Quotes from Takeshi Kitano

When people tell me I'm an artist, I say, 'What?' It's impossible for me to take the idea seriously.

My philosophy is that one shall not resort to violence unless one is resolved to become the subject of violence at any time.

Sword fighting in film is not about how good the fighter is, but how good the actor receiving the blows is.

Being a TV comedian, actor, writer, columnist, and all that is quite helpful to me in acquiring wide varieties of knowledge, which is crucial for filmmaking.

I don't really expect much from my life. So when I heard my films are premiering in film festival circuits I was glad of course but I thought it was lucky accident.

One thing I hate in movies is when the camera starts circling around the characters. I find that totally fake.

I paint for the sheer joy of painting. I have never sold any of my paintings. I'd rather give them to people for free.

My film directorial career has been nothing but repetition of one failure after another!

I thought maybe I could become like the next Van Gogh. I bought a sunflower and painted it, and it looked like the work of a 6-year-old.

I do all these various activities like painting and writing, comedy and films probably because not that I'm good at everything but because I'm not good at any of these things.

The thing about art for me is that you can go on theorising your work forever, because it's open to interpretation.

Humour is like violence. They both come to you unexpectedly, and the more unpredictable they both are, the better it gets.

For me comedy and violence has a lot in common. Just as you expect, comedy always lurks behind the most unexpected of circumstances.

I intentionally shoot violence to make the audience feel real pain. I have never and I will never shoot violence as if it's some kind of action video game.

My film directorial career has been nothing but repetition of one failure after another!

I think I am more of a coward than anybody. It's a very weird feeling. The more I fear violence, the more I'm inclined to depict it in films.