Yorgos Lanthimos Quotes

I watch 'Goodfellas,' and suddenly it frees me up entirely; it reminds me of what great film directing is all about.

At the end of Requiem all I wanted to do was get a DV camera and just do a small film. But then the hunger comes back.

Ultimately, with every film I'd done before, there was a reference. They have their own uniqueness, but there was always a precedent.

I'm always looking at other artists and trying to get inspired by different things.

I was really affected by 'The Piano.' Had I not seen that movie, I wouldn't have gone to film school.

As far as writing, I like watching bad movies. Nothing stops me in my tracks more than watching a great film like 'The Godfather' or 'Dog Day Afternoon' or 'The Graduate.' You watch one of those, and you never want to write again. Whereas with bad movies, it makes you think, If that counts, I certainly could write.

I've seen many, many movies over the years, and there are only a few that suddenly inspire you so much that you want to continue to make films.

I would say films inspire me more than the makers.

At age 12 I had an obsession with Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange and then proceeded to watch all the other Kubrick films I could including a doc called Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures in which it was revealed to me that he started as a photographer...I got a camera sometime shortly after, but spent many years just photographing flowers in my neighborhood.

I'm drawn to cinema, especially when you're on a project that feels like it's going to be a challenge.

Being a kid growing up with Kurosawa films and watching Sergio Leone movies just made me love what it could do to you, and how it could influence you - make you dream.

You don't make movies to be art movies. You make movies that move you emotionally because if you're going to commit five years of your life to a movie, you need something to keep you going.

Cinema has become my life. I don't mean a parallel world, I mean my life itself. I sometimes have the impression that the daily reality is simply there to provide material for my next film.

I have a few friends that have inspired me since I was a young kid. When I watch old films or modern movies - particularly 'Gladiator,' 'New Jack City' and 'The Skin I Live In' - I'll also get ideas.

Once a month the sky falls on my head, I come to and I see another movie I want to make.

I've never looked at film-making as a career. I've looked on film-making as an adventure. When you come down the mountain, you get ready to climb again.

The guy that made me wanna make movies... and this is off the wall-is a guy named Michael Pal, the British director.

The most difficult part of making movies is to keep making them. Maybe, you could make the biggest hit in the world, but then the big problem is what to do next and how to maintain devoted to a certain instinct that I have about films.

To be honest, the real reason I did 'Drive' was because of Nicolas Winding Refn, the director.

You have to find something that you have to obsess over if you're making a movie about it. As a director, you have to be able to pick something that excites you enough that you can breathe it every day.

Sometimes I get an idea for cinema. And when you get an idea that you fall in love with, this is a glorious day.

The film of tomorrow will be an act of love.

But my favorite work is always my next piece.

Toy Soldiers was my introduction to film. I certainly didn't think I was doing art by any stretch of the imagination.

I just want to make pictures that are entertaining. I'll leave the scenery chewing to someone else.