When people tell me I'm an artist, I say, 'What?' It's impossible for me to take the idea seriously.

For me comedy and violence has a lot in common. Just as you expect, comedy always lurks behind the most unexpected of circumstances.

I do all these various activities like painting and writing, comedy and films probably because not that I'm good at everything but because I'm not good at any of these things.

Humour is like violence. They both come to you unexpectedly, and the more unpredictable they both are, the better it gets.

Having total freedom to direct my own movies is more difficult than those I was hired for, where the framework has been already furnished. Unlike with my own work, I don't have to deny or feel embarrassed at the straightforwardness or orthodoxy of the directorial style, because I can say in excuse, "This is how I was asked to direct by those people."

My philosophy is that one shall not resort to violence unless one is resolved to become the subject of violence at any time.

In people's minds, I'm a comic, so it took a lot of time before I was recognized as a director. I had to be patient until the public accepted me. As a result, my early films didn't get a lot of attention. As a serious film actor, things didn't take off, either. Only my comic talents were recognized.