Quotes from Takashi Miike

It's not my goal to make so many movies. It's just sort of a natural process, and I'm just doing my job. And I'm not tied to any genre; I'm willing to do anything. I just keep going.

The directors whose films scare me the most, are the ones who carefully hide the aggression in the background, and don't show it directly.

I'm not good at anything else. I just don't have a talent for anything other than filmmaking. Luckily, it's worked out.

Regarding the responsibility that a director has to society, first of all, there are ratings. There's freedom to make films, and freedom to watch them or not. It's not like I take those films to a school and force kids to watch them.

First Love' is one of my most hopeful movies. It's about love and relationships, so in that way it's different from my other films. That's why it's special for me.

I'm deeply appreciative that many people have enjoyed my films, films that I made in my own style. The successes have helped me learn how to make films free of expectations and focus solely on the pure filmmaking aspect, without worrying about how much money it'll make.

For better or worse, I refuse to live my life with regret. Sometimes, I'll look back on my past mistakes with fondness. But I never wished I wouldn't have made them. That's why I don't like re-takes.

I felt that all of us working on our remake of '13 Assassins' had to honour the original director, Eiichi Kudo, and everyone else who created the original.

I'm just curious how it'd look like if someone tried to remake my work. But I really believe that it's hard to remake of any of my work.

Visually, I want to try everything. But I believe that every shot of my films really expresses what I think about the story and the character. The most important thing is the story, not the images.

Imprint' was definitely the scariest project that I've worked on.

I don't choose to make low-budget films. But that is the reality of surviving in the Japanese film industry. However, the trade off is, since we're working on small budgets, we have freedom. You can't buy this freedom with money. With this freedom, I think there are an infinite number of possibilities.

I am like any other human being; I am full of different sides.

More than my films being influenced by manga I was indelibly impressed by Manga, and that definitely comes out in the films.

That's a very Japanese idea - that children are an extension of their parents. And that when you're reborn, your new form reflects the sins of your previous life - you can't escape.

Kurosawa was truly inventive.

It wasn't really my intention to make movies quickly - it's more to do with the reality of the Japanese film industry. That's been the only way for me to change my situation; to prove how little time you need to make a good film.

You could not imitate Fellini. His beauty was above anything else, but that intelligence was typically Italian. This helped me to realise that I had to create something that was distinctively Japanese.

I don't slot actors into the image of a character that's already built. I build characters by listening to the voice and the story inside the heart of each actor. Art and life are linked, and expressed through my actors.

Even if I were to try to imitate Kurosawa I know that it's absolutely impossible. That era of film was just something else, including the actors. Everything about that era was on a completely different level.

The people who like my work, I know that I can't trick them into laughing someplace where there is not a genuine reason to laugh.

Boxing is a metaphor for hitting back and showing you can win in life.

And if I'm running away from something, I try to make myself face it and overcome that initial fear. As a director, I don't think it's possible to make a movie that you really don't want to make.

It's not really important to make skillful movies. I think expressing yourself really well, skill-wise, is not as important. I want it to be sort of raw and rough but new and fun to watch.