People expect me to be dark and gloomy then write that I'm a jolly chap and after all that is what I am. I think it's a case of an absolute romantic naivety that there should be a parallel between the work and the artist.

Cynicism and naivety lie cheek by jowl in the American imagination if the United States is one of the most venal nations on Earth it is also one of the most earnestly idealistic.

When I first envisioned 'Funny Games' in the mid-1990s it was my intention to have an American audience watch the movie. It is a reaction to a certain American cinema its violence its naivety the way American cinema toys with human beings. In many American films violence is made consumable.