My favorite model of success is when people say, 'Nobody bought that first Velvet Underground album, but everyone who did started a band.'

It's the weird thing that actors do: You jumped across that building because the scene required it.

I certainly wanted Hedwig's world to be one where identification and categories are fluid, changing, and confusing, as they are, really, in life.

I think things are dishonest if they're not aware of sadness.

I thought, 'O.K., if I'm a valuable person and an independent entity, then I don't have to worry about what people think of me. I can reach out now.'

The think that we hung the film version all on was 'Hedwig' on tour. On stage, it's one theatre, one show. It just seemed natural to change it. In the film, we were able to go to flashback rather than have her talk to the audience. And we had the play to practice and to see where we had made mistakes.

I quickly found that I didn't really fit into 'gay culture,' as identified by many gay people, and that it can be just as confining as straight culture, not least in the way that bisexual people are told that 'they can't make up their mind.'

I would love for 'Hedwig' to be in every tiny shopping mall so every freakish kid like I was can have a broadening experience.

You get all these French directors who have all these pretty, vacuous stars of their movies - from Jean Seberg on - who have become iconic but were never really good actors.

Nowadays, the term 'selling out' doesn't exist anymore because everyone is trying to make a living.

I was brought up very Catholic, and the character of Tommy Gnosis got his name from there.

As you get older, you treasure the beautiful things of the past but also see things more clearly.

I went to a very small Catholic school. It wasn't an easy place to be growing up gay.

I have a weird propensity to know what's going to happen in the future.

I like the fact that it's like The Ramones. You just have to change your name, and you're a Ramone. You just have to put the wig on, and you're Hedwig. Women have played it. Gay men, straight men, you know.

I remember my girlfriend dropped me for the guy I thought was really cute.

I really want as many people as possible to relate to something, without compromising or dumbing down.

'Hedwig' isn't particularly based on me, but I think that it is autobiographical in terms of emotion.

I never even had a MySpace.

User-comments culture is not useful for creating original work, I think.

Some people go off to an ashram or they, you know, have a midlife crisis and buy a sports car. For me, I do 'Hedwig,' and I see it's a midlife crisis maybe, and I see what's next. And it's a good trampoline, maybe, into the next part of my life.

Coming out as a gay man, it was very much about finding my own identity and dealing with labeling.

Anger is so constructive.

The things that interest me are less to do with perhaps finding myself and more to do with surviving and mercy and forgiveness.

'Hedwig' was born in '94. I was thinking of a theater piece; Hedwig was one of the characters.

If you go for the money first and try to think of what other people want to see, you change your original inspiration and perhaps put out something that's less original and less personal and maybe less satisfying.

In rock and roll, homosexuality was accepted, but it was less cool to say it.

I don't like being choreographed to a T. I like to take steps and make them my own.

I'd like to do some female roles again.

I love a good party.

I've obviously always been aware of actor-oriented films, being an actor. Altman and Cassavetes were really strong. And then I realized their structures were quite fascinating, too.

'Hedwig' is not autobiographical, but what she goes through is clearly a big metaphor. She doesn't want to be what she is, but she comes to an understanding that what happened to her has actually made her whole.

I'm not interested in replicating 'Hedwig' like a virus.

There are a lot of silly projects out there.

Obviously, when you get into larger budgets, you have less of that freedom, and I just - I'm not a person that tends to make stories for those larger budgets. To me, it's not much fun to have that kind of pressure.

My mom was a little weepy. My dad was very logical about it. Once they realized you can't change, they wanted to know that you can be happy and be gay. Once they realized that, they were very cool about it.

The people that were most interesting were always questioning the status quo.

I think it helped me like myself more, playing Hedwig.

I remember being afraid of doing drag when I was younger because I didn't really like my feminine side - most gay guys at some point are told that that's the worst part of you, so that becomes a negative thing.

You can make serious pop, you know? There was a time when the best movies were the most popular, and I keep thinking that can happen again.

I don't regret anything, because I feel better every year, and if I'd done something different, maybe I wouldn't. I'm more of a whole person, the older I get.

Drag is a little scary, especially for a gay man who's not comfortable with his feminine side.

London is the English-speaking theatre capital.

Doing 'Hedwig' totally contributed to my acceptance of myself.

I've always liked a good joke that everybody can laugh at.

I come from the theater, and there is a real collaborative history there.

Isn't it funny - why is it called a tennis bracelet? It doesn't seem very tennis, does it?

My father's favorite poem was probably 'Love is patient, love is kind.' It's simply stated but pretty profound. That's how my dad wrote.

My dad was a poet. He saw the world through unique glasses, with simplicity, spirituality, and humor.

My mother did a fried vegetable dish called 'stuff.' It's fried potatoes and carrots. Then you add bell peppers, mushrooms and other softer vegetables. At the end you add onion. Then, you steam the dish with hot pepper cheese on the top and it melts down through the dish. It's delicious. It's wonderful.