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

When the music and the characters are flawlessly synchronized, the opera develops an emotional force that movies and plays cannot match.

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

I thought, This is fabulous. It sent shivers up my spine. I thought, What kinds of people are these that would produce this kind of music in a camp? All the prison camp stories I've seen, and heard of, were about the heroism of men. As I researched this and heard the music, I realized that women were heroic too, on just as grand a scale. And their treatment was just as appalling.

Film is shot in fragments, and the same moments can be shot again and again until the director is satisfied.

In my view, the operas of Carlisle Floyd will find a place in the permanent repertoire.

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