Director

For whatever reason, I think we have one type of animated movie and it's so wrong. I want to do a drama, I want to do an action, a comedy. In live-action, there are all sorts of movies. There's independent movies, big movies, action movies, funny movies, and for us we have one movie.

'Samurai' is not an animated show like you would normally watch on TV. We tell the stories from a different perspective - backward, very nonlinear. It treats it more seriously as an art form.

I try not to be in my head too much, I just try to do what feels right.

I've always thought that maybe I need to do a live-action movie, have it make a lot of money, and then come back and have a bigger budget for animation and do more with that.

Jazz flute's funny. And I'm a big Latin music fan, Tito Puente, Tina Cruz, all that stuff.

Jim Gaffigan is someone I've always been a fan of.

For me, animation is the caricature of life. It's something that we create, from the ground up.

Trying to be a leader, you've got to be really sure of what you're doing and you've got to guide people the right way.

I was thirty when I did 'Jack.'

For me, animation is the caricature of life. It's something that we create, from the ground up.

Animation is my love, but I think there's definitely room in live-action. I mean, 'Iron Man 2' was fun, and I got to see that world.

There's nothing like watching hand-drawn animation on the big screen.

My love of visual sequences stems from live-action films like Sergio Leone westerns, Kurosawa, some '70s action films, Tex Avery, and my general love of animated movement.

Besides kind of like the Wes Anderson, or, of course, a lot of the European movies, most everybody in the States, the big studios, make pretty much the same film. And we're kind of held to Pixar standards, or Disney standards, as it's kind of always been in the animation industry.

I remember arguing with my dad to let me dress up to go to a Halloween party in seventh grade, but I never in my childhood went trick-or-treating.

It makes things very easy when the people you are working for have trust and believe in you and actually really like and respect your work.

Luckily, as a director I can just tell people what I need and I don't need to tell them how to get it.

The last thing you want to do is blend in. You want to stand out, and hopefully in a good way.

Jazz flute's funny. And I'm a big Latin music fan, Tito Puente, Tina Cruz, all that stuff.

If you have a character who wins all the time - well, if you have a character that loses and wins, it makes him more alive. Bugs Bunny, for example, didn't always win.