After 'The Blues Brothers,' I wanted to do a good musical number with real dancers and shoot it correctly.

'Pied Piper' came to me all at once; I wanted to do a fairy-tale movie with some edge, but not 'dark,' per se.

We wanted to set a good example for the growing number of divers watching.

I wanted to be on Broadway, but in musical comedy.

My musical education was grounded in blues and Chicago blues - John Lee Hooker and Otis Redding.

From the get-go, my musical influences come from hip pop, popular stuff. And then I backtracked into the blues, jazz and classical. I always had a pop sensibility. I mean I'm making records to sell em!