I certainly believe that creativity must be an experience. If I'm to steal time away from people, we should give them something to react to.
Nicolas Winding RefnBut once you get down to reality, there's no one to play her and there's no movie. It would be ridiculous.
Nicolas Winding RefnThe minute you celebrate narcissism, which on one hand is very complex, it's very ridiculous. You have to love oneself with humor.
Nicolas Winding RefnThe 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.
Nicolas Winding RefnThe 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."
Nicolas Winding Refn