Quotes from Spike Jonze

When you're close to somebody, you can never really know how they're experiencing the world.

The market groups and demographics said, 'Teenage guys don't read magazines.'

I think at the beginning of a project, you decide if you're in love with the idea and what it's about, or what you think it's about at that time at least. Then you commit to it, and once you've commit to it no matter what, no matter how many self doubts you have, you're in it. The ship's sailed, you can't turn around.

Nicolas Cage, I would love to work with him again. He's just a fearless madman. He'll go anywhere you want to go. He would not say 'no' to anything.

After 'Where The Wild Things Are,' which was this big, long five-year project, I spent a year making small things.

After 'Where the Wild Things Are,' I guess I felt more confident as a writer.

I met Arcade Fire on their first record, 'Funeral.' I loved that record, and it was a record I was listening to while I wrote 'Where the Wild Things Are.' Those songs - especially 'Wake Up' and 'Neighbourhood' - there's a lot of that record that's about childhood.

As creatives, it's a hard thing to push, to make something you're truly excited about, especially if you've written 100 different concepts and they keep getting shot down.

Movies, they take years of my life, so I'm fortunate that I get to work in a lot of different mediums.

I've done the thing where I stop being communicative, and I've been on the other side where the other person isn't communicating, and I become frustrated.

A lot of times, you have an idea, and all the things you are thinking about might fuel it. But that's not where the idea came from.

I definitely check my phone for texts a lot - like, 'Did anyone text me? Is anyone thinking about me? Does anyone love me?'

You get a buzz when getting texts: 'Oh, someone's thinking about me.'

The thing I remember most about having a tantrum is not the rage during the tantrum, but the being freaked out afterwards, and embarrassed, and guilty. It's scary to lose control of yourself.

I think there's a knee-jerk reaction to things from parents.

Music is thousands and thousands of years old and I don't think that basic, primitive connection to the language of music ever changes.

I've got to say, I've probably seen a lot more of the Three Stooges than of the Marx Brothers.

I have a home phone number, and I like it! It's like a throwback already.

I feel like you only have so much time to make stuff. I'm definitely aware of that. I'm also excited about it.

I don't want to make a movie till I have an idea I have to make. I don't want to make a movie just to make a movie.

You have to be involved and relate to the characters in order to make a film that is true emotionally.

I guess a lot of things I make are relationship movies. Maybe all movies are relationship movies, because they're all about how we relate to each other.

I'm always inspired by other filmmakers, whether it's a shot or the way they handle tone.

I like hiring people based on a feeling - this person gets it - rather than what they've done in the past.