My movie [The Neon Demon] is a hyper-version of the obsession with beauty. As this crazy obsession grows, longevity does not. Everything seems to become younger and younger. The girls and people around them cannibalize themselves.

I think everybody's looking for religion to believe in. I think we all need faith.

The first person I ever described the film [The Neon Demon] to was Christina Hendricks [who has a cameo in the movie]. We were having dinner in LA and she asked me what I wanted to do next and I said, "I want to do a horror movie." And she goes, "What's it going to be about?" And I said, "A lot of blood and high heels."

The casting of any film is around 60% of the film, but it's also about the right casting insight. It's a bit like a house of cards, everyone has to match up in a certain way so the whole structure is grounded. So that's essential, and yes, it's about finding the right people and the right constellation around the lead character.

The best thing you can do with actors is collaborate with them. My job is to inspire them to give their best. And they're only inspired if they feel they are part of the creative process, otherwise they'll shut down. So my goal is always to ask people what they would like to do before I even say my opinion. I usually don't know anything until I see it. I'm a fetish filmmaker - I make films based on what I want to see.

Actually, there was one sequence but Liv didn't put this in but at the end of the movie, we ran out of money. Literally, ran out. And I couldn't make payroll. So I emptied all our accounts to make payroll. We were kinda like, "What do we do?" Then out of the blue, we were saved by Gucci. So it's always been like, you just gotta reach for the stars and hopefully the moon will catch you.

I've never really been on a date, because I've been with the same girl since my early twenties, but on our first date, I showed her The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I was like, "Hey, you've got to see this!" And we've been together ever since.