- I can't stand up in front of people. It just fills me with horror.
- I've been on a treadmill of plays in London and here [New York]. It's a great treadmill to be on, but I finally had to step back and maybe live a little bit more and grow up and travel and see what kind of writer or person I've become.
- I suppose I walk that line between comedy and cruelty because I think one illuminates the other. We're all cruel, aren't we? We are all extreme in one way or another at times and that's what drama, since the Greeks, has dealt with. I hope the overall view isn't just that though, or I've failed in my writing. There have to be moments when you glimpse something decent, something life-affirming even in the most twisted character. That's where the real art lies.
- In Bruges (2008) was relentless and exhausting. I had to deal with them [Focus Films, the production company] trying to change anything they could change. And Focus are supposed to be supportive, indie-filmmaker-friendly people. Scumbags. It was constant war, but they never won.[2015]
- ...the amount of control for a playwright is almost infinite, so you have that control over the finished product. But in film, you're the lowest form of life. So that was half of the job of directing, was not letting someone else come in and fuck it up. And then the other half is to learn how the hell you actually do it, which is another kettle of fish.[2012]
- [talking about what he learned from Seven Psychopaths] A realization that it should be all about character and empathy with the characters you create, that the actors create, rather than the meta, smart-ass stuff. I've learned not to be such a show-off and to have a bit more empathy with humanity. Or at least to fake that.[2017]
- Well, we're all cruel, aren't we? We're all extreme in one way or another at times, and that's what drama, since the Greeks, has dealt with. I hope the overall view isn't just that, though, or I've failed in my writing. There have to be moments when you glimpse something decent, something life-affirming even in the most twisted character. That's where the real art lies. See, I always suspect characters who are painted as lovely, decent human beings. I would always question where the darkness lies.[2001]
- [talking about Robert McKee storytelling theory ]Bulls-t. There's no fun in that. It might be fine if you... No, it's not fine even if you're starting out because it's all about formula, and formulas are f-king boring. That's why you end up with Marvel and DC films every week, where you know exactly what's going to happen. It's just like, "What kind of computer effect is going to take us there this time?"
- [talking about Frances McDormand] She's particularly adverse to doing any kind of awardsy sucking up, I kind of like that she doesn't play the Hollywood game. I don't make films very often so it's not so horrible for me. Especially when people like the film. And I'm learning how to suck up. I never used to be able to do it. But I'm getting better at being a whore. Don't tell my mum I said that.[2017]
- [on his new play "Hangmen"] There were a couple of miscarriages of justice back in the 1960s that helped prompt the abolition of hanging. It felt like an interesting subject explore. I thought I could make a kind of twisty-turny, dark, almost Joe Orton-like play out of that. [2018]
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