Most books, after all, are ephemeral; their specifics, several years later, inspire about as much interest as daily battle reports from the Hundred Years' War.
The fact is that war films, by their very nature, are pitched at a high dramatic range.
I actually think every war movie is an antiwar movie in its own way - with the exception of some of the propaganda movies.
So to be standing here, this was really, truly, honestly never part of anything we even imagined in our wildest dreams.
I had an eye-opening experience in Baghdad at the end of 2004 and I thought that the story of these guys who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world would be an interesting way to look at the war in a broader sense.
Ever since 911, I found myself interested in chronicling the war and the war on terror and the way that this giant machinery was affecting individuals.
For weeks after 911 you could smell the dust and pulverised concrete in New York, and the National Guard came in, so there was a military presence on the streets. It was intense. Overwhelming. Heartbreaking.
Without gambling, I would not exist.
It is the lava of the imagination whose eruption prevents an earthquake.
I hope we shall see more ande more women combining marriage and a career. Prejudice against this dual role is not confined to men. I regret to say, it comes from our own sex.
No man, however strong, can serve ten years as schoolmaster, priest, or Senator, and remain fit for anything else.