Quotes from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

I think we are defined as human beings through our families, no matter what kind of family - through our relationships with parents, brothers and sisters.

I really try, at least consciously, not to be cynical or ironic.

It was liberating to do comedy. It felt like playing in a jazz band.

Americans easily forget that the air they breathe is the same as those in Europe or Africa or Asia; it's the same air as Jesus breathed. I would like them to remember that connection.

At a very young age, I was influenced enormously by Julio Cortazar or Carlos Fuentes. In that literature, there's always an exploration of different perspectives, points of view.

Movies started out as an extension of a magic trick, so making a spectacle is part of the game.

I think that the best things come from thought, without thinking. I think that's the smartest use of the intelligence that we all have.

The creative process is mysterious; a conversation, a ride in the car, or a melody can trigger something.

I love Sam Mendes, but I went to see 'Spectre' with my kid, and the opening scene of the Dia de Muertos party, with this kind of tropical music, in downtown Mexico City, with all these people dancing like it's the Rio de Janeiro carnival... I had to laugh.

I've never done a period piece or a comedy, and that could be something truly different for me.

My responsibility is to make a film and find my dramatic language; I don't have any political or social responsibility.

Antonio Sanchez is from Mexico City. I met him at a Pat Metheny concert. He did a solo, and I thought, 'This is an octopus man!'

When I was sixteen, I was an absolutely romantic guy. I fell in love every week. I mean, I was in love with everybody, but unfortunately, nobody was in love with me.

Yes, I am a Mexican, and I have a past and a culture. But what matters is the film itself, not where it was financed or cast.

If the audience, in minute 50, is thinking about the way a movie is shot, there's a problem. I want it to permeate emotionally.

I like the possibility of failure. I don't want to be in a comfortable zone.

Time starts out as a notion. But after you turn fifty, time is not a notion anymore but a fact that you start feeling clearly, and in a way, it pushes you to become present in the present.

We try to show that violence has a consequence - when you create violence, it turns against you.

In families you can find the source of every human drama. It is interesting because the cell of a society, the cell of a country, the cell of humanity - everything lies in the family.

For me, the most important thing that I have to accomplish is to be a good father. That's the most difficult challenge of my life. That's the most important thing for me, more than films.

When you have critics filing on Twitter, it leaves no time for thought and perspective.

I can be unbearable sometimes asking for so many takes.

It's harder to make real audio than special effects audio.

Cannes or any other major festival is basically an animal in its own nature, creating very specific perceptions of films in a moment.