Udo Kier

“In Hollywood, they make movies like they make washing machines. It's a business. In Europe, the films are considered art. No producer would ever tell a director where to cut a film or how to re-write the script. I love Hollywood, but all of the time I have to go back to Europe.”

“I get nervous when I'm sitting in an airplane at 10,000 feet and then the sign comes on: 'Please fasten your seatbelt for turbulence.'”

“Anybody can act.”

“I'm an aesthetic person who loves beauty.”

“I'm a very quiet person actually.”

“I don't wear gloves when I work in the garden.”

“I've done more than 65 films. I don't count them anymore. The first 10 you count and then you stop.”

“The best compliment for a director is that an audience hates their films.”

“The good thing about films is, you never know how good they will be. If there was a formula, there would only be good films!”

“The villain is the character that the people remember.”

“I like digital films.”

“I love the smell of the Earth. I'm a good cook my friends say. I love cooking for my friends. So I'm totally the opposite of being evil. I think only if you're a good person can you be very evil onscreen.”

“I don't mind playing Nazis, but I'll only play them in comedies. I wouldn't play a serious Nazi.”

“I like to go from film to film, meeting new people and playing new roles. Because actors are like children: They want to play, and I like to play.”

“All of these great directors I've worked with, they've all come to me. I never go after it.”

“Lars von Trier, Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog: They all write, which is much better because it's their baby, and they know what they want.”

“With these kinds of figures you can do whatever you want as an actor because there are no guidelines, there are no real vampires. Except in Los Angeles, where everybody's a vampire, you know?”

“There are certain people who I worked with, Pamela Anderson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, they are figures. And they know this. They don't pretend to be good actors. They were made by the industry into figures.”

“I'm very lucky to say that I worked with a lot of directors who cannot make a bad film. Like when Wim Wenders, they cannot make a bad film. They can make a film people don't like, or it's the wrong moment.”

“I like Prague, it's strange. All the houses you see look like Disney sets, with their bright colours.”