As he prepares to work with Film Finance Corporation backing again, he has lost none of his anger about the federal agency's involvement in Shine. Before it approved funding, the corporation involved an extra partner in the project, reducing the revenue that was paid to the filmmakers after the film became an international success.

"They robbed us of the profits," he says. "It was a tragic mistake, I think. Had they taken the long view, we had the potential to be another Kennedy Miller, which of course was founded on the profits of Mad Max. But in this case, they gave the lion's share of the profits to a foreign sales company to sort of punish us for a tiny extra amount that we needed to make the film. It was very short-sighted and they know that."