Biography

Directed one Oscar-nominated performance: Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole (2010).

His favorite film is A Woman Under the Influence (1974). Other favorites include Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Fanny and Alexander (1982), The King of Comedy (1982), Nashville (1975), Nights of Cabiria (1957), and The Conversation (1974).

Co-wrote the song "Snapshot in LA" alongside Marion Cotillard especially for a Lady Dior advertising campaign in 2014.

Named one of People Magazine's Breakthrough Stars of 2001.

According to manga artist Mitsurou Kubo, he's the visual inspiration for the character of Viktor Nikiforov from the manga and hit anime Yuri on Ice.

I have seen so few films in which the sex felt really respected by the filmmaker. Hollywood too often shies away from it or makes adolescent jokes about it. ... Sex is only connected to the negative because people are scared of it.

There is such a reluctance to address sex as an inherent part of the human experience in this country. ... The true perversion to me is crushing it and hiding it.

Unconsciously, it may have been a prophylactic against having to use stars. It was a way to avoid waiting four to five months for them to read or not read the script. Their agents are not saying 'Read it.' I didn't have to run through the street finding the star. ... To me it's not worth it. I'd rather not do the movie. [on using stars in his movies]

I think I lost my faith in the kind of God that I was taught existed when my brother died. It kind of didn't make sense after that. I dedicate the film [Rabbit Hole] to him and to my boyfriend who died in 2004.

The bigger the budget, the more trouble there is.