There is a very funny and telling excerpt from an interview between filmmakers William Friedkin and Nicolas Winding Refn that went semi-viral some years ago.
In the video, Refn labels his own film, Only God Forgives, a masterpiece.
How much irony is baked into the statement is left up to the viewer to interpret, but Refn ensures that his tone is purposefully ambiguous.
Moments later, the Neon Demon director playfully mentions that he thinks his 2011 crossover smash Drive should have been mentioned, *by Friedkin*, in the same breath as established classics like Citizen Kane and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Friedkin responds to Refn by curtly cutting him down to size, but the message is perfectly clear all the same: Nicolas Winding Refn, for better or worse, thoroughly enjoys his own work.
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