I think it is a quest of literature throughout the ages to describe the human condition.

Film is not the art of scholars, but of illiterates.

You can't have a helicopter fly over boiling lava. It would've exploded from the heat, and is just way too dangerous. The pilot of a helicopter would've flatly refused anyway.

A fairly young, intelligent-looking man with long hair asked me whether filming or being filmed could do harm, whether it could destroy a person. In my heart the answer was yes, but I said no.

At the same time, there's something magnificent about volcanoes; they created the atmosphere that we need for breathing.

I have made 70 or so films. In all my films not a single actor, a single extra, was hurt. Not one. So statistics are on my side when I say I'm clinically sane.

Gaining trust is not difficult for me. I needed to gain the trust of the North Korean supervisors.