I was born in Bangkok, educated in England, and I grew up in Ireland. I’ve been a world citizen most of my life.

I’ve wanted to be a film director ever since seeing ET. Spielberg is one of my idols.

I’d like to invite him for dinner. He’s an amazing storyteller and has an uncanny ability to get what he wants from his actors. He has a magic touch.

I once had dinner with Franco Zeffirelli and Bryan Ferry in a Thai restaurant in London. That was pretty bizarre; I was sandwiched between a great filmmaker and rock musician. I felt awfully inept to be sitting among these men.

At 18, I believed the world was my oyster, that I could achieve whatever I wanted to. I thought that I could win an Oscar. I still think that.

I went to film school in Leeds, England. We made short films there over the course of two years. After doing that I decided I wanted to be my own boss. I directed my first film, which was a low budget British film that was sold to television.

My biggest accomplishment hasn’t happened yet. But it’s coming. I’ve been producing for ten years and I’m about to release my first film in Thailand.

I most appreciate tenacity in others because I don’t give up easily, and I don’t think other people should give up easily.

My Sunday mornings aren’t lazy. My children wake me up at 7 and we go to the funarium, where I have to endure the smell of children’s feet, or sometimes I take them swimming at the British Club.

My idea of hell would be working 9-5. I would find it very mundane and my existence on the planet would be a waste.

I’ve got a weakness for women, and I get distracted easily. That’s maybe why my career has been less than it could have been.

I’m Eurasian and I’m attracted to the same DNA mix. I think halfies have a connection. My future girlfriend will be a luk krueng.

I like the idea of working in Hollywood and then coming back to Thailand. The weather is nice in LA, not so balmy and muggy.

I’m-tri-religious in that I have a Catholic father, a Buddhist mother, and I married a Muslim. I have to balance all three religions in my household. It’s difficult, though. I’m not very religious myself, and I don’t let religion come first in my life.

Judging by the earthquakes and tsunamis, the world might very well be ending in 2012. I also believe aliens have landed, and that the American war on terror is being instigated by some secret world order.

I hate George Bush. I can’t understand how Americans could believe all his bullshit. How did that happen? For once the French were right.

“Love thy neighbor” is something that I feel I have to keep reminding myself. I lost my brother in a bombing in 2002. Bush blamed it on Muslims and the world became polarized.

I married a Muslim. I don’t blame her, or any other Muslim.

Filmmaking is better than sex. Although sex is a close second.

I want to be able to just pick up a guitar and play Led Zeppelin. I always felt that I missed out on that. Live entertainment is visceral and has a bit of an edge over film.

Media is an ambassador for Thailand. But these days the Ministry of Culture has relaxed its stance on sensitive films, maybe because of Apichatpong winning awards.

People outside Thailand think the country is unstable. I wish we could do something to make them see that Thailand is the great country that it’s always been. Tourism is down and fewer films are coming here.

We need to keep color out of politics. I think we need to stop the quarreling and just get on with it.

In a way, Thaksin was forward thinking in encouraging people to come here. But he got too greedy. It’s never going to end as long as he’s still out there playing Robin Hood.

Inefficiency seems to be a Thai thing. Especially with government bureaucracy. There is so much red tape. If people didn’t have the jobs of stamping and checking everything, everyone would be out of work. Interview by Cole Pennington and Pinhathai Chunharas