I think the idea was to make a horror film that became a science-fiction film with a lot of melodramatic tropes.

We live in a world where art is always looked upon as the perfect medium. We live in a society where we can alter our body parts, we can act in the most perfect or right way. A lot of that is dangerous because, especially in the world of art, the chief enemy of creativity is being safe. If you're safe, you can't fall and hurt yourself. The older you are, the further down the crash is going to be. But if it works out, the higher the high.

[The Neon Demon] was more my own fascination with beauty. It's my children's fascination beauty.

The power of art is as powerful as weapons of mass destruction; it's just where war destroys, art inspires. But in order to inspire, you need to react to it. And, if it doesn't penetrate your mind, you can't react to it.

Personally I kept my feelings out of it and created a fantasy. That's the process of going through this world being beautiful.

I think that Danish people may be thought off as the happiest people, but honestly...I love America.

The thing with Ryan, you can look at him for hours. Very few actors have that. It's a gift.