It's always an interesting challenge to see if you can create a character that's got emotion.

No matter what you go through with the business side or the Hollywood side at the end of it all, when you are there on the set, it is your thing. So it is your own private world and that's great. That's where you have that bubble to create something in.

I grew up watching monster movies and horror movies, which I felt were like fairy tales and I think this always spoke to me. Something about that is symbolism - the beauty and the magic which helps me work with film and start making modern fairy tales.

One person's craziness is another person's reality.

I started to do stop-motion when I was a kid. You take a Super 8 and make some models, and move, click, move, click. All that. I love all forms of animation, but there is something unique and special to stop-motion: it's more real and the set is lit like a set. But I think it's also a kind of lonely and dark thing to want to do.

My parents suffered from that ideal of a perfect nuclear family. They found that a difficult pressure, I think.

It's always an interesting challenge to see if you can create a character that's got emotion.