Quotes from Yorgos Lanthimos

As long as I can make the films I want to make in decent conditions, I am happy.

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.

Even today, I'm not sure why I make films or what makes me want films. I think it's other people's films. Whenever I see a really great film, I think, 'I want to make a film like that.' And then I never do.

I'm interested in many different things. I guess I just want to evolve.

I make films to explore concepts and raise questions, not tell the audience what to think.

Telling a story is the way of exploring so many different things - human behavior, society, whatever existence.

I always loved films, and when I decided to go to film school, it was with the excuse that I would go into making commercials, because that would be a proper profession, and people wouldn't think I was crazy.

I want all the mistakes to be mine, and I want to take responsibility for everything even if I fail. Whatever the project is, I need to have the final say.

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

I enjoy sometimes focusing on a character in a scene that's not actually doing the main action or the talking.

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.

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.

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.

It's hard for me to consider something in cinema or theater as something realistic.

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.

There's much more activity in England than in Greece. Or at least there's a lot more development, which obviously brings another set of problems.

There are things to love about filmmaking in Greece. People are generous: If you get along well with others, the people around you will give more than they might otherwise be willing to give, more than they're supposed to.

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

It was always hard to make films in Greece, but making them with friends made it possible.

I made three films in Greece, and they're made under very specific, very limited conditions.

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.

Most times, women are seen through the male gaze, so they are often shown as housewives, girlfriends, or objects of desire.

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.

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