You ask actors what they would like to do, and you constantly keep them engaged. You want their engagement, input, and sensibilities. It's that intimate collaboration that is actually directing. I don't like the mechanicalness or coldness; I like the intimacy. It's like we are creating a child together.

Financially, it was very successful. Which is the most important thing. That is the only way you get to make another movie. It's very simple. The market will value you.

The vibe, it's that excitement. New York, you just can't describe it. You get a similar thing from Paris and London, but it's not New York.

Jenna Malone was a very important piece of how the film [The Neon Demon] turned out.

Nowadays, teenagers are so fast and quick to see through any form of manipulation. Sitting down and just thinking of something is like watching really bad pornography.

In "Drive," there's a heightened male edge. In "Only God Forgives," it was almost crawling back into the womb of the mother. And now with "The Neon Demon," being reborn as a 16-year-old girl.

I always say I have a Danish passport, but I am a New Yorker at heart.