Johan Renck

“I'm very much drawn to melancholy and those kinds of emotions.”

“I hate comedy. I don't even like comedy at all.”

“The only way to make something good is if you make it difficult for yourself on every conceivable level. You can't cut corners; you can't rest on your laurels.”

“I started out as musician and recording artist but quite soon started to do my own videos. One thing led to another, and soon I was making videos for a living.”

“I have a huge love for music and always have.”

“Building a cast is a card house. They lean on each other, provide for each other, and take from each other.”

“Working with friends isn't easy - the nature of an artistic project means it's about two strong visions colliding and a bit of mental wrestling.”

“In this artistic world, you might as well find a way to work with somebody that you have admiration for.”

“One of the things I love about my job is the cornucopia of different professions in one.”

“I wish I was really talented in music because then I would be doing it. I felt that I could write a decent song, but it was a big struggle.”

“Movies are made for people to pay and go see them.”

“When you're young, and you're doing stuff, you're making music, directing, making art, it's all future directed. You want to change stuff onward. And when you get older - this applies to me - you think about the things you want to do and how it will be perceived by your children one day.”

“I've always been interested in photography. I remember when I was about 14, I spent an entire summer selling lottery tickets in some little booth so I could make enough money to buy an Olympus camera.”

“I guess I found the life as a musician too counterproductive, as so much time was spent in tour buses & remote hotel rooms. As I am moderately hyperactive, this didn't suit my temper.”

“I'm a huge Crowley fan, I've always been. I tried to make a movie on his life a few years ago, but we didn't manage to put it together.”

“I began my career as a recording artist, and eventually I started directing my own music videos.”

“With my years of promos & commercials, I actually have a massive amount of experience with regards to production. There pretty much isn't one thing I haven't tried at least once.”

“I'm drawn to the dark but not the nihilistic aspects, the relentless parts, of darkness.”

“In an ideal world, as a director, you usually wish you could do your own thing and not have to take anyone else's point of view into account, but occasionally you work with someone like Robyn, who brings a new set of ideas to the table, and the whole ends up much greater than the sum of the parts.”

“The darkest aspects of imperialism are still very much prevalent in many cultures around the world; hundreds of years later, and we have a collective responsibility to encounter the deeds of our past.”