I try to leave things as open ended as possible, not too overladen with meaning.
— Sam Taylor-Johnson
I think the whole of people's psychology and where they are in life interests me, and the decisions you make that take you on particular journeys to different places.
It was so amazing to fall crazily in love and get married and have kids.
Despite great advances in women's rights, statistics show that when it comes to the balance of power between the sexes, equality is far from being a global reality.
A woman going out with a younger man feels like the last taboo.
It's difficult for me to work with women, because I find that direct references are made back to me too fast. Working with men, it gives it a little distance.
I am not famous at all.
I'd love to make a thriller.
I was always interested in film, but I never knew how to go about becoming a filmmaker.
Mum and Dad split up when I was nine. We upped and moved from London to Sussex, and suddenly I went from an urban life to nothing in the countryside - with a new father and new life.
When I had cancer, people were surprised at how cheerful and upbeat I was, but I couldn't let myself go to depression - to go there, that defeat would allow everything in. If you look too far into the abyss, you might never come out again. You can stand on the abyss and peep but not give in to sadness.
My mum told me once I was a Hindu.
My parents were Beatle fans, but my mom was especially a Lennon fan, so I was exposed to him more. I remember her playing 'Double Fantasy' quite often.
I keep seeing in the papers that I am good friends with Samantha Cameron. I've never met her in my life.
I'm twitchy. I think I've got ADD. I find it hard to sit down. I need to be constantly challenged; otherwise, I get very... well, I guess 'bored' is the word.
The pictures I make come from every blink of my lashes.
I think I just love films where men have complete breakdowns.
When I was out in Georgia doing photographs, I found myself trying to undo my own sense of composition. I'd think, 'Why do I want to take it like this? Is it because I want to take a beautiful picture?' It's quite hard to try and undo it.
Snobbery just inhibits you.
Sometimes when you're looking at your own work, you can't really see, and it's only when you step back a little bit later that you think, 'Oh, that's completely in line with everything else I've done.'
In the old days, 'controversial' in a relationship meant same-sex or mixed races.
I'm annoying to be around because I keep twitching.
If you look at art history, at Goya or Gainsborough, it's always about acknowledging the people of your time who have influence.
I am just reflecting the times. I can't ignore them.
I'd like to make something about someone who hasn't existed so that I don't have to tread so carefully and can feel a little bit more creative freedom.
I love showing my scar on my tummy - it is shaped like a question mark.
My biggest fears aren't with my work. My biggest fears are walking through hospital doors. Once you can face that, being fearless about your work is easy.
I eat all the time, and I run all the time.
I'm interested in the acting and staging of specific emotions, and so I work with actors. It's a small proportion of what I do, but it's always what people seem to focus on.
I'm not a shouter, and I'm not a bully.
The line between private and public lives is a fertile one for me. I've lived quite a public life, and it's the reason I have used well-known people in my work. I'm interested in what's going on beneath the facades they present to the world, taking them to a place which is uncomfortable.
Finding your place as an artist is the hardest thing. You come out of college with what feels like a Mickey Mouse degree that qualifies you for nothing in the real world.
Even today I work with Niall O'Brien, who is far more technically astute than I am, but I still have the clearest idea of every detail I want in my photograph.
The thing that is so great about Ang Lee is the diversity in his filmmaking, from 'Brokeback...' to 'The Hulk.'
The way I was grew up gave me a slight fearlessness and a sense of independence. There are things about it that have definitely informed me. And then, as a parent, it's done the opposite. It's made me feel much more protective. There are boundaries in my kids' lives that I don't think I had.
To be feminist doesn't mean you can't be submissive.
My favorite part of the whole filmmaking process is working with a fantastic cinematographer, a fantastic actor or actors, and then just creating emotions and stories. I get so excited by that. That's the part I'm utterly addicted to.
I was determined to have a spotless house when I grew up.
If you have the ideas, and you're a creative person, then you don't really differentiate in how your ideas manifest themselves.
I only photograph myself at poignant moments in my life as a check of where I am and how large my thighs are.
There are terrible things going on in the world, but I am not going to force them down everyone's throats.
I feel like I became an artist by default. I went to art college, but my interest was always more towards film than painting or sculpture.
I think I was lucky I got into art college. That's what saved me.
Tea is a huge part of my life.
Just because you've faced your own mortality, it doesn't make it any less frightening.
When Scorsese or Coppola cast celebrities in their work, it goes without question.
When you have an author and an auteur, it's a difficult and challenging relationship.
I'm fascinated by male vulnerability.
A friend got me a job on the door of the Camden Palace nightclub, which quickly progressed to running the place.
Today is the tomorrow I worried about yesterday.
