Chance is another name that we give to our mistakes. And all of the best things in my films are mistakes.

I want to see something that I've never seen before, so how can I tell that actor what that is? I'm not trying to construct a document or situation that is what I want, because what I want is something new to me.

All of my films deal with the same thing: striving, socially and culturally, to stay alive.

Your own ego is the only trap that I think you can fall into.

That wasn't an ending. It was just a stopping point.

They'll never give me an Oscar. And I sincerely, honestly don't care. I always turn up when I'm nominated and it would be nice to get one, but to win one would be bad luck. It comes with too much expectation. It would be the end.

I have never made a movie that's attracted a 14-year-old boy.