I received from my experience in Japan an incredible sense of respect for the art of creating, not just the creative product. We're all about the product. To me, the process was also an incredibly important aspect of the total form.

I saw bubbling lava, and at the same moment I saw a reflection of a certain kind of inner turmoil. Because at the moment I looked into that crater, I slipped, and a large piece of volcanic rock took a hole out of my leg. The scar is still there 20, 30 years later. But it's one of those things that reminds you of the kind of risk or the kind of moment in order to push yourself.

I really do believe that if you don't challenge yourself and risk failing, that it's not interesting.

We're really having a problem right now in our culture. I haven't seen one movie lately in which the story and visuals have been equally good.

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

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 call myself a playmaker sometimes - but that's just a word. I don't feel like I have to have a title or a job description.