I knew David Lynch going to television was going to be something. It was either going to not work, nobody was going to get it and it would disappear, or it was going to be something special and really stand out.
The first two movies I directed failed, when I was 21 and 23, and that was the greatest thing that could have happened.
The reason my films work is because every actor on set is very secure. They're able to fly.
To make it interesting and worth doing, writing a novel has to be a leap into the unknown. I have to be unsure if I can write it; otherwise, I won't want to.
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
I'm often asked how I shoulder the responsibility of films, but I've always believed in taking risks.
That's the beautiful thing about being an artist, is you can take risks and take chances and hopefully be secure enough to just keep going with it if you fall flat on your face.
Creativity requires quite a lot of faith - not just in yourself but also in the knowledge that you have the right to proceed, even when you may not know exactly what you're doing.
I always felt better co-writing something - always co-writing. Because if I was the lead of it and it failed, then it failed on my own accord. I would say, "Well, I liked it or I screwed up. I take the hit on this one."
There's something pleasing about large, well-lit spaces. I love that dealers are willing to take massive chances in order to give this much room to their artists. Most of all, I love that more galleries showing more art gives more artists a shot.
We have a wonderful film lined up early next year called 'Desi Magic.' It showcases me in a double role for the first time. This movie has offered me the most challenging role of my career so far. It's weird I chose to do my toughest film with my own production house.
I'm saying nobody's got the guts to be a J. Cole. Nobody's got the guts to be a Kendrick Lamar. We need more of them... Everybody wants to go the easy route.
I would always rather shoot for something unique and fail than do a script because I feel like they're hitting all the right mainstream beats.
I don't know if a song is going to be a hit or it's going to flop. I never know. I just do the music and if people like it, they like it.
Acting is one element in a film. Directing is sort of the painter using all of those elements - sound and music and camera and putting it all together. And that can be fun and exciting. If you fail, it's incredibly upsetting - much more upsetting than when you're an actor. But when you succeed it's incredibly, incredibly exciting, so I like the risk of it all.
I love Channel 4 and Clerkenwell Films, they aren't afraid to take risks.
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.
An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.
No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.
If I waited for perfection... I would never write a word.
Art is nowhere near as dangerous as it should be.
I simply asked if I could have a go at adapting a screenplay. But I did not want any money, in case I failed because I did not want a script out there with my name on it that might be completely dysfunctional.
The important thing is not what we write but how we write, and in my opinion the modern writer must be an adventurer above all, willing to take every risk, and be prepared to founder in his effort if need be. In other words we must write dangerously
There was a time when a studio executive would really love something and have no proof at all that it would work and just do it because they believed in it. That's how 'Star Wars' happened.
Art should walk a tightrope. That's what art should be. Art should be dangerous. You can't be scared to say something with it. People love to talk about how comics are real art and real literature, so why not use these characters to talk about real things, even if it is dangerous?
