John Hillcoat

“There are so many tricks and so much eye candy in cinema. What I love about the classicism of genre is that there's a discipline. I think it's a healthy thing to resist all that candy.”

“I know the power of going to Mount St. Helens, and to see that level of devastation is quite something - the power of tsunamis, etc. But it's human cruelty, the base level of humanity, that scares me most.”

“I always try and find a place for Guy Pearce. The great thing about him is he's so versatile, and I wouldn't work with an actor that much if it weren't for the fact that he had so much versatility.”

“I like restraint. Even with actors, restraint is something that I work on the most.”

“I like to do commercials that are more than just flogging a product. It needs to have something to say. It's always an opportunity for a director to say something substantial and interesting.”

“The last time I played video games was 'Space Invaders.'”

“Basically, I frittered away the Nineties making pop videos and being pretty self-indulgent.”

“What's amazing about 'White Heat' is that, even for its time, it's very truthful in the way it deals with violence.”

“Film has its own innate poetry.”

“What I like is finding new angles on genres.”

“I have always thought of films as stories for the world.”

“I take very seriously that challenge of trying to do genre films - but elevated genre films.”

“What irritates me about sci-fi is that it got hijacked by video games and also became so high-concept it was all about ideas and gadgets and technology and nothing about the human experience.”

“Bands are actively seeking more film involvement - because the days of recording albums and MTV and even touring, to some extent, are gone.”

“When you're working with an ensemble, I think you really need different energies because you don't have much time with each character to make them feel real. You want strong personalities that are very different.”

“I love working with ensemble groups of actors.”

“The Globes are voted for by anyone in L.A. who's ever written for a foreign newspaper or magazine. That means, like, Romanian cookery writers.”

“Everyone has a family, even if they're at war or fallen apart. It's the closest initial bond, and there's a sort of primal element to that. Your primary relationships are formed out of family.”