Ryuhei Kitamura quotes:

The Hollywood system has its own problems. Movie making is never an easy job.

I believe Korea is making the best movies. Only in Korea - you can do whatever you want to without any rating system or whatever. They can make world-class karate movies and make lots of money, which is very important.

I don't really consider myself a horror director or a violent director at all.

If I could finance my own movies, I would be doing it.

It doesn't matter where you make movies or what the size of the movie you make is. It's a very hard job - especially director.

Wherever I make a movie, no matter what size it is, it's always about a straightforward communication with the producer.

I brought in two genius guys from Korea. Guys who did my favorite movies like Oldboy and The Man from Nowhere. It was fun working with them. Even though they don't speak Japanese and I don't speak Korean, I knew from day one we were speaking the same language because they love my work and I love theirs. We instantly connected. There was zero frustration.

Hollywood industry people are very spoiled. I don't think they can adjust to the insane, no-money, super-hard working tradition of Japanese filmmaking. I don't think any American can go through that. They don't want to work more than twelve hours and they want Saturday and Sunday off.

Moviemaking is a hard job and this industry is crazy. You never know what is going to happen.

Producers don't like the director who ignores their opinion - but I always try not to be the nicest person when making a movie. It's easy to do that. Just say 'Yes sir', "Alright', 'Okay' - but they're not seeing the movie because if they can, they should be directing the movie.

Producers say things that they would like to see in the movie but they don't see the full picture. In the end if you ignore everything the producers say, of course, you get fired; but then if you listen to a producer on everything then it's like 'Hey - why don't you direct your own movie?'

Ultimately I'm making movies because of the producers and I don't want to disappoint my producer. It's always a tough balance to figure out how far I listen to them though.