I think whenever you cast someone, someone's going to be critical about it.

I grew up with a lot of fairy tales. And they had an essence of darkness to them.

To me there's very few actresses who've had twenty years experience who have that cyberpunk aesthetic already baked in. Scarlett Johansson comes from such edgy films from Lost in Translation to Under the Skin - she's got an incredible body of work and the attitude and the toughness of her really is to me, the Major.

Trying to ground everything in reality was the most important thing to me.

I read every screenplay that was being sent to the other directors. None were being sent to me, but I was reading what others were choosing and what the best writers were writing.

In a way I think why the Ghost story is very relatable to a large audience is that it's kind of a coming of age story and it's a realisation of 'I am what I am - what has happened to me, good or bad, that is the sum of who I am now'.

I think you can get away with being a bit more political in science fiction.

To me, casting is all about finding a character within the actor off the screen as much as on the screen.

I cast very much from the gut, and I think I was very lucky to be able to get... many amazing international... people that I had always really wanted to work with.

I think Kristen is incredibly brave. She played such a good version Bella Swan, people think Kristen Stewart is Bella Swan. She's not, you know? If you meet Kristen, she's wildly kind of giggly and vivacious and rebellious and naughty - all things that Bella Swan isn't.

You've got pressure making any film, frankly. Whenever you're doing something in the public eye you have to silence it really, you can't read the blogs and take them at face value, you just have to say, 'I'm lucky enough to be in this position, to do this job'.

I think it's possible to make a blockbuster that is actually emotional. They don't need to be mutually exclusive.

To trust so much in our devices and sync everyone's device up - we tell people where we are, what we buy and where we shop, who we talk to - and that goes somewhere. The ghost of information technology out there, and one of the points... of the manga and anime was trusting in technology.