The film director Nicolas Roeg once confounded his critics. Now he is revered as a true original. Lorne Jackson spoke to him.

I’m talking to Nicolas Roeg on the telephone – which really isn’t the right thing to be doing.

When you’re a journalist working on a profile piece, it’s best to strive for a face-to-face interview.

So much easier to build a rapport, then allow your subject to open up.

Plus, meeting someone in person makes it impossible for them to slam the phone down on you.

Not that Roeg is being a rogue. Far from it. He’s courteous to a fault. It’s just that he happens to be a movie director. A very important one. As such, he’s a man of images. Words alone on a telephone can never be enough.

Roeg thinks the same himself: “Hope you can sort something out with everything I’ve been saying,” he remarks near the end of our conversation.

“I hate talking on the telephone, because I can’t see your expression and you can’t see mine.”

Yes, Roeg – who appears at this year’s Borderlines Film Festival – is very much a man of the image.

His films – which include Performance, Don’t Look Now and Walkabout – are visually striking.

In Don’t Look Now, a couple grieve over the death of their young daughter while stumbling through the haunting streets of Venice. The colour red rips through the movie, a scarlet gash of pain and fear.

In Performance – starring James Fox and Mick Jagger in his ‘60s pomp – a rock star plays a rock star playing a rock star.