Quotes from Takashi Miike

I guess, in a sense, 'Audition' was a film that gave me an opportunity that I hadn't had up until that point. So that's definitely one that is important to me. Then there's 'Visitor Q' that kind of taught me that there are some kinds of films that can only be made as low-budget films that really wouldn't work as anything else.

I use depth in my visuals even in 2-D, and found that 3-D is actually liberating.

I am attracted to bad people because they are very human.

I think that every character, no matter how different they may be perceived, they all have their beautiful moments. All humans do. All people do.

Once I started working as an assistant director, I just realized very quickly that working on a film set was just a perfect fit for me.

For the birth of one champion, there are many young boxers behind them who had setbacks. In terms of that, I think boxing is very dramatic.

For many years, I was on working on films which were so small of a budget that I could not even build a set. So, when I was finally able to work on set, it was a rewarding moment. I felt the same feeling when the camera changed from 16 mm to 35 mm.

I honestly do feel like the Yakuza film genre is going away. And I don't personally feel like there's any meaning in trying to artificially extend the life of the Yakuza film genre.

I'm actually quite a scaredy cat, myself.

Some people have iconic directors in their mind, or they want to make particular styles of films they have seen before. I think this is a waste of time and energy.

I would recommend 'Lesson Of The Evil' to be given as a DVD gift on a child's 15th birthday. In Japan, children under 15 are not allowed to watch it. Plus, 'Lesson Of The Evil' is one film where the older you get, the more you will be able to understand and enjoy the film.

I have three kids. Now they're all grown up, but when they were little, every time I would start a new project, they would say, 'So dad, are you making a movie we can watch or one we cannot watch?' That's the kind of stuff they would ask. People around me - family and friends - usually know when to watch and when not to watch.

The hero has to be an archetype; they have to be like a dream; they have to be perfect. The evil is closer to us.

I just feel my body clock is different when it comes to making films than other directors. Being on set, and sweating, that feeling eases me more than actually when the movie's over; being on set, moving around, to me feels more relaxing than being done with the movie.

As a film-maker, it's only natural to feel happy about new possibilities opening up.

Where there is love, there is a possibility of violence but it's not that love is connected to violence but there's a possibility.

Maybe many directors are trying to create their own style of filmmaking, or to respond to audiences that come expect a certain style from them. But I don't care about that - I don't intend to have a 'Miike' style. I just pour myself into each film, enjoy it, and then what comes out just seems to have a 'Miike' style.

Every medium has its own kind of freedom. I don't want to just cross from one to the next. I want to enjoy the freedom each one has. Sometimes, you can do something for TV that you can't do in the cinema.

In Japan, violence isn't as controversial as it is in the West.

I'm even a little afraid of the dark. If I'm alone in the dark I'll sometimes feel that there's a presence behind me and I'll even be afraid to turn around, but then if I do get the courage to turn around, I'll just be scared that whatever was there has just jumped over to the other side of me.

I think what people think about my films depends on the film they see. It's all different and opinions are all different.

I myself have always had that secret desire to become something completely different and enact revenge on certain things. So I do that through my movies. My desires become reality in the movie because it can't become real in real life.

I loved spaghetti westerns but besides these pure entertainment movies, there was also something different.

You hide your instinctive self and instead create a social self with lies. That's how people are able to get along with each other. What's scary is when you strip all the lies away to get at the essential you. What if it's pure evil? You don't want to face that. So lies aren't all bad - we need them to live.