Quotes from Morten Tyldum

It's not every actor that can play a genius.

I don't know if it's a sadistic side or whatever, but you take characters and put them in really awful situations and make them go through that. And it's very satisfying as a director to explore that, to tell those stories and to explore those themes, because it is so human.

I thought I knew who Alan Turing was. I've always loved history, and I was actually shocked by how little I actually knew. I was amazed this wasn't common knowledge. Why wasn't he on the front covers of my history books? He's one of the great thinkers of the last century, and he was sort of pushed into the shadows.

I came to Hollywood and felt myself an outsider, and I was sent all these action thrillers and superhero scripts.

As a filmmaker, I don't want to limit myself to one kind of movie. After 'Headhunters,' I went to Hollywood and read a lot of scripts: lots of action thrillers and heist movies, and superhero films.

I'm very tired, but this is what every filmmaker dreams about: that their $15 million, under-the-radar film is now being seen by so many people.

When you watch a Hitchcock movie, you feel like learning back because there's a master in control.

I love using drama and humour.

World War II was the last 'pure' war. It was purely heroic. There was someone who tried to conquer the world, who tried to exterminate people.

For film fans to support 'The Imitation Game' means so much to me, the entire cast and film-making team.

'The Imitation Game' is a very British film.

When you go to the movies, you expect the movie to create a world that you can immerse yourself in, that you can step into. Sci-fi is a beautiful way of doing that.

You find a story - or more importantly, you find some characters - that you want to be around as a filmmaker. The style and how we're going to shoot it and how we're going to design it and how it's all going to feel and look depends on that story. They tell me how I should shoot it.

I always felt Harrison Ford looked like he's about to shoot himself when he's carrying his own gun. He always looked afraid; he's not just this tough guy, you know?

If you want the human psyche, how we deal with humans in these situations, WWII is a very tangled place to go.

We're very skeptical of people who are too perfect.

I love Fincher, as he has a great atmosphere and intensity. Also, I grew up watching Hitchcock movies, and there was something elegant in the way he plays with you and plays with the character and tricks you.

That's what you want: you want projects that you fall in love with. I don't think you pick your projects; you fall in love with them.

Turing was fearless. He's extremely direct, which can be seen as socially awkward, and that becomes both his big obstacle but also, in many ways, his strength.

Love is not selfish. Love is something else.

To me, it's mind-boggling to think that homosexuality was forbidden up until 1967.

I don't see myself directing the same movie twice.

You first do the assembly cut, which is basically the cut that mirrors the script. You've got to start with that.

Sometimes you read something, and you have to read more and more about the background.