Nicolas Winding Refn Quotes

The minute you celebrate narcissism, which on one hand is very complex, it's very ridiculous. You have to love oneself with humor.

The character requires so many elements. The only one who could fulfill that was this one person: Elle Fanning.

But once you get down to reality, there's no one to play her and there's no movie. It would be ridiculous.

My initial idea was I wanted to make it a horror film, very much. At times I do enter that world.

I think the idea was to make a horror film that became a science-fiction film with a lot of melodramatic tropes.

I just think it was time [in THe Neon Demon]to do a film about women. But not just women, I wanted to do a movie about a teenage girl. It was a great counter to the masculinity of "Drive."

There will always be a theatrical experience because there will always be cinemas no matter what. It's like there will always be theaters to have stage plays in.

I always say I have a Danish passport, but I am a New Yorker at heart.

[Reanu Reeves] is a very imaginative actor. He can have this wonderful balance of humor and fear. He's got these skills to be entertaining but also quite terrifying.

I had met Keanu [Reeves]a few times so it was a great way to reach out to him with an actual job offer. He very kindly agreed to be part of it and it was an amazing experience.

If an actor or actress is recognizable, that changes our perception of them.

I like the early comic book characters more than the new ones.

I can't make a film that I don't feel comfortable with.

I'm a fetish filmmaker, in that I don't know why I do what I do, I just like to see things. When I figure out what I would like to see, I will put it in a film.

I don't drive because I failed eight times and never got my license.

Sometimes you can play against type, or you can just repeat what they've already done. It can be an obstacle; it's a very fine line.

The act of creation can be an extreme violent experience.

I believe shooting chronologically gives you a very fresh perspective and you're always aware of where you are in the development of the characters.

I was in Hollywood. It's the mythology heart. It's where all the European films came in the '30s and '40s. The marriage between Europe and Hollywood has always been the best when it works.

The thing with Ryan, you can look at him for hours. Very few actors have that. It's a gift.

You know the one I want to do? I want to make Batgirl.

The conversations about a film are an example of success because then you know whatever you've done has resonated.

I think that television has become really, really interesting, in terms of character development. You can have 13 hours to develop a character, as opposed to 25 minutes in a movie. That excites me.

I can do my part of the storytelling. I can carry it. I can paint it. I can maneuver it. I can massage it. But if I don't have anything to work with, then there's nothing.

I remember To Live And Die In L.A. I saw that in the cinemas when I was young in the '80s. I remember the poster. It's a great poster.

Good and bad, what's good and bad? I don't know.

The digital revolution is forever. They put importance on that option as well. With Amazon, you're getting the best of both worlds, with a whole new playing field.

I think that's the struggle of our normality is that we have oppressed desires because of what is accepted and not accepted in society.

I woke up one day and I realized I wasn't born beautiful, but my wife was, so I decided to make a horror film about it: what it would be like to be born beautiful.

I certainly believe that creativity must be an experience. If I'm to steal time away from people, we should give them something to react to.

When you make something that everyone likes, it's very easy to say, "Well, I'll just repeat that." Because that was easy. I have a formula. But creatively, it's not very interesting.

I grew up in the '80s and John Hughes was the filmmaker making serious movies for teenagers.

When we met, my agenda was "Get Elle Fanning." I believe Elle's was "Get the role." But we didn't know that.

I've been lucky to have a beautiful wife and children. The idea that something so beautiful can be so horrific at the same time. Beauty is a complex thing.

I like doing the promotional work. It's part of the film's process. Cannes was very wonderful to premiere.

In "Drive," there's a heightened male edge. In "Only God Forgives," it was almost crawling back into the womb of the mother. And now with "The Neon Demon," being reborn as a 16-year-old girl.

In a way "Drive" is probably the greatest superhero movie ever made.

Everything we do is about the emotion of the characters. We believe the better the emotion, the better the movie.

I think everybody's looking for religion to believe in. I think we all need faith.

I have not seen "Batman v Superman," unfortunately. It hasn't been on the plane, as I've been flying a lot.

I just close my eyes and I fantasize what I would like to see.

I sometimes play different kinds of music to see where the performers end up. I play one genre. Then something else when I do it again. It really helps.

Personally I kept my feelings out of it and created a fantasy. That's the process of going through this world being beautiful.

Narcissism as a virtue is very futuristic. Narcissism as a quality is where I think things are heading.

Sometimes I just play the theme from Arthur. It reminds me of my childhood in New York and I just love it.

The vibe, it's that excitement. New York, you just can't describe it. You get a similar thing from Paris and London, but it's not New York.

I've done collaborations in all my movies, and I think it's part of what I enjoy about the process. This kind of intimacy that you create. Because it becomes very intimate.