Director

I skated and rode bikes on ramps, and my mom was always super supportive. She was one of the only divorced moms in the neighborhood, so all the other parents looked down upon her for letting her kids do that kind of thing.

I skated and rode bikes on ramps, and my mom was always super supportive. She was one of the only divorced moms in the neighborhood, so all the other parents looked down upon her for letting her kids do that kind of thing.

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

I'm hesitant to make grand statements because I feel like that it's not exactly what I'm writing about.

I think there's a knee-jerk reaction to things from parents.

The best videos were the ones where I became friends with the artists first.

Pop music, I think there's a reason why kids connect to it.

I'm not one to intellectualize why I did something.

I feel like you only have so much time to make stuff. I'm definitely aware of that. I'm also excited about it.

I worked at this bike shop called Rockville BMX, and I started going on this summer tour with this one company. One summer, we ended up in California, and I got to hang out with the guys who made 'Freestylin' - Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman.

I am better at math than spelling.

I've got to say, I've probably seen a lot more of the Three Stooges than of the Marx Brothers.

I definitely liked the Muppets. I definitely liked Yoda in 'Empire Strikes Back' and Chewbacca. I don't know if I was a fan of puppets or those, like, specific characters.

I started directing videos at the same time that Michel Gondry was starting to direct videos, and I watched what he'd do. They all seemed to be pushing some new visual effects idea, but never just for spectacle. They all captured a feeling.

Is an audience open to seeing a film that isn't what they expect when they see a film that's been adapted from a children's book?

I love when me and my friends don't know how to make something - there's that risk of failure, which should be there. If it's guaranteed not to fail, it's something you already know how to do.

I wasn't a film kid.

I just want to be who I am, as I am.

The world is becoming nicer and easier, but that doesn't mean we are any less lonely or any more connected.

The market groups and demographics said, 'Teenage guys don't read magazines.'