I like to make films, but the only reason I do is because I'm a very bad musician.

Of course, there's always one theater that shows some kind of European film. Now, fortunately, you have DVDs, so it's possible to get anything you want within a few hours. In those days, it was virtually impossible to get Italian films, or German films, or whatever. So I grew up with very standard, mainstream films.

I always think politicians and even my dentist have more egos than actors.

Actually, when I think about growing up, I feel most affected by two travels that I made working in cargo boats when I was 16 and 18. One of them crossed through the Mississippi and Baton Rouge and Mobile, Alabama, and another went all the way to Europe. On the last trip, I stayed in Europe for one year with $1,000, working everywhere I could, doing everything. Those years shaped me a lot and taught me the value of exploring different things.

For me, it's not about masochism to talk about death. For me, it's about observing life through death, from the last point of it.

It's more enjoyable for me to know that life is finite. Knowing that, I would like to go to a party.

I didn't have a normal academic career. I never studied cinema. I learned from life.