The problem with 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark' was that it was designed to be a PG-13 movie. It was literally a horror movie for a younger generation. I was trying to do the film equivalent of teenage, young adult readers, and when they gave it an R rating, the movie couldn't sustain an R.

I'm fortunate enough that my personal life falls into whack with my professional life. My kids love visiting the sets; they love the monsters.

When you start with Super 8, you are everything. You're the DP, the sound man, the effects guy. And what I started understanding, by working for other people, is that the best type of director is someone who rose through the ranks.

I have said no to many, many Day of the Dead projects in the past, about 10 or 15, because every time I heard a take it was from someone who didn't know the celebration.

Frankly, Governor Romney in his career has created more jobs than the entire Obama cabinet combined, so he could actually talk about it.

I am very lucky that I get to go to work and laugh all day for my day job, and then go home and torture my artistic self.

For me, work is worship, and it is not just the number of movies I make but the quality which matters most, irrespective of how they eventually fare at the box office.

As I see it, my job has always been to champion the work of the authors I publish.