Adam Shankman quotes:

I grew up looking at the Sunset Strip, literally. The things that I remember are the Rainbow Room, the Roxy, the Bizarries, Tower, I grew up my whole life going there, Filthy McNasty's and I said, I need these things and now fill it in with other iconic buildings.

Dancing and music were my first love. I was happiest at being a chorus boy.

Mary J. Blige is the Queen Latifah character. Her voice in this movie [Rock of ages] is, she just gives it this incredible warmth, and she's just this person who blows out of the screen. She's just incredible.

I actually had less time and the exact same budget on Hairspray, which was few years ago and this is a much bigger movie [then Rock of Ages]. That's the way studios do it now.

I've always sort of marveled at our ability to chat and match, because of, I come, honestly I think of myself of as a little bit of hack, and think like that, and I think of her [Mia Michaels] as an artist.

I was a choreographer in the '80s and I was doing these videos. I did an Extreme video, which was really weird having them here. I did "Get the Funk Out".

Mia Michaels is to my mind one of the most interesting choreographers alive right now and my colleague and my friend from So You Think (You Can Dance).

For me, there was never an end game for becoming a director.

When the opportunity to choreograph came up, it was nothing more in my head but an opportunity. Then it suddenly became a career very quickly.

I grew up in Brentwood, but I live now in Los Feliz. I grew up on the beach, now I live under the Hollywood sign.

I feel like a lot of my past career was going to film school, making a lot of different kinds of movies. I made a bunch of comedies, I made one drama and I made a couple musicals.

I really loved making 'A Walk to Remember', so I'm not afraid of making smaller films. But for me, I just need to connect to the characters.

People love seeing people trying to change stuff.

The discovery of dance has changed my life in unimaginable ways.

You are the architect of your own loneliness.

When I put something into motion, the creativity starts to make other people want to jump in, and then a lot of people get employed. I'm just like a shark, in that way. If I stop swimming, I'll die.

I'm addicted to directing!

Rock of the ages been a really interesting job. It's been exhausting. It's been the hardest thing I've ever done because it's just so big, and I haven't had a lot of time. And I'm just kind of blowing through this. And everybody's, like, happy, and giving thumbs up. Most of the actors have said "this is the best role they've ever had." So you know, that's important to me.

I'm living at a very intense discomfort level because my career has been predicated on safety.

Reality also is that there are a lot of gaps, there are a lot of business in between the iconic things.

There was a lot of stuff [in Rock of Ages] that had effects in it and I thought it was too smooth. I thought it would be sexier if it were in-camera cuts. So I did that.

I will never lose anything that an audience will miss.I turned things that were scripted as effects into in-camera stuff, which is sexier.

There is no one who likes a challenge more than Tom Cruise. Believe me, there was never any discussion of lip syncing or another voice or anything like that, because if the guy's going to hang out on the top of the Burj, he's not going to let anybody do his singing for him.