Gillian Armstrong

“Hollywood is hard on women.”

“I have major credibility as a hip, out-there documentary filmmaker, and I'm not going to say, 'I'm only a drama filmmaker' anymore.”

“Australia has produced amazing costume designers that are unheralded.”

“I would never do a sexist script.”

“I put on 'Starstruck' for my kids, and they started getting bored. I was so upset, I took it off. They preferred 'Home Alone.'”

“Hollywood is a very old and very structured situation. There's still a lot of old boys at the top who have the money.”

“'Little Women' has interesting gender connotations. There are generations of women who love the book. But there are a lot of men who think it's sentimental, gooey stuff.”

“The question I always ask is: 'Where are all the women directors in America?' You know, where's the female Martin Scorsese, the female David Lynch?”

“I have worked with some of the most amazing costume designers in the world.”

“It only happens once - that an actor is suddenly recognised as the star they are.”

“Maybe women should leave time for themselves and their relationships and just have some fun.”

“I was a young film student around the time of the new wave in film in the 1970s; old Hollywood was naff and over. For me, as a film student, I was going to see French and Italian cinema; American cinema was 'Easy Rider' and 'Taxi Driver.' Everything was gritty.”

“Critics often say, 'Oh she makes films about strong women'. Wrong; I make films about complex characters and the choices they make.”

“When I was 18 years old, I had never before seen Australian film on the big screen.”

“It often takes a couple of years to get a script right and then takes a couple of years to get financing together.”

“There are really only a handful of directors who have a final cut clause in Hollywood. You only get that power if you've made a couple of hundred-million-dollar successes.”

“Cable television stations in America are now producing such smart, in-depth, non-formula, character-based dramas. Film has turned more and more into big action or cartoons.”

“After Sept. 11, there was a reticence and worrying about films that touched on war, and even more on terrorism.”

“Boys are lacking in female skills, dropping out of schools and ending up in jails and unemployed because they lack these skills.”

“I don't consciously go out looking for themes. They attach themselves to me.”