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.

There's incredible effect in being either loved or hated, but knowing that, either way, you have penetrated the mind and have altered it; that is a very pleasurable feeling.

I've been trying to get away from physical violence; it's too easy; it doesn't satisfy me artistically to work with it. Dramatic violence is much more interesting, but it's much more difficult.

I also believe on a practical level, if you're taking time away from people, besides entertaining them, I think it's important that there's something to react to.

I never desired to really go to Hollywood and make films, and purely because I want my entire control, which I'm used to having.

The minute you celebrate narcissism, which on one hand is very complex, it's very ridiculous. You have to love oneself with humor.