Yorgos Lanthimos

I never thought that I would ever actually get to make films. Being from Greece, it wasn't really a reality.

The way I work, and the material we work with, I think if you analyze too much and have too many specific ideas, it just becomes a little bit too superficial, and then performances might become too self-conscious and project relatively narrow things.

'The Lobster' is very particular, and we did need to create a very specific world with specific rules so the whole premise would work.

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.

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.

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.

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 either enjoy things or not. And things either make me think, or they don't. Or they mess with me, and I feel awkward.

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 wasn't a film buff.

Having rules means that sometimes people break them, and that means punishment.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 think I do things that are more common in theatre.

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.

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.

If you use music boldly at the front of a scene, it creates another level.

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.

In film, I like transformation. That goes for the language, for the image, for the performance.

In general, I like contradictions and complex situations.

Anytime people see an emotion that is not extremely emotional, they call it 'deadpan.'

It's hard not to be political.

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.

People influence each other, so one screening will be filled with laughs while another is dead silent.

Being extremely honest is quite funny. But there's no recipe or concept that I can bring up that fully defines what we find humorous. It's instinctive.

Because we're brought into the world or educated in a certain way, we're trained to accept the world in a certain way.

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 find it very interesting to keep people uncertain about what is what and figure it out as they go.

I think human relationships - the whole thing is cruel. It's very difficult.

In any case, I would never make a film that was only one thing. Even if it's my warmest, most romantic film, I still want it to have the more cynical view of things, showing the irony and absurdity of things that we consider normal.

I work very physically. I don't like to intellectualize too much about what we're doing, or analyze it.

I will not become analytical about my work.

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.

I haven't been a director-for-hire for any project. I work with people who appreciate that, understand that, and want to work that way.

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.

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.

When I look at my films, all I see is everything that went wrong.

Something that's a hilarious comedy, for someone else might be a drama.

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.

Sometimes people say things and don't really know what they mean by what they're saying. Subconsciously, it might mean something different.

I just think it's interesting to start a dialogue.

I wouldn't be making films if I just wanted to express some specific ideas; then I would be writing essays or something.

I always expect people to be torn when they see one of my films and divided in some way.

For some reason, I guess, people wanted me to prove myself in English-language films.

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?