We give you characters we'd feel very comfortable judging, and then go: 'Oh yeah? Watch this'.

I like to really respect the audience and let them come through on answers.

You don't do pictures because the audience is ready for them. You do them because there's something gnawing at you, something inside.

Right after we invaded Iraq, I put a sign on my lawn that said "War is not the answer." That sign was either defaced, ripped up, or stolen every week. I had to replace that sign twelve times.

Now we really like to put people in boxes. As men, we do it because we don't understand characters that aren't ourselves and we aren't willing to put ourselves in the skin of those characters and women, I think, terrify us. We tend not to write women as human beings. It's cartoons we're making now. And that's a shame.

Usually the characters are where I start. Then I continually ask myself, 'What's the worst thing that could happen to this character?'

I just want to thank people who take big risks in their daily lives when there aren't cameras rolling. I want to dedicate this award to people who stand up for peace and against injustice and intolerance.