You'll see more violence in any television crime series than you will in my films Art is there to have a stimulating effect, if it earns its name. You have to be honest, that's the only thing.

If you go with the principle, you should go with the principle. If I really saw the subject very differently than ten years ago, I would have done a different movie.

Never say no. It always depends on what's possible. I don't care so much where it is; it's what I want to do that matters.

I'm far more relaxed with German. I'm a control freak. I like to know exactly who's saying and doing what.

A feature film is twenty-four lies per second.

That is one of the characteristics of fascism, the idea that the state can provide all of the answers for everyone.

I've never let producers tell me what to do. Even when I was making television, I always did what I wanted to do, and if I couldn't, I didn't do it. It was a freedom that, these days, young directors starting out don't have.