When I first moved up to San Francisco to write Where The Wild Things Are, I had a couple moments where I talked to somebody, and they're like, "Oh, I love that book. I love this part of it," or, "This is what it means to me." And it's like, "Well, I don't know. I guess that's not what I'm making the movie about." But very early on, I don't know, we sort of let go of that fear.

Music is thousands and thousands of years old and I don't think that basic, primitive connection to the language of music ever changes.

The invention of the iPod changes how you use music. Suddenly you have music everywhere.

It's fun when you start a movie, because it's kind of like you get to go Christmas shopping... you get to make your wish list and you start thinking about what each character needs.

If I leave my phone in the car and go to dinner or something for a few hours, I'm very proud of myself.

I was lucky enough to know Maurice Sendak, and talked to him about doing the movie. For a while, I was really apprehensive of it, because Where The Wild Things Are is a book I love so much, and I didn't want to add something to it just to be able to make a movie, or put my stamp on it, or something like that.

I always aspire to that, where it feels like the film was made by the characters as opposed to the filmmakers. I try to be invisible.