of the introduction and say, "Wow, look at that crazy hair. What do you think of that? She's weird." Or whatever. We didn't need that kind of instantaneous filtering and judgment. We wanted people to be able to access our introduction without that filter. It's very hard for people like you to write without a filter, without a bend toward a perspective. AVC: You talk about going back and seeing Bound and The Matrix differently because of passing time, and presumably because of the context and cultural changes. Did revisiting and re-analyzing your own work affect how you made Cloud Atlas , or how you work today? AW: I don't know, maybe, maybe. Part of being a filmmaker is also being a craftsman. So when you do , you become better at it. And so all of our films have taught us what works and what doesn't work, and have given us perspective on where you can push the boundaries of the cinematic language, and so they are all valuable as pieces of experience. But I don't know if I've gone back and actually watched our films in terms of studying them to be informed of the next thing we're doing. AVC: You spent years trying to get Cloud Atlas funded, while working on other projects. How do you maintain excitement for one project over such a long period, especially while working on other films? AW: Well it's extremely difficult. LW: There's three of us. That helps. AW: We're a