Some of Hartley's favorite films include Marat/Sade (1967, dir. Peter Brook), The Thin Red Line (1998, dir. Terrence Malick), A Hard Day's Night (1964, dir. Richard Lester), and Prénom Carmen (1983, dir. Jean-Luc Godard).
Hartley paid for college by working alongside his father, uncles, cousins, and brothers as an apprentice steelworker on construction sites in New York City.
Hartley, who composes the music for his films (formerly under the pseudonym Ned Rifle), will be releasing his first non-soundtrack album in 2012.
The most repeatedly read authors in his library are Robert Musil (particularly, The Man Without Qualities), Montaigne (the essays), Beckett (the novels), Moliere, Joseph Roth, and Thomas Hardy.
Son or Harold and Eileen Hartley.
Has 2 sons.
Retrospective at the 7th New Horizons Film Festival (2007).