I don't think I make genre movies. There is a certain type of violence in my films but I think I have my own genre because I made it happen like that.

Filmmaking is to me very similar to being in a café somewhere in Paris and looking at the people walking by.

I always scout locations first. The apartments, the railway tracks, the café, the canal - I figure out the geography of the film.

I'm an anxious person. What I like best is to smoke cigarettes and listen to music. A perfect day for me is a day with coffee, cigarettes, and music, to quote Jim Jarmusch.

Freedom is not having a big budget.

Start with scout locations first.

My mother's father was from Brazil - a painter, and not a famous one - and was always broke. But he was a free spirit, a great grandfather.

'White Material' is about courage and craziness.

In America we have gone way beyond sustenance. Eating is an activity. 'Why don’t we get lunch, and then we’ll grab some pizza.

The living are made of nothing but flaws. The dead, with each passing day in the afterlife, become more and more impeccable to those who remain earthbound.

Ah, sir, that's just mean. She's not a Victoria's Secret model. but she's pretty in her way.

Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself.

When you talk about God, the first thing that comes along is not love, it's fear. You have to fear, and be in awe. You have to be scared. Any religion, it's like first thing.

There's nothing wrong with the fashion industry. What's wrong is changing yourself for something you don't really care about just to get somewhere faster.

The highest of distinctions is service to others.

Power is being told you're not loved and not being destroyed by it.

I didn't want to just be another girl singer. I wanted there to be something that set me apart.

When I was young, it wasn't about the money, it wasn't about the fame and fortune, it was about playing football.