"We worked at 4 o’clock in the morning and whoever was going to play my part — they couldn’t find the list when they came back from location. So they just — as they said — got their favorites. It was Henry [Jones] and me. So I played the girl of the evening that he picked out. I decided that he loved my long beautiful blonde hair so I went to the hair department and found a beautiful wig with hair down to my knees, and the only way to show it of course would be to be on my stomach and the hair on top. Then I thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to sing a song for Paul Newman’s fans?” I thought “The Sweetest Little Fellow” [from the song “Mighty Like a Rose” by Paul Robeson] would serve the purpose: “with eyes of shiny blue, makes you think of heaven — da-da-da-da-da.” So the producers said I could sing it and then when when I heard it, it sounded like a cat mewing. We didn’t have time to fix it [laughing]."

"Along with Sufjan, I think Regina Spektor is the other genius of this generation. I could have picked a number of Regina's records. Soviet Kitsch is the crossover, when she became accessible to a larger audience. Her first two records are records that only if you are slightly bipolar and, like me, a fantasist in music, are going to love. Soviet Kitsch found the language that was going to meet that wider audience. The songs are crazy masterpieces. They straddle a line between pop – there are catchy choruses – and craziness. 'Us' is one of my favourite songs ever written and will be played at my funeral. I got into Regina because I had bumped into her producer [Gordon Raphael], who was also the producer for The Strokes, at a festival. He has just finished working with her and he raved about this crazy woman who would play piano while hitting a drumstick against a drum stool. I had to go and check her out after that. Soviet Kitsch is astonishing, as are the ones that follow. I saw her play at The Greek in LA and realised I was watching genius. I couldn't write a song for three months after seeing her show, as I was so in awe at what I had witnessed. I have never had that experience happen before. I went back and bought every single piece of her music and for three months listened to her day and night, trying to work out what the fuck she was doing. I still haven't worked it out. I think she is channelling – she is a witch and she is channelling and that is all there is to it. I fell in love with her and was lucky enough to meet her. I was even luckier to become friends with her and her husband, and it has been amazing to have her as a genuine friend. Her husband, Jack [Dishel], made this fabulous YouTube video [:DRYVRS] with Macaulay Culkin and it became a viral sensation. Jack is fantastically talented and a natural-born stand-up comedian. He will have you belly-laughing whenever you talk to him with his honesty and gawkiness. I haven't told many people that I have become friends with both of them, and I am a little shy about telling you that."