Phil Lord

“Batman is the ultimate in white people problems. It's like, 'Oh, I'm so rich and handsome, and women like me, and... something about my parents!'”

“Seriously, if 'Superbad' doesn't happen, I don't think 'Jump Street' ever happens.”

“A sense of humour is never a handicap.”

“We try to stay as open-minded about casting as possible. When you're getting things down on paper, you might even avoid writing down a name, let alone if they have blonde hair or this or that, to stop.”

“I think we're going to be very embarrassed in a few years when we see a lot more women film-makers. People will look back and ask, 'How did it take so long for you to figure this out?'”

“The great ideas start flowing when you stop thinking about the obvious way of doing it.”

“We like the challenge of a story around the most generic, forgettable man in the universe.”

“That might be my epitaph: 'It wasn't as bad as I thought. Here lies Phil Lord.'”

“You always risk people misunderstanding you when you say anything.”

“There have been funny sequels, but I don't know if there have been that many that feel like they're - you know - they're just as great a movie to watch, just as fun an experience but different.”

“That's the beauty of the animation process: It takes so long, you have so many chances to improve it.”

“'Zorn' goes to some pretty ridiculous places, but the real comedy is coming from these little observations about life that are not as outlandish as some of the bigger moves in the story. This is a guy who has magical relics and fights weird monsters and is also dealing with very basic work and family things.”

“I wish we were smart enough that, every time we had an idea for a script, that it was great right off the bat.”

“I was short until my senior year. It's just, like, your social status is so dependent on how quickly you hit puberty, basically.”

“In animation, you do so much planning ahead of time; it has to be so precise.”

“I would love to wear, like, twee Wes Anderson suits everywhere and not get made fun of.”

“We try not to have any vanity or judgment about genre or type of film.”

“Some people survived the neolithic age by being brave, others by being cowardly and smart.”

“Having to top yourself is a good problem to have.”

“I wish I could remember people's names. I'm supposed to remember so many.”