Most of the books that I've adapted I'm doing because I love the book and I feel like it's a great work of art in itself, and when it's a great book I feel as a director or a writer that I have a responsibility to rise to the level of the original. It makes me try to reach higher.

...it can be so boring being you sometimes, and if you were the most special thing like that, it could be really great, but maybe some people say the same thing about you, and you want to tell those people: 'No, you're stupid, it's no fun being me.

I loved the world of Oz. I guess as a young man, I was just drawn to fantasy worlds. I liked being transported to alternative realms where a lot of my early imagination was sparked.

I view filmmaking as a director's medium.

For some reason, when I was in junior high school, my friends and I had, like, a cologne-stealing ring.

It's like low-budget filmmaking - a focus on dialogue and relationships over plot. Quirky. Improv.

It feels really sad, to me, to go to a dark bedroom. It's like surrendering to the night or something.