I hate superficial violence. It's shallow and stupid, and the impact on the audience is really bad.

Really, I'm a neurotic perfectionist. Every single word in the script is the one that I want.

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.

One of the reasons why I agreed to do commercials is that they gave me complete freedom. I just had to have the car in it and write a story around it. I wanted to do something serious set in a Latin American country, but again, it was an exercise in style for me.

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

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.

Mexico City is very different now than when I grew up, but I was in the streets all the time - though I was born to a middle-class neighborhood where there weren't a lot of gangs and things. I was always comfortable.