Takeshi Kitano

I don't really expect much from my life. So when I heard my films are premiering in film festival circuits I was…

— Takeshi Kitano

I think my way of showing violence is unique from that of other filmmakers, in that when I show it, it hurts.…

— Takeshi Kitano

For me comedy and violence has a lot in common. Just as you expect, comedy always lurks behind the most unexpected of…

— Takeshi Kitano

Comparing filmmaking to a plastic model, shooting is the process where you mold and color each piece, and editing is where you…

— Takeshi Kitano

My philosophy is that one shall not resort to violence unless one is resolved to become the subject of violence at any…

— Takeshi Kitano

I believe you shouldn't force the audience's interpretation of a character or a story. The more you explain things, the less intriguing…

— Takeshi Kitano

Eventually, this is how I would like to be remembered at the end of my career: He was never the best in…

— Takeshi Kitano

I paint for the sheer joy of painting. I have never sold any of my paintings. I'd rather give them to people…

— Takeshi Kitano

Cinema is a composite art into which you can include all conceivable art or entertainment forms. In film, I can work with…

— Takeshi Kitano

I intentionally shoot violence to make the audience feel real pain. I have never and I will never shoot violence as if…

— Takeshi Kitano

Humour is like violence. They both come to you unexpectedly, and the more unpredictable they both are, the better it gets.

— Takeshi Kitano

One thing I hate in movies is when the camera starts circling around the characters. I find that totally fake.

— Takeshi Kitano

Being a TV comedian, actor, writer, columnist, and all that is quite helpful to me in acquiring wide varieties of knowledge, which…

— Takeshi Kitano

I do all these various activities like painting and writing, comedy and films probably because not that I'm good at everything but…

— Takeshi Kitano

Doing TV shows helps me a lot in my screenplay writing and filmmaking, especially since my TV shows are in different formats:…

— Takeshi Kitano

When people tell me I'm an artist, I say, 'What?' It's impossible for me to take the idea seriously.

— Takeshi Kitano

I hate seeing people getting hurt or hurting other people. I hate seeing blood. I am very intolerant of physical pain. I…

— Takeshi Kitano

Having total freedom to direct my own movies is more difficult than those I was hired for, where the framework has been…

— Takeshi Kitano

I always come to conclusions very fast. Well, that is one way of thinking, and the other way would be that I…

— Takeshi Kitano

The film is ambiguous, an ambiguity that reflects on Japan today, and a world in which nothing is clear. Once I made…

— Takeshi Kitano

My film directorial career has been nothing but repetition of one failure after another!

— Takeshi Kitano

Sword fighting in film is not about how good the fighter is, but how good the actor receiving the blows is.

— Takeshi Kitano

In people's minds, I'm a comic, so it took a lot of time before I was recognized as a director. I had…

— Takeshi Kitano

I thought maybe I could become like the next Van Gogh. I bought a sunflower and painted it, and it looked like…

— Takeshi Kitano

The thing about art for me is that you can go on theorising your work forever, because it's open to interpretation.

— Takeshi Kitano