My films have elements of genre in them, which prevents them from being purely art films.

Frankly, you're always up and down. You're successful and then you're not.

I grew up interested in the underside of Hollywood, which I think David Lynch does really well.

Americans always think they have to lead. I'm interested in ambiguity.

Some actors can draw from their own darkness.

People make films about all kinds of relationships, but they won't do these extremely intense platonic love affairs that happen between young girls. In a way they are more intense than anything else you ever have, and that's what I wanted to make a film about, though it was in the context of a horror film.

It never occurred to me to be a film director, partly because I hadn't seen a single film by a female director, but I liked the idea of being a writer moving to Hollywood and being unhappy; that sounded romantic and fabulous to me.