The 5-minute Interview: Adrian Lyne, Film-maker

'You have to desire things absolutely'

The British film director Adrian Lyne, 66, received an Academy Award nomination for 'Fatal Attraction'. He also directed '9 1/2 Weeks', 'Indecent Proposal', 'Flashdance' and 'Lolita', and is working on an adaptation of Chuck Hogan's thriller 'The Town'

If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be...

Checking up on my local football team, Olympique Marseilles, on the internet.

A phrase I use too often...

"Sort of".

The most surprising thing that happened to me...

Was being able to make my living being a director.

I am not a politician but...

I would have given the Palestinians a homeland.

A common misperception of me is...

That I'm some sort of sex maniac. People take certain aspects of films like 91/2 Weeks, or Fatal Attraction, and attribute that element to me

I'm good at...

Making sorbets.

I'm very bad at...

Gymnastics.

The ideal night out is...

Playing pétanque, followed by a wonderful meal. Then I'd go and watch Olympique Marseilles beat Paris Saint-Germain three-nil.

In weak moments I...

Eat too much – I do everything to excess, really!

You know me as a film director but in another life I'd have been...

That suggests I'm living a lie! I've no idea.

The best age to be is...

37. After that I could see my decline in the mirror.

My philosophy is...

You have to desire things absolutely, obsessively.

Shumi Bose