At HBO, they seem to be well-informed. They make what I think are really quite mature films.

It's not enough to hit the notes. There is no point in the singers just standing there and sounding wonderful if they're not connecting with the characters they are portraying.

I'd really been interested in opera when I was about 16, and I really like staging them.

There were movies that always made me want to be a director. You see brilliant scenes and the way the emotions were handled. I thought, I'd really like to do that.

The music of the most popular operas is so highly esteemed, it can stand endless revivals.

In silent movies, they tended to put the camera down, and everybody walked in front of it and acted, and then they all walked off. Cutting was quite infrequent.

Perhaps the most difficult thing is shooting scenes set 6,000 feet up in the mountains of Mexico.