I have directed good actors and have gone through the process which is more detailed in theater in a way. You have to get people to stay for two or three hours in a performance. They need more talk and rehearsal than in films.

I believe that if you really have a strong idea, you can say, "What do you think? Let's see how my idea plays off yours."

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

I'm a firm believer in the idea that theater excels over film and TV in its ability to let people play with poetry.

I love directing Shakespeare on film. It's fantastic that the actors would do exactly the same thing and be true to their part.

Spider-Man is a genuine American myth with a dark, primal power, but it's also got this great superhero, and - hey! - he can fly through the theater at 40 miles an hour. It's got villains, it's got skyscrapers, it's colorful, it's Manhattan. I knew it would be a challenge, but I saw the inherent theatricality in it, and I couldn't resist.

A performance can have amazing visuals and special effects, but it has to tell a good story, even if that story isn't original.