"Set in the Amazonian rain forest. It’s gothic and funny and strange and profound and outrageous. A female “Heart of Darkness.” Marina, a 42-year-old research scientist from Minnesota goes in search of her formidable old mentor, who has disappeared researching the women of a certain Amazonian tribe who stay fertile into their 80s from eating the hallucinogenic bark of a magical tree. As well as everything else, it’s an exploration of what it is to be a woman who’s getting older. And it makes that particular state seem more wonderful than it usually seems"

"North by Northwest was a big influence for The Bourne Identity. I’m really drawn to adventure, and characters being plucked from normal life and sent on extraordinary adventures. When Tom and I had the opportunity to go deep into the rain forest to shoot scenes in a really remote location [for American Made], I was promised 360-degree vistas with nothing manmade in sight for a hundred miles. Well, Tom and I are both going to jump at the chance to go on that kind of adventure. So I’m interested in stories where characters are sent out and get to have an adventure, the kind of adventure I dream of having."

"I found out about the Cardiacs and discovered A Little Man And A House And The Whole World Window and On Land And In The Sea simultaneously. They’re very hard to find now, the CDs are going for upwards of 60 or 70 quid on eBay. It’s progressive music, but done in a really mental way. It sounds like one guy’s mind being acted out by some willing and accomplished musicians. It’s really insane. There are loads of tempo changes. I think Tim Smith’s voice sounds a little like Robert Smith, but in a much more manic way. I think that’s what really speaks to me [laughs]. It’s almost like what progressive rock is made for. You expect progressive rock to be manic. The production sounds a little bit more like a real band on On Land And In The Sea, but on A Little Man And A House And The Whole World Window there’s a song on it called ‘R.E.S.’ which is just seven minutes of strange music. It’s like 60s easy listening music but it’s still definitely prog. I was criticised once actually. We did a trip into the rain forest in Costa Rica last year and I DJed it, and afterwards everyone was like, “yeah that was great… maybe too much Cardiacs though.” It’s a floor filler, but a floor emptier as well – and it’s hard to know where the threshold is! On those albums there are a lot of people called Smith, and I’m not sure whether they’re brothers or cousins or aunties or whatever, but there’s a saxophonist, bassist, guitarist, keys, and it’s all very symphonic. More symphonic than you’d expect."