I needed someone really intense, but also somebody with a lot of theatrical credibility.

I do have to say that I think that President Obama is the greatest President in the history of all of our Presidents, and that he can do no wrong in my book. So how's that for prejudice on the Democratic side?

I studied acting in school and then of course couldn't get an acting job.

With any actor, if you know your character well enough, you'll know pretty much what he would say under any circumstance, or whatever situation might rear its head.

I like to give the actors freedom to take what we have on the page and improve on it. And they do that quite a bit.

The key thing is to get that one splash - that one song or that one video for a song - that catches people's eyes. Because it's all digital content now.

I wasn't the best student. I wasn't stupid, but I wasn't paying a lot of attention.