- It doesn't matter where my movies are set. Right now, I have a script that's set in Canada and is in English. Just because I was born on the island [Iceland] doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of my life telling stories for 300,000 people. It helps that I'm half-Spanish, because the market I can reach is much bigger.
- I don't see Hollywood as the big enemy, because this is where the money is, and not all of the companies are doing studio movies. I'm not tempted to sell out. If I'm going to become well known, I want it to be for something I'm proud of.
- The winters are too long, and there's only one airline, so it's difficult to escape when you feel frustrated or claustrophobic. The audience for our films isn't very large, so it's difficult to support an industry. But, Iceland is beautiful. Sometimes it's hard to imagine living anywhere else
- [on the response to Adrift (2018)] One thing I noticed when making a female-driven movie is that every critic in the world is a man. It's like 80 percent. How are we going to fix this gender issue if the people writing up [films] are all middle-aged men? I would suggest that Rotten Tomatoes has two ratings, women and men, until this is adjusted. At least make it visible. The same for IMDB. It's all men, and mostly fanboys. By making it visible, then people will notice and look at [it] differently. [June 2018]
- [believing Jake Gyllenhaal shares a kind of spirit with Scott Fischer, who he portrays in Everest (2015)] For me it's all about the energy. His energy was different than Jason's [Jason Clarke], which made the experience all the more enjoyable and more fun. Scott was a great climber also, but he definitely approached it differently than Rob, and Jake has nailed that.
- [on Everest (2015)] It's fantastic to be able to do a mountain movie where you can cast women as well. It's not like you see in male-driven stories when they will try to shoehorn in the women; in this case there is no shoehorning. They are actually part of the story, and that's the reality. The drama that was happening at Base Camp, and at home at the same time, is very much part of the story.
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