For any actor to have Oliver Stone call him or her up… It’s a compliment. He expects you to be on your toes. If you’re not, he pokes at you until you react. He’s very provocative, creatively. It started like a lot of hard work, but it ended up a lot of fun.

Genius is the true mystery, and at its edge--the abyss.

I always thought what if you took a myth of childhood like the tooth fairy and made it a central scary thing. We did it on Hellboy and we did it on 'Don't be afraid of the dark'.

I think once a Catholic, always a Catholic. You never escape. I still have Catholic guilt. It is in its basis a really powerful religion and a really strong set of beliefs. They permeate my work in many ways.

I think that during the shoot, you should never be there, unless something goes really wrong and as producer, you're responsible. The sign you did your job right is if you are not there.

You have to believe the magic to see it.

You can't explain success in retrospect. The moment you leap into the void, that moment is impossible to negate, after success.