Top 100 Nicolas Winding Refn Quotes (2025 Update)
Page 2 of 3

51. “I don’t drive because I failed eight times and never got my license.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

52. “The idea of narcissism, essentially, is and will be accepted as a virtue.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

53. “The conversations about a film are an example of success because then you know whatever you’ve done has resonated.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

54. “I certainly believe that creativity must be an experience. If I’m to steal time away from people, we should give them something to react to.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

55. “Personally I kept my feelings out of it and created a fantasy. That’s the process of going through this world being beautiful.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

56. “Sometimes I just play the theme from Arthur. It reminds me of my childhood in New York and I just love it.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

57. “I am a child of cinema, and I am a cineaste, so everything I do is a reference to something I’ve heard or experienced or seen. And we all do it, we all steal. The ones who claim they don’t, are obviously lying, because you do. You just have to make it your own.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

58. “It’s the hardest thing for an actor not to speak because you take away their main tool. So for an actor, it’s very frustrating and very challenging, and very few people can pull it off. Some actors can say a thousand words with just a look, and it’s a unique gift.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

59. “I sometimes play different kinds of music to see where the performers end up. I play one genre. Then something else when I do it again. It really helps.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

60. “Beauty is on one level pure surface, and on the other hand, it’s the most complex subject that we can touch upon because it says everything about us as people. It’s a subject we very quickly begin to argue about. I think that’s so interesting.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

61. “In the end, we’re just showmen. But, I think that it’s an important factor. Not to be anything else but clear about that – for me, creativity is an important part of our evolution. Art has probably done more good for the world than war. But they’re equally powerful. They both create revolutions.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

62. “For me, Amazon has stepped in and presented the future of entertainment. Obviously, the future of entertainment is going to be on the internet.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

63. “The vibe, it’s that excitement. New York, you just can’t describe it. You get a similar thing from Paris and London, but it’s not New York.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

64. “Sometimes you can play against type, or you can just repeat what they’ve already done. It can be an obstacle; it’s a very fine line.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

65. “I can’t make a film that I don’t feel comfortable with.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

66. “I very much enjoy my freedom creatively but I also would love to make one of those big Hollywood films that costs a lot of money and has a lot of people running around with cell phones and all that insanity.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

67. “The more we become civilized, the more we simultaneously understand our need to be virtuous, and our need to understand our experiences on a subconscious level.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

68. “There will always be a theatrical experience because there will always be cinemas no matter what. It’s like there will always be theaters to have stage plays in.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

69. “When we met, my agenda was “Get Elle Fanning.” I believe Elle’s was “Get the role.” But we didn’t know that.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

70. “I think that’s the struggle of our normality is that we have oppressed desires because of what is accepted and not accepted in society.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

71. “The thing with Ryan, you can look at him for hours. Very few actors have that. It’s a gift.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

72. “If an actor or actress is recognizable, that changes our perception of them.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

73. “The character requires so many elements. The only one who could fulfill that was this one person: Elle Fanning.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

74. “My initial idea was I wanted to make it a horror film, very much. At times I do enter that world.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

75. “I can do my part of the storytelling. I can carry it. I can paint it. I can maneuver it. I can massage it. But if I don’t have anything to work with, then there’s nothing.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

76. “I think that experiencing through art is a wonderful way to expand the horizon and everything around it.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

77. “Amazon, being a provider – not just on the playing field – is, of course, opening up a whole new set of possibilities. At the same time, Amazon also understands platforms. For them, theatrical is an extremely important event. I also believe it’s the best way of seeing a movie.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

78. “I’ve been trying to get away from physical violence; it’s too easy; it doesn’t satisfy me artistically to work with it. Dramatic violence is much more interesting, but it’s much more difficult.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

79. “Doing your first film, it’s very important that it’s a commercial success, because that gives you a couple times to experiment until you have to hit the jackpot again.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

80. “I also believe on a practical level, if you’re taking time away from people, besides entertaining them, I think it’s important that there’s something to react to.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

81. “I love watching the superhero movies and I would love to make one.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

82. “I grew up in the ’80s and John Hughes was the filmmaker making serious movies for teenagers.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

83. “Reaction is what changes your understanding of the world.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

84. “I just close my eyes and I fantasize what I would like to see.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

85. “I think the idea was to make a horror film that became a science-fiction film with a lot of melodramatic tropes.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

86. “Abbey Lee was a very famous model and had great success. She was very open about the negative aspects of that industry.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

87. “I think the idea of individualism has become more dominating in our society. You can even see it by our political system: how people vote, the job situation, the sociological evolution that’s happening, what’s happening in the Middle East and so forth.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

88. “Good and bad, what’s good and bad? I don’t know.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

89. “Look at the birth of anything; it’s always more violent than anything you could ever imagine.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

90. “That’s half of what we do our daily lives – we react to our surroundings. Of course, we have to make it entertaining, and we are entertainers.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

91. “We have basic urges all the time. They just manifest themselves in different scenarios, and we have to turn those weaknesses into our strengths. Art is very much about making your weaknesses your strength.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

92. “I’ve done collaborations in all my movies, and I think it’s part of what I enjoy about the process. This kind of intimacy that you create. Because it becomes very intimate.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

93. “There’s incredible effect in being either loved or hated, but knowing that, either way, you have penetrated the mind and have altered it; that is a very pleasurable feeling.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

94. “You must understand that violence in a movie is only a tool. If it’s used badly, it will be horrible. If it’s used correctly, it can be very interesting. But, essentially, it’s just a tool.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

95. “I like doing the promotional work. It’s part of the film’s process. Cannes was very wonderful to premiere.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

96. “Understanding one’s own power is more interesting than someone being given something powerful.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

97. “I was in Hollywood. It’s the mythology heart. It’s where all the European films came in the ’30s and ’40s. The marriage between Europe and Hollywood has always been the best when it works.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

98. “I never desired to really go to Hollywood and make films, and purely because I want my entire control, which I’m used to having.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

99. “I believe shooting chronologically gives you a very fresh perspective and you’re always aware of where you are in the development of the characters.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn

100. “I try not to have too specific notions because it messes up the process later on. I leave it very open to interpretation until I start casting. Everything changes a lot when you start casting. I mean everything.”

— Nicolas Winding Refn