“I love indie movies. I think that independent cinema is where it’s at and where a lot of trends begin. It’s where new filmmakers are breaking through.”

I think my knowledge of music theory is rooted in jazz theory, and a lot of the writers of standards – Rodgers and Hart, and Gershwin.

I’ve always been a late bloomer with a lot of things, just in general, so I think this was something that needed to come to fruition in this particular way.

I don’t like to plan harmonies too much, because there’s something fun that happens when you just sing a pass, then sing another pass, and layer them on top of each other.

California is a great big nation of one They never knew what they wanted ’til it was already gone

It’s very much a piece of myself when I write a song. I don’t mean to say it’s very personal, like the lyrics mean something personal to me. When I write a song, that’s my taste in music – my taste in chord progressions and melodies.

I feel like making music because – and this has much to do with the way I was able to make this record – there’s more of myself in it.

The internet’s like one big bathroom wall with a lot of people who anonymously can say really mean things. It’s fine, I believe in freedom of speech and I think people should think what they want, but I don’t care to hear it.

Yeah, well, we were looking for something sort of anonymous. It suggests what it is, but I like that it’s modest.

In an ideal world no one would talk before 10am. People would just hug, because waking up is really hard.

Proving people wrong is probably my favorite thing to do.

The red-carpet thing of premieres and parties is probably my least favourite part of my job.

I’d be more likely to go for somebody who is like me. Well, I like creative people, so whatever that means… Yeah, authentic and creative.

In making a movie, you’re part of a big machine. Even in a small movie there are still so many people involved in the process, and it costs so much money to make.

It’s not about women acting like man, it’s about women acting like woman and being sucsessful

There’s thieves among us Painting the walls All kinds of lies , and lies I never told it all

Blossoming and unfolding are basically the same thing, but blossoming is more romantic.

I was in Italy, but completely in love with the nouvelle vague movement, and directors like Godard, Truffaut, Demy. ‘The Dreamers’ was a total homage to cinema and that love for it.

I was seduced by the nouvelle vague, because it was really reinventing everything. And the Italian cinema that one would see in the theaters in the late ’50s, early ’60s was Italian comedy, Italian style, which, to me, was like the end of neo-realism.

I think the cinema you like has more to do with silence, and the theater you like has more to do with language.

In cinema, the leading player is the director.

The movies I like are always movies where cinema is reinvented like if it was the beginning of cinema.

It’s part of developing the whole state of how cinema is; everyone is looking out and engaged rather than it being just a financial thing or sitting back, waiting for scripts to turn up.

I love awards, especially if I get them. It’s up to the courage of the filmmakers to make art in cinema, not just business. John was rejected by studios, he borrowed money and did movies with his own money. You’re either courageous or not. You have to find a way.

Opera was the cinema of its time, so to bring back that popular appeal, you just need to unleash its visceral immediacy and excitement. Most productions don’t manage that – but when an opera does do it, you never forget it.