I think there's all these unknown things you can tap into when you just leave things open, and nothing is forbidden. Then you allow yourself to mold that thing that has been created by freedom and spontaneity and flexibility. That's why I avoid limiting performances of actors and characters.
Yorgos Lanthimos
'The Lobster,' at some point, was my most accessible film. Then I made 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer,' which turned out to be not as accessible as 'The Lobster.' It was the film I wanted to make and the story I wanted to tell.
Provocative... I used to be defensive about it, but in the end, I realised it's exactly right. It's what we're trying to do - to provoke thought and discussion and, you know, shake people up to start thinking about things in a different way. I'm interested in messing with what they think is the norm.
I work very physically. I don't like to intellectualize too much about what we're doing, or analyze it.
If you use music boldly at the front of a scene, it creates another level.
It's hard not to be political.
All the talented and smart actors, they get it: as soon as it comes out of their mouth, they know if it's right or wrong. If the writing has a particular voice, they get it, and they can hit it.
Rebellion is not always the right thing. Following the rules is not always the right thing. You have to think for yourself and identify the things that do not work for you.
Because we're brought into the world or educated in a certain way, we're trained to accept the world in a certain way.
I think it's been obvious from the beginning that my projects are not going to be something that people already have in mind. You can't be thinking about such things when you create something.
If actors are trying to convey, in a smart way, the context of the scene, that becomes too self-conscious.
I just think it's interesting to start a dialogue.
It was always hard to make films in Greece, but making them with friends made it possible.
Of course you can't do anything completely original.
I am calm but on the outside, mostly. When I'm on a film set, the stress is so humongous that I'm dying inside - I'm extremely stressed, but I do try, and... well, I don't try. I think it's my natural reaction to not externalize things.
There's much more activity in England than in Greece. Or at least there's a lot more development, which obviously brings another set of problems.
I am not interested in representing reality. Actually, I am interested in representing reality, but that doesn't mean a naturalistic approach, which I think is kind of impossible.
Everybody has a love/hate relationship with their own country.
Sometimes people say things and don't really know what they mean by what they're saying. Subconsciously, it might mean something different.
I always try and decide what I'm interested in, and I just do that.
All of us have been through relationships; there have been periods of time when we've been single. It's something that everyone experiences. It's a matter of making that observation and then start to ask questions about it: Why is it like that? And why do we feel that? And why are we organized this way? Isn't there any other way?
Don't think too hard. Just be present, and things will reveal themselves.
There are various ways of delivering some kind of truth, so I try to find the style or the way that I find more effective.
I make films that are what they are. Some people like them, and some people don't.
For me, filmmaking is not about making statements but about exposing human behavior so people are eager enough to start thinking on their own and make their own assumptions.
Personal relationships, mood, chance, or anything like that can actually affect people's decisions, and when they're in a position of power, their capriciousness can affect the fate of a nation.
I want all the mistakes to be mine, and I want to take responsibility for everything even if I fail. Whatever the project is, I need to have the final say.
I never think in metaphors or fully make those kind of associations myself. I just lay down a complex situation and hope things arise from that.
Something that's a hilarious comedy, for someone else might be a drama.
As long as I can make the films I want to make in decent conditions, I am happy.
Most times, women are seen through the male gaze, so they are often shown as housewives, girlfriends, or objects of desire.
I work very closely with my co-writer, Efthimis Filippou. Ideas either start from him or me, and then the other one develops it, and it's a constant conversation.
Telling a story is the way of exploring so many different things - human behavior, society, whatever existence.
For me, casting is very instinctive, and if I don't feel good about it, I just can't go ahead and make the film.
I feel kind of offended when I watch films, and everything is explained to me - you know, laying out how I should feel from one scene to the next.
I always loved films, and when I decided to go to film school, it was with the excuse that I would go into making commercials, because that would be a proper profession, and people wouldn't think I was crazy.
Starting in Greece, you couldn't really say, 'I'm going to become a film-maker.' A 15-year-old boy in Greece in the '80s and '90s? There was nothing like that happening.
I think I do things that are more common in theatre.
I don't have time to read much. I'm trying to read 'The Brothers Karamazov' again, for a year now - I keep getting halfway, and then there's a lot of work, and I forget it, and I have to go back to the beginning.
I just try and decide what I'm interested in and what excites me. I don't worry about how it's going to be perceived.
I never thought that I would ever actually get to make films. Being from Greece, it wasn't really a reality.
I did have a lot of years watching and appreciating dance and theater and all of those kind of things, and it has informed the way that I work with actors and the way I approach things.
It's hard for me to find a script that's perfectly suited to me, so even if it's a good script, I'll still have to work on it with someone and shape it, making it the film that I want to make. So in that respect, I prefer to do the stuff that I've generated anyway.
Having rules means that sometimes people break them, and that means punishment.
I wasn't a film buff.
I've played around with the notion of making a series on the premise of 'Alps' because it's one of the films no one saw.
I either enjoy things or not. And things either make me think, or they don't. Or they mess with me, and I feel awkward.
As an audience member myself, I love to be in a position where I'm trying to figure out what I am supposed to feel or if what I'm feeling is appropriate or not.
I wouldn't know what to say about something that worked in a perfect way, so I guess, in everything, I try to find what doesn't work and expose it and then see how it relates to people and their stories and their character.
I never think about it much, the visual aspect of it, until we start making the movie. I don't really think about it when we write. When we finish, and I start putting the film together, and we pick the locations, I do think about that a lot.
