All the old great companies were run by guys who knew what an animator meant, and guys who knew how to draw. All the companies today are run by executives.

I would like to have the original ending to my Lord of the Rings instead of the one they released. In my original cut I had the victory at Helm's Deep as the final sequence.

Most of the animated films I watched, the emotions are all prepackaged like canned music, the hand actions, the sighs.

My good films were independent and my bad films were not.

As an artist, I want to interpret my feelings - not run across the street and ask what my mother thinks.

Live action writers will give you a structure, but who the hell is talking about structure? Animation is closer to jazz than some kind of classical stage structure.

Lord of the Rings made me realize that I'm not interested in doing anyone else's work.