B.L. As an accomplished, veteran filmmaker, what does it take these days to lure you into a project? I understand that you spent a lot of your time working on this particular film.
B.S. Yes. In order for me to decide to do a movie, I've got to be pretty sure that this is something really exciting and new; or if there are things that have never been done before. Or if they have been done before, that it is going to be a totally different and fresh approach. After all, I am going to be spending two years of my life on this, so I'm not going to do it, if I don't believe in it 300 per cent. In this case, it was a suspense thriller that was very psychological. A lot of mind games. The tension was relentless -- coming from inside the characters and that was very psychological. When it's so psychological you have room for great performances. So, when you have one of the great faces in movies like Sandra Bullock, a great actress, a great power and a great strength on the screen, it was extraordinary to think of her like that. And extraordinary to have her say 'yes' -- that for me was a great moment. Another great moment was to know that I had two parts for young people where they are going to be able to give the best of what they have. Usually you don't have such interesting and complex parts for young people. All of that made it a very exciting experience.

B.L. You mentioned how excited you were about having Sandra Bullock in the film. But what's even more interesting is that this is a departure for her. We've never quite seen her in a dramatic role like this on the screen.
B.S. You have seen her in thrillers and you know for a great actor like she is, it's normal to expand and expand. For a great actor there is no part that they cannot play and she definitely is in that super league.

B.L. As a director, psychological thrillers are familiar to you. Is there a unique challenge for a director that comes with making this type of movie?
B.S. Well, you have to create an atmosphere and you have to constantly be at the edge of your seat. You can do it by resorting to old tricks, or you can do it by having the fear come from inside the characters. If you can achieve that, it can get very exciting and very scary. That's what we tried to do in this one.

B.L. I have to mention that the two young actors (Michael Pitt and Ryan Gosling) did such a terrific job at playing these complex characters. How difficult was it for you to cast these guys?
B.S. The idea was to look for older actors of their generation. I have seen many of them and there are a lot of good ones, but these two are certainly young actors that we are going to see on the screen for many years to come. It was very moving to be there at the beginning.

Q: One of them happens to be Canadian, so good for him.
B.S. Absolutely, Ryan Gosling is an exceptional genius of the cinema.