Curiously, Doyle says he prefers books to photography or cinema. “Reading gives you an imaginary space, whereas film basically tells you what to see,” he says. “Sydney in the Sixties was a period of anarchy. And that rebellious spirit is still with me—all that rejection of mediocrity and what was supposed to be normal about stereotypical boys. It was so boring. I hated it. I wanted to get away. I read a lot of crazy stuff that was a bit on the edge.” His yearning for escape from a provincial environment provided the motivation for the 19-year-old Doyle to become a sailor on cargo ships, an endeavour that would quickly bring him to Asia and ultimately be his first connection to filmmaking.