“My father made sure that I had lots of levels of education – from ballroom-dancing to painting, commando training, theatre and magic.”

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself

Everything I make starts very personally.

A life lived in fear is a life half lived.

I do find walking is fundamental to my creative process.

My wife is the fact-checker, I’m in the story telling business.

I feel a kinship with anyone who feels that their road, their life or who they really are is not good enough. I really relate to that.

It’s pretty hard to get mugged in Manhattan.

At a very young age I was allowed to go into the cinema and watch adult films.

If Paris is a city of lights, Sydney is the city of fireworks.

The ugly duckling is a misunderstood universal myth. It’s not about turning into a blonde Barbie doll or becoming what you dream of being; it’s about self-revelation, becoming who you are.

Why live life from dream to dream, and dread the day when dreaming ends.

Opera was the cinema of its time, so to bring back that popular appeal, you just need to unleash its visceral immediacy and excitement. Most productions don’t manage that – but when an opera does do it, you never forget it.

Look, I had a passion for comic books growing up.

Having grown up far, far away in a small country town in Australia, I was only slightly aware of hip-hop.

When I was growing up you would see big American films that really mythologised their landscape, that really showed the vastness and the drama of their country.

The race is long but in the end it is only with YOURSELF.

I was always dancing and acrobatics was my specialty.

She had heard Papa sing so many songs about the heart; the heart that was breaking – was aching – was dancing -was heavy laden – that leaped for joy – that was heavy in sorrow – that turned over – that stood still. She really believed the heart actually did those things.

When I was probably 5 or 6, my mother put me into an acting, singing, and dancing class.

I’ve been dancing all my life, but I never did it seriously.

I was always into performing and dancing as a kid and acting was a safe place to have all my feelings, which is good as a child.

Dancing inspires my music. Having your girlfriends all together and just being free and happy.

I personally don’t think you can love two things like dancing and singing the same exact amount. There is always one that you like more, and that is most likely the one that you’re better at, because you try harder in it.

I don’t see my dancing or acting as two separate things. I don’t define them separately, so I can’t say one has helped the other, It’s all the same thing.