And I'm sure that it's a danger here as well, that a country starts to cartoon itself in order to make itself acceptable to the market. I see no reason whatsoever why Britain, or Ireland for that matter, couldn't have made its own version of American Beauty. But we didn't. I know that we used to have mature film-makers making mature stories. But it needs a sociologist or a marketing expert to explain these things.
Market forces impose certain rules before a film can actually get made.
I want us to make some more grownup films, and I suppose in a way what it's about is we're only just recovering from the effects of 18 to 20 years of cultural torture. Half the time we're being yanked into the 21st century, while the other half of the country's trying to stay in the 18th century. It's difficult to tell your own stories in that situation. Some critics have pointed the finger at the influence of Miramax, the US company which, a decade ago, helped to bring the work of directors such as Jim Sheridan and Neil Jordan to US audiences. In those days, the argument goes, companies like Miramax came in at the end of the production process and bought the rights to finished films such as The Crying Game and My Left Foot.