No movie influenced me more to go after my dreams than 'Flashdance.' After seeing it I took 15 dance lessons a week. I cut all my sweatshirts. I did the 'Maniac' thing.

I feel more influenced in my own work by dreams than I do by other writers' works in a way. Or by popular culture movies - what else is there to write about than love and loss?

If dreams are like movies then memories are films about ghosts.

I don't have a problem with my body. I don't diet and I'm not hiding anything. I'm not going to be the subject of a movie of the week 10 years from now.

I think violence cynicism brutality and fashion are the staples of our diet. I think in the grand history of story-telling going back to people sitting around fires the dark side of human nature has always been very important. Movies are part of that tradition.

Being non-commercial is never an ambition. Movies come together at different points for fortuitous reasons. You do them as you get the opportunity as opposed to doing them when you choose to or design to.

So much of it is the design of the shot or the motion of the character it's the work you do so that it has the same things that are in the movie. In just a few frames it's got to communicate something clearly and dramatically.

My biggest role as director on the film is keeping a sense of the overview - how to cast the movie and shoot it in such a way that it will cut together. And how to design the style and tone.

One of the best animated films I've seen come out of Disney was the Tarzan movie. I wasn't crazy about the story or the design on Tarzan's face but the traditional animation was spectacular.

I was a cartoonist when I was at university but I decided to go into movie making knowing that I could still draw by doing movies design work story boards and such.