[on Hal Hartley] He saw me in some plays, we did Theory of Achievement (1991), and that was the first film I ever did. And then I did Simple Men (1992). So Hal is my beginning...I admire what he is about, and I'm extremely grateful to have begun with someone like him - because at the time of course, we never realise when we do a project if it's going to be written in history or not. But both him and Michael Almereyda, these films - even though Nadja (1994) is not known in France, it has become a real cult film - represent a period of time in cinema that today almost is nonexistent. Or maybe it's existent with people like Guy Maddin, who are doing [films] in a similar way, inventing and having the freedom to invent and create cinema. [2012]

[on acting] It's really simply the script, and wishing to plunge myself in the unique universe of an auteur, if that universe exists. [2012]