I haven't forgotten what it was like to be a kid especially a misunderstood one

In the Eighties, the landscape was changing. No one knew if they had a future. It's not like now. There was no satellite. Kids were still out on the streets playing all the time. For me, it was the last great hurrah! People don't take those chances anymore. Everyone's far too reserved. Men look like women, women look like men.

As a director, your job can range from having to lean on someone to get a performance out of them, to someone being so built for the part that all you have to do is make them feel confident and comfortable and assured of what they're actually doing, and you just wind them up and watch them go.

The violence at the end is about personal torture.

You have to make a film and make it interesting, so you can't have a shot of you cleaning your teeth just because you did that. It's boring!