Elle Fanning was fifteen when we started [The Neon Demon]. She turned seventeen during the shoot. Four weeks before Cannes, she turned eighteen. She had her prom at Cannes. Nicolas Winding Refn More Quotes by Nicolas Winding Refn More Quotes From Nicolas Winding Refn Like all art forms, film is a media as powerful as weapons of mass destruction; the only difference is that war destroys and film inspires. Nicolas Winding Refn powerful inspirational art Creativity is narcissism. Creativity is falling in love with one's self as you create. It's self-indulgent. Nicolas Winding Refn creativity falling-in-love fall I feel that silence is the greatest word, ever. When you don't talk, people begin to read things into you or you become what they long for. When you don't talk, you almost become the mirror image of the other person. Nicolas Winding Refn mirrors long people I am a child of cinema, and I am a cineaste, so everything I do is a reference to something I've heard or experienced or seen. And we all do it, we all steal. The ones who claim they don't, are obviously lying, because you do. You just have to make it your own. Nicolas Winding Refn cinema lying children I love fear, and fear breeds creativity. It forces you to react instinctively, which is the essence of movement. Movement is a creativity - a sense of an emotional movement. And the more instinctual you can make that, the more pleasurable it is. It's like an infant drawing. You're completely uninhibited because creativity is a wonderful expression. Good or bad, who cares? That's part of the past. The act of creativity is what's interesting. Nicolas Winding Refn creativity emotional past Cinema is mass media, it is both overtly gross and exciting. It is our great mirror of society. Nicolas Winding Refn cinema media mirrors I don't believe that art makes people violent in any way. I don't. But I do believe art can show people how to be violent and that's much more dangerous in a way. Nicolas Winding Refn believe people art I think that I am a pornographer, meaning that I make movies based on what excites me and what I would like to see. Nicolas Winding Refn thinking The artificial world that we create through images will essentially become real. Nicolas Winding Refn artificial real world The problem with cinema nowadays is that it's a math problem. People can read a film mathematically; they know when this comes or that comes; in about 30 minutes, it's going to be over and have an ending. So film has become a mathematical solution. And that is boring, because art is not mathematical. Nicolas Winding Refn math people art Look at the birth of anything; it's always more violent than anything you could ever imagine. Nicolas Winding Refn birth imagine looks I've been making films with almost no dialogue (laughs), so sound and music become a very powerful character to tell the story. It's almost like with sound and music and images, it's your tool to tell the story, especially when I decide to structure the film in a way that usually goes against the conventions of the three-act structure which most films are made out of. Nicolas Winding Refn sound-and-music powerful character Reaction is what changes your understanding of the world. Nicolas Winding Refn reactions understanding world There's incredible effect in being either loved or hated, but knowing that, either way, you have penetrated the mind and have altered it; that is a very pleasurable feeling. Nicolas Winding Refn knowing mind feelings I mean, what do you think creativity is? Nothing but self-indulgence. And the more self-indulgent it is, the more interesting it becomes. So I think that part of creativity is also falling in love with your own narcissism: accepting it, using it as an asset. Nicolas Winding Refn creativity falling-in-love love-you I wanted to make a horror film about beauty. Nicolas Winding Refn horror film wanted We live in a beauty-obsessed culture, which on one hand is absolutely fabulous, but on the flip side, is also dangerously extreme. Nicolas Winding Refn fabulous culture hands I've never really been on a date, because I've been with the same girl since my early twenties, but on our first date, I showed her The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I was like, "Hey, you've got to see this!" And we've been together ever since. Nicolas Winding Refn texas girl together The idea of narcissism, essentially, is and will be accepted as a virtue. Nicolas Winding Refn narcissism virtue ideas You must understand that violence in a movie is only a tool. If it's used badly, it will be horrible. If it's used correctly, it can be very interesting. But, essentially, it's just a tool. Nicolas Winding Refn violence tools interesting
