People are always wondering if I am an artist or political activist or politician. Maybe I'll just clearly tell you: Whatever I do is not art. Let's say it is just objects or materials movies or writing but not art OK?

It's so great in Hollywood now. You have people past 40 sitting and talking about serious stuff writing and making movies and TV but there's laser pistols and superheroes and alien monsters involved. It's viable and mainstream.

My movies are unadorned they're not particularly fancy I think they're kind of workmanlike in some ways focusing on the writing and the acting.

But then I go through long periods where I don't listen to things usually when I'm working. In between the records and in between the writing I suck up books and music and movies and anything I can find.

Well Toronto I consider to be the birthplace of my films. I've made three films and this is the third one to premiere here in the same theater on the same day at the same time - they are my audience. They're the people that I think about while I'm writing directing and editing. I specifically make movies for them.

As far as writing I like watching bad movies. Nothing stops me in my tracks more than watching a great film like 'The Godfather' or 'Dog Day Afternoon' or 'The Graduate.' You watch one of those and you never want to write again. Whereas with bad movies it makes you think If that counts I certainly could write.

I've been really enjoying writing articles and writing music and music for movies.

To me movies and music go hand in hand. When I'm writing a script one of the first things I do is find the music I'm going to play for the opening sequence.

I went to Morocco joined a band called Pegasus ran out of money went to Gibraltar and worked on the docks writing songs about the sun and the morning and the birds.

Another thing that's quite different in writing a book as a practicing newspaperman is that if you look at what you've written the next morning and you think you didn't get it quite right you can fix it.