Where have you just come back from?
‘Washington DC. It was interesting taking a political film to a political city in this climate where the press is being silenced. I went to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is not only a stunning building, but also beautifully curated. Mostly when you’re in a city working, you just want to clean your brain of what you’ve been talking about, and that’s exactly what going to the museum felt like. I always look for opportunities to rinse the mind, whether it’s going dancing – which I’m going to do when I go back to LA – or going surfing or playing ping pong.’
Where in the world have you felt happiest?
‘Probably the remote English countryside: the Lake District, Herefordshire. I’ve done a lot of solo travel in my time, but as my work has become more far-flung, I’ve looked for my wilderness in Britain.’
Name a place that lived up to the hype
‘Petra in Jordan. I was filming A Private War in the country and I knew I couldn’t leave without spending a night in the desert. Petra takes your breath away – it’s astonishing. You walk down this long carriageway, which is like a slick of marbellised rock, then you come to the first building and you can’t believe the craftsmanship. After that I took my children out to Wadi Rum with a Bedouin guide. We rode camels and slept under the stars, no tent, just blankets on a moonlit night. My little boy said to me, “This is the biggest bedroom I’ve ever had.”’
Which is your favourite city?
‘It always used to be Tokyo for its strangeness, because when I first went there it was so alien. It was the closest I’ve got to experiencing what it’s like to be completely illiterate as there were no signs in the Roman alphabet and I found it electrifying. That sensation of total otherness is harder and harder to find. It was captured brilliantly by Sofia Coppola in Lost in Translation, the magic and mystery and romance – that was the Tokyo I first discovered. Then when I went back, it felt different, still exciting but in another way.’
Which is your road most travelled?
‘Probably the Westway in London. JG Ballard wrote an amazing love letter to the Westway, which I promise will make you see it in a completely fresh light. It’s like a total vision of modernity and the future, even though I’m usually crawling in traffic on it.’
Describe your favourite view
‘Hanalei Bay, on Kaua’i in Hawaii, which is said to have inspired ‘Puff, the Magic Dragon’. The mountains do look like a dragon. It’s complete beauty, untouched.’
Where did you go on your first holiday without your parents?
‘First Cyprus, where one of my closest friends was from, and then Cambodia and Vietnam, where I went on my big adventure after university. In fact, Angkor Wat would be the other place that lived up to the hype. I found a guide who took me around on the back of his motorbike and had an uncanny ability to know where other tourists would not be. We got up at dawn and I climbed to the top of one of the temples in the dark to see what he said would be the best sunrise ever. It was like fire rising up on the horizon. I had no money and it was all done on a wing and a prayer, but sometimes you meet extraordinary people and you have to listen to them.’
Tell us about a great little place you know
‘Graybarn Cottage, attached to the Mill House Inn in East Hampton, is a fantastic family retreat. I used to think the Hamptons was this mystical land I would probably never go to, then I realised that it’s got the most incredible coastline and is easy to get to.’
And the smartest hotel you’ve stayed in?
‘The best in the world is Le Bristol in Paris – the level of service is in another league. I don’t know how they do it, how they’re so attentive, without ever being intrusive. It’s the definition of impeccable. But then there’s also somewhere like the Post Ranch Inn in California, which is heaven on earth. You think, how can I have the privilege of this view? It feels discreet and hidden – a very exclusive experience.’
Sightseeing or sun lounger?
‘I don’t get to lie on beaches with books any more because I have two young children and I’m too busy building sandcastles and burying people in sand or being buried. I’m tending more towards doing-holidays and learning things I didn’t as a child: skiing, surfing. As I’m now playing Moominmamma in a TV show, I’ve got my sights set on Finland. I have a dream to go to the Levin Iglut there.’
Confess to one thing you’ve taken from a hotel room
‘Notepads from Chateau Marmont, I love them. And laundry bags – they are a small gesture to make your bedroom feel like a hotel, a reminder of the distant dream, and then an appreciation of how it doesn’t cost £7 to wash your pants.’
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Who is the most interesting person you’ve met on your travels?
‘Swami Sivarama, the leader of the Hare Krishna in Hungary. Not that I’m a member, but he’s one of the cleverest men I’ve met. He has a self-sustaining eco farm two hours outside Budapest, where I made the film Radioactive. For a philosophical discussion and the vision of a community off the grid, it was quite something.’
Which foreign phrase do you use most?
‘Pouce levé, which means thumbs up in French, but I don’t think the French actually use it. Maybe we can get it to catch on.’
What would you like to find in a mini-bar?
‘Dark chocolate, something small batch. And Widow Jane Bourbon, which I did find once in my room at the Crosby Street Hotel.’
‘A Private War’ is out in the UK from 1 February 2019
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