What is your favourite holiday destination and why?
My favourite holiday would have to change but currently my favourite holiday destination would be England, because I enjoy the old architecture and the fog and the history and the sort of Charles Dickens ambiance of England.
So, you travel a lot. What's your number one travel tip?
Pack light and don't get bogged down with a lot of luggage at the airport because there is a great chance it will get lost and if you have to do something or get something, get it at your destination but travel really light, preferably don't use baggage claim at all.
What do you never leave home without though if you have just one thing you just have to bring?
My books, some books that I like to read I usually have with me.
You've made a few movies in Australia, what was your favourite travel experience in Australia?
I went up to the north to Kakadu to see the giant saltwater crocodiles and also to take the air boat out on the swamp. I enjoyed the lily pads with the magenta blossoms and also the white lotus blossoms as the sun was rising on very, very black water, with all these kinds of amazing trees that were half-submerged in the water. That was absolutely magical.
You were in Melbourne for this film ... actually both your films I think were shot in Melbourne?
Yeah that's right
What do you think of Melbourne?
Melbourne is a nice place to make a movie. It's kind of a very bohemian kind of arts crowd, the food is excellent, it's near the water, great sunlight and it's close to the places I wanted to go, which were up north. And there is this very [thin] veneer between civilisation and the wild animals, the dangerous spiders and snakes and what have you. So that keeps everyone a little bit more alive.
What was the best thing about making this movie, Knowing for you?
That I was working with Alex Proyas, because he is a true artist and an original and that he cares. Also because he gives us a very relaxed environment for us actors to perform in, and that's always important. Because you are dealing with something so fragile as exposing your emotions you need to have a director you feel comfortable around.
And what did you think of this guy that you played?
I like him, I like John Koestler. I think he's something that I think other fathers would aspire to be. A lot of movies have been made about mothers and their children but not so much about single fathers and their children. And there is tendency and gender bias; because you're a man you can't raise your kids. And that's not true, and I wanted to show that in a movie.
Interview by Jenny Cooney, TV Week Hollywood Correspondent
