Rostam Batmanglij Quotes

I think doing variations on a classical theme is a dangerous thing to do.

To me, discomfort is a gift in the films that I'm making.

The point of poetry is to be acutely discomforting, to prod and provoke, to poke us in the eye, to punch us in the nose, to knock us off our feet, to take our breath away.

I come from an art-school background, and I still feel that in my music, it's about exploration and challenging myself, about putting myself in a place that's frightening because I haven't been there before.

When someone throws up while watching one of your movies, it's like a standing ovation.

We wanted to offer something new to our audience. I hate it when bands stop taking chances.

To some extent I happily don't know what I'm doing. I feel that it's an artist's responsibility to trust that.

There was always that thing with 'Johnny' - I always saw myself as his writer and PR. But when he got out there, I had no control. His whole thing was going off on those flights of fancy. Going, 'Let's see what we can possibly do that hasn't been done before up here.' And when it works, it's lovely; it's a great night.

I think good art happens on that edge between comfortable and in a lot of pain, you know what I mean?

Our responsibility as artists is to challenge ourselves.

I'm not an artist, and I want to take risks, and when the possibility of failure occurs, it's because the idea is all exciting or interesting as a high wire act, and sometimes you've got to fall off, just by virtue of the fact that you're constantly trying to evolve and do new things.

I do tend to apply myself to projects that make me uncomfortable because usually when that happens I try to find a way of existing in the project that is more creative.

I like to put people into situations that are out of their comfort zone and see what happens.

I want to change things with everything I do, not for the sake of changing things, but for the sake of taking greater and greater risks, or how minimalist I might be able to be, or how I can involve elements or ingredients in music videos that are not musical, for instance.

The artists I look up to are the ones who push their own limits.

Yes, but Hollywood is the strangest place in that they'll torpedo their own film to prove an emotional point.

I really think 'Spring Awakening' is unlike any other show. At the end of the day, I hope people are moved by it... whether they love it or they find it uncomfortable. I hope this show can awaken something in them, or reminds them of their childhood, or offers a bit of assurance to what teenagers are going through. It's a great piece of theater.

Any actor is happy to be involved with something that's challenging, controversial, and not easily palatable. Things that are too dumbed down or easy to swallow are uninteresting... It's good when people have such a polarizing response.

I want art to make me think. In order to do that, it may piss me off, or make me uncomfortable. That promotes awareness and change, or at least some discussion.

I am tapping into a place in you that is unexplored, and very dangerous, but I think essential to the creative life of an artist.

I need to push myself. I'm not saying that I just want to do anything that's shocking, but when you have that combination of a script that's really beautiful and extremely shocking, it's exciting for me.

Art is not predictable. Art is not golf, as great as that may be. There are 360 degrees of choice to make.

Movies should make people uncomfortable sometimes.

There's nothing wrong with doing comedies, and I'm not against comedies, either, but I always want to do stuff that keeps me off my guard and gets me out of my comfort zone.

Audiences want to feel something intense, quickly, without wasting a lot of time.