Niels Arden Oplev Quotes

I think America becomes more disgruntled by going to the movies and having an endlessly good time at them.

For me, I really like the human drama embedded in a crime story, and I like the way European films do that.

I saw 'Six Degrees of Separation' because my brother was in it. It was a watershed experience. It was theatrical and scary, and New York functioned like a character. John Guare became a hero for me.

Television is something the Russians invented to destroy American education.

There is a film called 'A Separation.' If you see it playing, go see it. It's beautiful. It's so well written and the acting is amazing. It's one of those films that you would love to be a part of.

I'm not talking about Russia in my music. I've never been to Russia. I'm not talking about Africa, Switzerland, China. I'm talking about me being American and growing up in a crazy world and helping to reflect all different sides of life.

The bad guys are not typical; they are not just bad, they are interesting. They might be good or bad.

Lie to Me' is one of the smartest shows on TV. We have something different, unique and new to say to the audience that they're not going to get from any other show.

The characters you refer to as predatory and unsavory are useful. They're the ones who make a novel into a thriller. They're active, and most of the common virtues, the signs of a good person, are not.

I love gritty drama. I'm passionate about films and drama that make you think - hard-hitting, gravelly characters.

I completely believe that the 'Saw' movies do have heart and soul and morals and values.

What I always studied in screenwriting from my mentor John Glavin was that the most interesting characters are characters with shades of gray.

I couldn't follow the events of September 11 because I was proofreading a novel I'd just completed - on Islam and its quarrel with the West - that I'd promised, six months earlier, to deliver to my editor on September 12, 2001.

You know, the best-laid plans of mice and men... I like playing bad guys, and I don't have a problem doing that. They're interesting characters, and there's as many different kinds of bad guys as there are good guys - they're rich, they're strong, they're powerful, and so that's fine with me.

When you look at a film like 'The Ides of March' or 'Good Night, and Good Luck' even, those are really contained pictures.

For the most part, Americans speak of culture and politics as if they were two separate realms.

It is a political thriller. It's very action packed and it's very exciting, but at the same time it's a very big soulful love story about longing and loss. They're not separate, they're completely dependent on one another.

Many Americans don't like the simple things. That's what they have against conservatives.

The West has been leading a crusade against the Muslims for a thousand years.

With the American invasion of Iraq and continued U.S. aggression against Muslims I could not reconcile between living in the U.S. and being a Muslim, and I eventually came to the conclusion that jihad against America is binding upon myself just as it is binding on every other able Muslim.

James Brown's life was really a metaphor for our inability to talk about matters like race and class in America.

I like playing complex, interesting characters. Sometimes I don't think there's much of a strong line between right and wrong for a character. Every character is somewhere on a moral spectrum.

My favorite bad thing about 'Three Billboards' is its ambition to play around with America's ideological and geographical toys.

'Ten Days in the Valley' has everything: It's a thriller, it's a taut, exciting love story, and it has the kind of character our audience loves - a strong, powerful woman who is also dangerously flawed.

I think 'The Condemned' has a great story. It's a lot more than a mindless action flick.