I'm Obsessed With New York. I Just

I Love Studying Ancient History And Seeing How Empires Rise And Fall, Sowing The Seeds Of Their Own Destruction.

As A Child I Had Terrible Asthma.

And So You Try Your Best. Sometimes You Go In With One Thing, With One Desire And Come Out With Something Else. In The Case Of 'the Aviator' It Was To Create A Hollywood Spectacle, But By About The Second Or Third Week Of Shooting You Just Want To Literally Survive It. Because Don't Forget, I Also Go Through The Editing Process Too, And When The Film Is Released I Have To Talk About It. So, I Take All Of That Very Seriously.

Always Get To The Set Or The Location Early, So That You Can Be All Alone And Draw Your Inspiration For The Blocking And The Setups In Private And Quiet. In One Sense, It's About Protecting Yourself; In Another Sense, It's About Always Being Open To Surprise, Even From The Set, Because There May Be Some Detail That You Hadn't Noticed. I Think This Is Crucial. There Are Many Pictures That Seem Good In So Many Ways Except One: They Lack A Sense Of Surprise, They've Never Left The Page.

There Are Times When You Have To Face Your Enemies, Sit Down And Deal With It.