Andrew Niccol

Directed television commercials for over 10 years prior to his directing debut Gattaca (1997)

"My biggest mistake, going back to The Truman Show (1998), was that I wrote my most expensive film, first. And you just shouldn't do that. I remember talking to the studio head at the time and she said, "There's no way for a first film that we'll give you a budget of $80 million. But we would give you $20 million". So I went off and wrote Gattaca (1997) and made sure it was $20 million. So they let me make it".