Refn Quotes & Sayings

My movie [The Neon Demon] is a hyper-version of the obsession with beauty. As this crazy obsession grows, longevity does not. Everything seems to become younger and younger. The girls and people around them cannibalize themselves. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I can do my part of the storytelling. I can carry it. I can paint it. I can maneuver it. I can massage it. But if I don't have anything to work with, then there's nothing. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Actually, there was one sequence but Liv didn't put this in but at the end of the movie, we ran out of money. Literally, ran out. And I couldn't make payroll. So I emptied all our accounts to make payroll. We were kinda like, "What do we do?" Then out of the blue, we were saved by Gucci. So it's always been like, you just gotta reach for the stars and hopefully the moon will catch you. — Nicolas Winding Refn

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

In "Drive," there's a heightened male edge. In "Only God Forgives," it was almost crawling back into the womb of the mother. And now with "The Neon Demon," being reborn as a 16-year-old girl. — Nicolas Winding Refn

In a way, art is a great way to release your love, fantasy, and desires. It's like a fetish. It's a comfortable way of excising a lot of your conscience. — Nicolas Winding Refn

The world needs change, change needs an activity. It has to be planted by a thought. — Nicolas Winding Refn

The vibe, it's that excitement. New York, you just can't describe it. You get a similar thing from Paris and London, but it's not New York. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Personally I kept my feelings out of it and created a fantasy. That's the process of going through this world being beautiful. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I don't know if power seduces less or more. I think power is a constant evolving mechanism that, since the dawn of time, on one level corrupts and on another level does not. But I think, no matter what, mutates. — Nicolas Winding Refn

There will always be a theatrical experience because there will always be cinemas no matter what. It's like there will always be theaters to have stage plays in. — Nicolas Winding Refn

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

I like doing the promotional work. It's part of the film's process. Cannes was very wonderful to premiere. — Nicolas Winding Refn

My initial idea was I wanted to make it a horror film, very much. At times I do enter that world. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I've been lucky to have a beautiful wife and children. The idea that something so beautiful can be so horrific at the same time. Beauty is a complex thing. — Nicolas Winding Refn

It's the hardest thing for an actor not to speak because you take away their main tool. So for an actor, it's very frustrating and very challenging, and very few people can pull it off. Some actors can say a thousand words with just a look, and it's a unique gift. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I feel Amazon is really bringing films into the future. So for me it was the best of both worlds. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Jenna Malone was a very important piece of how the film [The Neon Demon] turned out. — Nicolas Winding Refn

The casting of any film is around 60% of the film, but it's also about the right casting insight. It's a bit like a house of cards, everyone has to match up in a certain way so the whole structure is grounded. So that's essential, and yes, it's about finding the right people and the right constellation around the lead character. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Creativity is very self-indulgent. — Nicolas Winding Refn

The thing with Ryan, you can look at him for hours. Very few actors have that. It's a gift. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Only God Forgives was very much a generation gap in a way. It was all the youth of the world that embraced it. I make films for young people. That's what I will continue to do. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I woke up one day and I realized I wasn't born beautiful, but my wife was, so I decided to make a horror film about it: what it would be like to be born beautiful. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I try not to have too specific notions because it messes up the process later on. I leave it very open to interpretation until I start casting. Everything changes a lot when you start casting. I mean everything. — Nicolas Winding Refn

The conversations about a film are an example of success because then you know whatever you've done has resonated. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I've been trying to get away from physical violence; it's too easy; it doesn't satisfy me artistically to work with it. Dramatic violence is much more interesting, but it's much more difficult. — Nicolas Winding Refn

[The Neon Demon] was more my own fascination with beauty. It's my children's fascination beauty. — Nicolas Winding Refn

The fairy tale always takes place in worlds that are between, unidentifiable. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I like the early comic book characters more than the new ones. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I very much enjoy my freedom creatively but I also would love to make one of those big Hollywood films that costs a lot of money and has a lot of people running around with cell phones and all that insanity. — Nicolas Winding Refn

The act of creation can be an extreme violent experience. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I'm a fetish filmmaker, in that I don't know why I do what I do, I just like to see things. When I figure out what I would like to see, I will put it in a film. — Nicolas Winding Refn

The idea of narcissism, essentially, is and will be accepted as a virtue. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I had met Keanu [Reeves]a few times so it was a great way to reach out to him with an actual job offer. He very kindly agreed to be part of it and it was an amazing experience. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I also believe on a practical level, if you're taking time away from people, besides entertaining them, I think it's important that there's something to react to. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I think that Danish people may be thought off as the happiest people, but honestly ... I love America. — Nicolas Winding Refn

All my other movies have the same process. Same approach. Same amount of changes. Everything. Things being made up on the fly. Changing things around. Firing and recasting. Constantly, constantly, in chronological sequence, not really knowing how this is going to end up. That is the only dogmatic approach I take towards everything. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I have not seen "Batman v Superman," unfortunately. It hasn't been on the plane, as I've been flying a lot. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Financing films that are demanding is a task, in itself. Because people are so afraid of taking any kind of chance, because they're afraid the audience isn't going to respond. But the audience is so hungry for anything that's a bit original, personal, or different. — Nicolas Winding Refn

In the end, self-indulgence is very much about your ego and your vanity and your own id. The more you can indulge in it, the more pleasurable it becomes. And then when it feeds out, it's able to penetrate the mind and create a reaction. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I never desired to really go to Hollywood and make films, and purely because I want my entire control, which I'm used to having. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I love watching the superhero movies and I would love to make one. — Nicolas Winding Refn

But once you get down to reality, there's no one to play her and there's no movie. It would be ridiculous. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I just close my eyes and I fantasize what I would like to see. — Nicolas Winding Refn

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

We live in a society right now which is the last phase of the ecosystem in terms of the old entertainment value, or the old entertainment construction, which is we've gone down to this instant gratification, instant numbers, instant understanding, instant. But it's like the exact - it has perfected itself to the instant click, when, in a way, creativity originates as a much more complex beast. So we now have to reinvent a new canvas where we can indulge in it. And that's where the digital revolution creates a whole new ecosystem of entertainment. — Nicolas Winding Refn

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

I think that experiencing through art is a wonderful way to expand the horizon and everything around it. — Nicolas Winding Refn

The Oriental approach to violence is a much more aesthetic and poetic approach, whereas in the western world, violence is put in because you can't solve the problem. Violence is always the last solution, but unfortunately, in cinema, it's the first solution, because it's easy. And it's often too easy. — Nicolas Winding Refn

The first person I ever described the film [The Neon Demon] to was Christina Hendricks [who has a cameo in the movie]. We were having dinner in LA and she asked me what I wanted to do next and I said, "I want to do a horror movie." And she goes, "What's it going to be about?" And I said, "A lot of blood and high heels." — Nicolas Winding Refn

The kind of group mentality that we had lived under since the Second World War is starting to erupt, and the craving for individualism is now much stronger. It's not as taboo anymore, as it was when I was younger. — Nicolas Winding Refn

That's half of what we do our daily lives - we react to our surroundings. Of course, we have to make it entertaining, and we are entertainers. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I consider it a great honour that my movie Drive inspired so many wonderful artists to come together and create one ultra-cool glam experience. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Cinema is mass media, it is both overtly gross and exciting. It is our great mirror of society. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I don't do drugs, and so music very much gets me going. When I do something, I think, "If it was a piece of music, what would it be?" — Nicolas Winding Refn

I think that television has become really, really interesting, in terms of character development. You can have 13 hours to develop a character, as opposed to 25 minutes in a movie. That excites me. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I sometimes play different kinds of music to see where the performers end up. I play one genre. Then something else when I do it again. It really helps. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I never look at the internet because then you just have nothing else to do but just look. Most generally, and even myself as a consumer, you think you know what you want. But what's more interesting is figuring out what you don't want. I think the only way that I can do that is just to do what I think is right. That is the only real gesture of respect. Then people can react to the movie how they want to react. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Ironically, even the fashion in New York or Paris or Milan or whatever, or music in Berlin, or art in, I don't know, Madrid - all these scenes come and go. Everything leads back to Hollywood. — Nicolas Winding Refn

If you create something that is essentially alien to you - as a man - and make a film about woman, the more I can surround myself with woman and combine it with my soul's point of view, the more I become a stranger in a strange land. — Nicolas Winding Refn

When you make something that everyone likes, it's very easy to say, "Well, I'll just repeat that." Because that was easy. I have a formula. But creatively, it's not very interesting. — Nicolas Winding Refn

And to be fair, most documentaries are half an hour too long, anyway. Let's not kid ourselves. Most movies are an hour too long. I will say that the internet has changed everything in terms of distribution and because of iTunes and other outlets like that, length is no longer something you really think about, in my opinion. It's irrelevant. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I love films, I love movies, I love television, I love television series, I love the internet, I love anything that enhances images. But most of all, I love, love movies. — Nicolas Winding Refn

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

I certainly believe that creativity must be an experience. If I'm to steal time away from people, we should give them something to react to. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I did a TV show called 'Unit 1.' It wasn't a bad experience, but yes, the first season I didn't have a good time because I was coming from Nicolas Winding Refn films where the corners were sharp and radical, but now we had round corners. — Mads Mikkelsen

People very quickly define success due to the amount of money something makes. In the end, I think everyone is searching for that experience. That's why we continue to go to the movies and watch television. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Where war destroys, art inspires. And in order to inspire, you need to penetrate the brain. In order to penetrate the brain, you need something to react to. To have something to react to, you need to get your emotions up and running. To get your emotions up and running, you need to have something that ... whatever direction you go in, it has to be a movement between you and the experience. — Nicolas Winding Refn

In the end, we're just showmen. But, I think that it's an important factor. Not to be anything else but clear about that - for me, creativity is an important part of our evolution. Art has probably done more good for the world than war. But they're equally powerful. They both create revolutions. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Love comes from the strangest places. — Nicolas Winding Refn

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

I've stopped showing actors what to actually do. I rather just talk to them about it. Then I usually play music. That's a great way to convey inner emotion, bring the power of style and acting together. That's really what it is, very good acting without talking. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Film works when a director and a star have a connection. You know, when there's something telekinetic between them, there's a partnership, it's like alter egos. It's like James Stewart and Alfred Hitchcock, or Fellini and Mastroianni. I'm not comparing, I'm just saying, if you can come into a relationship where the director and star have such a bond, it's so much easier to make a movie. — Nicolas Winding Refn

If the Wizard of Oz were real he would be in Hollywood. — Nicolas Winding Refn

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

I was in Hollywood. It's the mythology heart. It's where all the European films came in the '30s and '40s. The marriage between Europe and Hollywood has always been the best when it works. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Nowadays, teenagers are so fast and quick to see through any form of manipulation. Sitting down and just thinking of something is like watching really bad pornography. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I was always a fan of Nic. With his movie, you know it's "A Nic Refn Movie." — Elle Fanning

When we met, my agenda was "Get Elle Fanning." I believe Elle's was "Get the role." But we didn't know that. — Nicolas Winding Refn

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

Doing your first film, it's very important that it's a commercial success, because that gives you a couple times to experiment until you have to hit the jackpot again. — Nicolas Winding Refn

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

Financially, it was very successful. Which is the most important thing. That is the only way you get to make another movie. It's very simple. The market will value you. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I love rock ballads, and I'm kind of in emotional turmoil, being ill and high, so I start to sing to the song, I turn it up and start to sing. — Nicolas Winding Refn

Sometimes you can play against type, or you can just repeat what they've already done. It can be an obstacle; it's a very fine line. — Nicolas Winding Refn

If an actor or actress is recognizable, that changes our perception of them. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I've done collaborations in all my movies, and I think it's part of what I enjoy about the process. This kind of intimacy that you create. Because it becomes very intimate. — Nicolas Winding Refn

How can creativity be bad? You can have, "I liked it" or "I didn't like it," but, in the end, it's an individual experience. How can you even begin to define that? I find that sometimes extremely arrogant and counter-productive. — Nicolas Winding Refn

You know the one I want to do? I want to make Batgirl. — Nicolas Winding Refn

The character requires so many elements. The only one who could fulfill that was this one person: Elle Fanning. — Nicolas Winding Refn

[Liv Corfixen] very much part of my life in that she's everything in my life and we found a way to use each other much more on a creative level as well. She was kind of the idea for this movie so I wanted to acknowledge that. She gave me the original idea to make the film. — Nicolas Winding Refn

We have basic urges all the time. They just manifest themselves in different scenarios, and we have to turn those weaknesses into our strengths. Art is very much about making your weaknesses your strength. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I don't drive because I failed eight times and never got my license. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I can't make a film that I don't feel comfortable with. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I just think it was time [in THe Neon Demon]to do a film about women. But not just women, I wanted to do a movie about a teenage girl. It was a great counter to the masculinity of "Drive." — Nicolas Winding Refn

I wanted to make a horror film about beauty. — Nicolas Winding Refn

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

Reaction is what changes your understanding of the world. — Nicolas Winding Refn

The minute you celebrate narcissism, which on one hand is very complex, it's very ridiculous. You have to love oneself with humor. — Nicolas Winding Refn

I always say I have a Danish passport, but I am a New Yorker at heart. — Nicolas Winding Refn