Paolo Sorrentino

I have learned that I will not pay any attention to anything people say about my movies, because people say things that are all over the place.

There are contemporary artists that I hate with all my heart. These are provocateurs that are without feeling. Where is the real emotion?

The thing is, even though you think a lot about your movie, and there's a lot of preparation behind it, the final end result completely goes beyond it. It's not something you're aware of.

The fear of old age is something that one feels when they're younger. Once you get to being old, you're already there, so you don't even think about it anymore.

I hibernate. I hibernate until the next project takes shape in my mind.

Rome is a city I love very much. I have lived there since I was a child.

I usually don't say anything to the actors. It works better for me because when they come to the set, they are at the same time scared and excited because they are not well aware of what will happen.

Going around Rome, you can find beauty because, quite simply, Rome is very beautiful. But the beauty of the people is sometimes harder to discover.

I think cinema has this beautiful component. It's a universal language.

What I'm interested in is human beings alone.

Wasting time is something that people do or feel all over the world, not just in Italy.

What I find compelling is the moment in which people realize, with suffering and pain, that in the past there was a time when they were happy, because back then the present and the future coincided - they were one and the same thing.

There's one thing that I like about Rome that was stated by Napoleon: that from sublime to pathetic is only one step away. And in Rome there's a constant shifting between sublime and pathetic.

I don't use Twitter. I'm a serious person.

Rome is a city where in every corner you have a reminder of the sacred world. That's why I have sacred music, minimalist sacred music, which is also music I like, because at the end of the day, that's what I want to do.

The way I work with my cinematographer is not based on general principles, but the ideas are triggered by the locations where we shoot.

I do read a lot. I read more than I watch movies.