The character requires so many elements. The only one who could fulfill that was this one person: Elle Fanning.

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."

I try not to have too specific notions because it messes up the process later on. I leave it very open to interpretation until I start casting. Everything changes a lot when you start casting. I mean everything.

Elle Fanning was fifteen when we started [The Neon Demon]. She turned seventeen during the shoot. Four weeks before Cannes, she turned eighteen. She had her prom at Cannes.

Understanding one's own power is more interesting than someone being given something powerful.

I have not seen "Batman v Superman," unfortunately. It hasn't been on the plane, as I've been flying a lot.

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