On stage, the audience watches from a fixed viewpoint and the director cannot retake something he doesn't like. It has to work straight through.

In opera, everyone's watching from a fixed viewpoint, and that really challenges you. Lighting, the sets, stage groupings, the music-but doesn't relate too much to film.

For a director, the most challenging scenes are the dialogue scenes.

There were movies that always made me want to be a director. You see brilliant scenes and the way the emotions were handled. I thought, I'd really like to do that.

Film is shot in fragments, and the same moments can be shot again and again until the director is satisfied.

When the music and the characters are flawlessly synchronized, the opera develops an emotional force that movies and plays cannot match.