In any adaptation, the challenge is to take the essence of the original source of the material, be faithful to it to a point, but to also recognize that you're telling a story in a very different medium. It has to exist on its own, and it has to offer something unique to that experience.
You've got Marvel films, sequels, franchise movies, so much noise out there. You're trying to brand your entertainment. The musical is its own brand.
We're all human beings; people make mistakes.
I think too many people in Hollywood perhaps fail to make a distinction between the political side of Israel and the notion of the country. And they can be separate things.
Repression is the enemy of civilization - so keep dreaming, because the dreams we dream today will provide the love, the compassion, and the humanity that will narrate the stories of our lives tomorrow.
Thankfully, as much as Hollywood is interested in brands, I think people are still looking for originality and freshness.
Music has a way of getting inside all of us and lifting us up.
'Wicked' has been one of the biggest hits in Los Angeles theatre history, and we are thrilled that theatergoers here have embraced the musical and welcomed us so heartily.
Musicals have long given voice to outsiders and speak of experiences in our culture and environment.
Good movies beget other good movies. So when a movie captures the imagination and hearts of people around the world, it's going to have a positive influence on similar genres getting made.
We always love actors taking unexpected turns.
It's hard to get an inner dialogue in a film. It's not cinematic. But in a musical, the character can just turn to the audience and sing.
When I first started in the business, it was hardly ever done. But today, it almost feels like studios go out and preview movies knowing full well that they're going to use the information they get to go back and reshoot.
That's what makes live TV exciting - the unknown!
Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed about working in the theater.
The further you get up the corporate ladder, the farther you get from the actual filmmaking process.
I have creative ADD.
I do remember feeling, 'I don't ever want to feel impotent in terms of what I can control in a business in which you can have very little control.' And that motivated me to go to law school - that, and my parents saying, 'Go to law school before you do anything.'
There were 100 intellectual reasons not to pursue 'Wicked.' There were times where it was very challenging, where the mind said, 'This is maybe too challenging,' but the heart willed it. The heart willed it to succeed.
The film world is always looking for great source material, and Broadway has traditionally and historically been a place to go.
