I get rewarded virtually every day with something amazing to see - whether it's a new shot, a miniature sweater, someone who's figured out how to make the hair look really great. We found a way to do the rain, finally. And mud. Make the trees. So I get to stay in constant motion as a director, you know, reviewing things. And there's a lot to review.

People are very harsh critics of animated humans.

I love the culture of animation. What stop-motion has in common with live-action is that it has many of the same departments. There's hair, costume, makeup in the form of paint, gaffers, electricians. So there's the same sense of real stuff, real light. But it's not like everything happens at once, like it does in live-action. It's all subdivided into these small sets. It's where my strengths are. Live-action is just an utterly different world, and I'm not a public enough persona to be big and loud at the front of the ship. I'd rather more quietly interact with the artisan animators.

There's very few people who want to just make beautiful films that make money when they can make films that make huge money.

I'm not a public enough persona to be big and loud at the front of the ship. I'd rather more quietly interact with the artisan animators.

People spend the money where the money is. Nightmare never goes away.

Miyazaki's films in Japan are bigger than Titanic. He's an incredible rock star there. In the US, they don't do as well.