I don't set out to do something weird, but if you see something a certain way and it's a little left of center, and you can realize it, that's a real thrill.

It's a great asset to you, on your first film, to bring some people with you from the television world because they understand the speed that you have to work with to get your grand ideas down.

On some kind of unspoken, deep, deep level, I think we [with Ryan Murphy] have an aesthetic that we both understand or connect to. It's not that we see the world in the same way because we have very different points of view, but we're both visual stylists.

The Ryan Murphy television world has assistants who have become producers and writers and. If he trusts you and you have a unique way of seeing his world, he nurtures you.

The fun of directing for me, other than working with the actors, is trying to extract those ideas that you have in your head and make them real.

Ryan Murphy just gives new people a shot, and it takes a lot of confidence and generosity to do that.

Musicals and horror films can be very non-verbal and very pure cinema with movement. The camera is justified in being a character. It can really move and tell a story, and literally direct you to look here or there.