It’s harder to write a story with just two people in a room than with 50 characters.

If I'm reading a book that doesn't leave me with questions, moving questions, that I feel confronted with, then for me it's a waste of time. I don't want to read a book that simply confirms what I already know.

For me, it's always difficult when a historical film claims to depict or represent a reality that none of us can know, that is always different. It's always the case. We never know what happened then.

As a European filmmaker, you can not make a genre film seriously. You can only make a parody.

You cannot hurt animals, so what do I do? I kill the dog first. Then I do it with the boy. You're not supposed to break the illusion of this being a film, so I make the actor talk to the audience. Provocation is the principle of the whole film [ Funny Games]. It is very ironic.

On the set I make jokes I can't get too involved, or it turns into sentimental soup. I try to keep it light.

I consider all my films an experiment, at least in my mind.