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I had always studied French and was obsessed with French films. I hated the way American films always had happy endings. I liked the way French films had dark and unpleasant characters; it was much more realistic.

I grew up watching a lot of French cinema.

What I think I'm perceived as in France is, like, I'm this leading man always doing strange movies because most of the movies I did, like 'Irreversible' or 'Brotherhood of the Wolf' and a bunch of others, and even in France, they always come out as a particular movie, not like the typical French kind of movies that people know most of the time.

When I started acting, there were parts in English that I thought I just had to try it out and go to another country. I did a film in Ireland. It was my first film abroad.

I love shooting French films because I don't have to stick with being sophisticated or stuck-up.

Sure, I watched a lot of Hollywood movies. Maybe I've seen more Hollywood movies than French movies.

When I started writing, the first thing that came out was in English. I liked a few French things, but they were very overwhelming.

My way of remaining French was the financing scheme I used for Quest for Fire, with Fox funds, since it started as a 100% American production. The film was not in French and yet was French in style, reflecting my personality.

I've often gone to start a film only to find the producers surprised to discover that I'm American.

When a French book becomes an international hit it is because of the author and not because of the language. The same goes for movies.