Winding Refn has spoken about characterization in his films: I've always liked characters that because of the circumstances, have to transform themselves, and in the end, it's inevitable that what they end up becoming is what they were meant to be.
Winding Refn has stated numerous times that his largest cinematic influence has been the director Alejandro Jodorowsky, of whom Winding Refn has said: I had been seeing Jodorowsky the last couple years in Paris and we'd become quite close.