I'm not sure I agree with the thesis, because I think that even though something grotesque or gross has been part of film since way back, what we accept or what we can get away with on the screen is broader now.

Also watching a movie on DVD is different than watching it in the theater.

The real trick for me as a director is to make sure that people don't start pushing because the harder you push as a perform the less funny it becomes.

My sense is, I think it's okay for directors to do movies that speak to other work in their career.

There's been an amazing backlash for the last decade in America: political correctness. In many ways, I think that, while we've been remarkably violent in our media, there's been a real schizophrenia. In private, on the Internet, and on public-affairs shows or talk radio, we're way more explicit than we've ever been. But traditional Hollywood has been much more frightened than it ever was in the '70s about presenting things that could be perceived as politically incorrect.

My first student film was Orientation, which was basically the set-up for Animal House. There are a couple of scenes that we later borrowed in some form.

We got some devastating reviews on Animal House at the start.