of small businesses.
But just playing the partner of someone famous, I had a lot more freedom.
People going into the cities for the opportunities and the towns are getting older, no young people.
We grew up as kids watching those movies and we were exposed to themes of civil rights, unfairness, bigotry and fathers struggling against the kind of mob of the town, so you remember how you felt as a kid being taken seriously, that you are part of the human drama.
I think a big part of our attraction to sport movies are the stories contained within the sports.
Why movies are so powerful is because you are right in there and you stay in there until they want you to come out, and then you’ve really gone somewhere.
I’m so motivated to collaborate with people and help them realize the kind of collective vision.