NICOLAS WINDING REFN

Every film that you make has to have a scene that is the heart that blood flows through in every other scene. That scene doesn't always have to be in the beginning of the film. But it can also be at the end, or in the middle, and that can sometimes make the film more effective.

Oh, I love L.A. It's not so much about Hollywood. I love everything in L.A.

Coming to Hollywood, you always hear the horror stories, but I had good people around me who maybe didn't understand what I was doing but always protected me.

Filmmaking is like any kind of art form. You have to try to figure it out, and you're going to do that by trying.

With 'Only God Forgives,' what's great about that movie is it just freaked so many people out.

I think that, again, filmmaking is the director's medium in the end, and the best thing a producer can do is stay out of the way and support the director one hundred percent.

For me, it's all about having the performers feel confident in their movements and surroundings. And then I'll figure out how to photograph it afterward.

For 'Drive,' we needed the songs to dictate emotions and really bring you into the mind of The Driver; he's a unique and complicated guy, so the music itself had to be unique and complicated.

The first thing I do when I go to people's houses is look at their television, turn it on.

I'm a huge admirer of Keanu. I think he's absolutely extraordinary.

The 'Neon Demon' is very much designed to be like a YouTube movie. It's designed to be chopped up. You can cut it up into seven or eight pieces and they're, like, vignettes.

I believe that the constant possibility of failure or possibility of decision-making feeds your creativity.

I would love to make a kids' movie. But they are very hard to make.

I started making films purely based on what I would like to see.

A good director is not an expert in anything in particular. A good director just knows a little bit about everything.

All my films represent my own needs and wants.

'Valhalla Rising' is a fusion of my upbringing, basically: everything I grew up loving and wanted to make a film of.

I think that art is an act of violence, and the more emotionally engaged you are in a piece of art, the more violent it feels.

I'm not a guy's guy. I always loved girl things. I loved dolls. I loved dressing up and much more.

I believe silence is the greatest sound of all.

I'm not a walking encyclopedia. I'm not one of those types that knows every single film ever made or can recite every dialog.

There are wonderful artists who deal in the fashion world only, and you see by their creations that they are changing our understanding of sexuality and freedom and gender-bending.

Creativity is about a reaction.

Art thrives on obstacles. The bigger the obstacle, the better the drama.

We're premiering 'The Neon Demon' in Cannes, which is the representation of 'The Neon Demon,' which is all about glamour and vulgarity.