When I was thinking about The Lion King, I said, we have to do what theater does best. What theater does best is to be abstract and not to do literal reality.

It's people who are repressed and cannot express their fears that are dangerous.

I use cinematic things in a theatrical way on stage, and in film I use theatrical techniques in a cinematic way.

We have often been attracted to the story of the other, the outcast. And he and I just loved working together, so it just kept happening, and our relationship is completely bound up with our work. We enjoy each other's art.

Learning is about much more than science and math. Doing theater, music, and art in school really helps children's minds grow because they're using different parts of their brains. Parents who care should insist on that.

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.

I'm not going to spend two years on a film or four years on an opera if I don't feel like I can put my own self into it. That doesn't mean it has to be about myself.