I hate entertainment.

The most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to. As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all we must dare to fail. You must be willing to risk everything to really express it all.

I’m not really a director. I’m a man who believes in the validity of a person’s inner desires. And I think those inner desires, whether they’re ugly or beautiful, are pertinent to each of us and are probably the only things worth a damn. I want to put those inner dreams on the screen so we can all look and think and feel and marvel at them.

Most people don’t know what they want or feel. And for everyone, myself included, It’s very difficult to say what you mean when what you mean is painful. The most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to... As an artist, I feel that we must try many things – but above all, we must dare to fail. You must have the courage to be bad – to be willing to risk everything to really express it all.

I won’t make shorthand films, because I don’t want to manipulate audiences into assuming quick, manufactured truths.

We don’t take the time to be vulnerable with each other.

I’m not good at comparing and contrasting. I take what’s in front of me for what it is, although I guess there’s something about Paul’s realistic writing that is like Cassavetes.

When I started making films, I wanted to make Frank Capra pictures. But I’ve never been able to make anything but these crazy, tough pictures. You are what you are.

No matter how old you get, if you can keep the desire to be creative, you’re keeping the man-child alive.

An artist can accomplish anything provided he doesn’t accept facts or defeat for more than a few minutes.