That's my policy - to be positive, to just hope that something will happen. If you start with all your fears, your receptivity is for the negative.

You have to stop yourself from even thinking about failing.

I think that both musicals and opera have a capacity to get to an inner emotional landscape.

When I was growing up, there were a lot more arts in the public schools. Politically, America has screwed up on that.

Growing up I had amazing parents who really let me be creative and free. I was the youngest of three by six years, the child who was the outsider and observer. When I went off to Boston to act, I was very young - 10. And my parents didn't fear that. They had the respect to let me make my choices.

The idea that all violence in movies is okay simply because it happens is bull. Directors and writers have a responsibility.

When I'm sculpting, I work with wood and clay, and though some say that an image is already in the material and the sculptor just has to discover it, I also believe you have an image in your head that you're trying to get to. So you're in a dialogue with the piece, a back-and-forth.