If a director says he doesn't care how many people see his films at all, I simply don't believe him. Otherwise why would he bother to make the film? The only explanation would be that it would be an act of masturbation. I think that every creator is looking for a receptor. He's looking for an audience. There are two parts of the equation: a creator and, necessarily, the receiver of the work. It's the same thing for a painter who wants his paintings to be seen.

Film is 24 lies per second at the service of truth, or at the service of the attempt to find the truth.

In German. I'm more sensitized to the details, to the emotions. In English, I wouldn't detect as much nuance.

I think that religion is an integral part of human needs, but the question also is how you understand religion.

I learned my business in the theater and in television, particularly working with the actors. You can learn much more in the theater than directing a movie, because then you have no time when you are shooting a movie to really work with the actors. You have to learn this craft somewhere else.

What we're doing for another person is more important than what we're feeling for them.

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.