I don't like to have these words banded about, like "British sense of humor," "American sense of humor," though I'll be damned if I know what they are.

Sure there's a difference with puppet-craft - who cares? I don't care about the puppet-craft, I care about what works. Who cares about the puppet and craft? It's not about that. It's about compelling an audience, and touching an audience in some way.

I was a weird kid. I shouldve been gay because I listened to a lot of Broadway musicals. I dont know why Im not gay. I listen to a lot of jazz and world music, like African or Cuban music. Something that has vitality to it. A lot of the American stuff just feeds on itself.

I want to get into the theater. I really wanted to be a theater director, but I turned out to be a movie director.

In a stage play, you kill the leads and they come out for a bow - in a movie, they don't come out for a bow, they're dead.

I don't look back, I just go forward. I'm just proud of the fact that my parents were immigrants and we had nearly nothing, and all of the sudden, with the help of a lot of people and my parents as a model, I amounted to something.

Do or do not. There is no try. Only do.