I Don't Really Wanna Think About Themes.

If Somebody Asks Me About The Themes Of Something I'm Working On, I Never Have Any Idea What The Themes Are. . . . Somebody Tells Me The Themes Later. I Sort Of Try To Avoid Developing Themes. I Want To Just Keep It A Little Bit More Abstract. But Then, What Ends Up Happening Is, They Say, 'well, I See A Lot Here That You Did Before, And It's Connected To This Other Movie You Did,' And . . . That Almost Seems Like Something I Don't Quite Choose. It Chooses Me.

The One Thing I've Observed Over The Years Is The Best Way To Get An Actor To Not Want To Play A Certain Role Is To Offer It To Them. That Makes Them Say, "well, Maybe It's Not That Good. These Guys Don't Want Me To Do This..."

The Subject Of An Outsider Who Becomes Obsessed.

I Chose Philosophy Because It Sounded Like Something I Ought To Be Interested In. I Didn't Know Anything About It, I Didn't Even Know What It Was Talking About. What I Really Spent My Time Doing In Those Years Was Writing Short Stories. There Were All Sorts Of Interesting Courses, But What I Really Wanted To Do Was Make Stories One Way Or Another.

On Fantastic Mr. Fox, I Got Used To Working With Animated Storyboards As A Way Of Planning For The Shoot. We Did A Lot Of Sequences That Way With This Movie. Partly As A Result Of That, I Decided To Build More Sets In Order To Do Certain Shots.