You don't need to use the language of God to ask where the restrooms are.

My mother, for example, told the German officer not to kill her. She'd make it worth his while. And then, when they were doing it, she pulled a knife out of her belt and sliced open his chest, just like she used to open chicken breasts to stuff with rice for the Sabbath meal.

Before I started to make films, I didn't give much thought to the way the characters were physically positioned in the story world.

I think living in Israel and wanting to change reality is the best prescription for never-ending writer's block.

During the war, there were people wishing me death, wishing my son death, wishing my wife death in very graphic ways. In the past, I would go overseas and I would say, "Israel is like my family: we disagree, but we're all brothers." I can't say that anymore, because life proves me wrong.

As a child, I never wanted my parents to be unhappy, which meant that I would always contemplate what would make them happy.

When I say a spoken Hebrew sentence, half of it is like the King James Bible and half of it is a hip-hop lyric. It has a roller-coaster effect.