I try to be a partygoer. But at some point I don't know why I'm doing it and fall back. I've been using repression, the struggle between behaving as a social animal. You're seeking to be honest with your free will, less conflict. I think that's an important subject with me. That's who I am, how I was brought up. I think I use that a lot. I mistrust everything I think. Things you think you can trust, believe in, or hang on to, changes. That's the essence of life.

A movie is really provocation. It's not a message, it's not a statement.

I like to go back to Chinese film-making from time to time. I don't think I can make Chinese films back to back; it's such a big effort. I'd have to take a very long break.

My hometown was one of the major U.S. Air Force bases.

I grew up pretty much prevented from knowing anything from Communist China except that they were the bad guys that stole our country.

No matter how widely spread out the films are, how different, you still are you.

We need storytelling. Otherwise life just goes on and on, like the number Pi.