Why did you think karaoke would be good material for a movie?

I thought it gave us the opportunity to get into different people's lives in ways you haven't seen before. It is very entertaining.

Are you a big fan yourself?

I wasn't but I am now, not that I'll do it. I love to go and watch but I'm too much of a coward to actually get up and sing, I have a terrible singing voice.

How important was your daughter Gwyneth's involvement in getting the movie made?

Well initially you know we got it set up pretty easily, but as time wore on it fell apart. But as her acclaim grew, the easier it was for me to get the movie made. It helped, no question, you know Gwyney's presence in the movie, was an inducement for people.

And how was it working with her?

She's so gifted as everyone knows, but to see the process unfold on a day-to-day basis, see her develop a character and inhabit that character's body and be so natural and doing it and repeating it, you know she's just, in modesty, very gifted.

Is it easy or hard judging the performance of someone you know?

It is easier and you also have shorthand and body language. The more gifted the person you work with is, elevates your game to some degree, and their talent shows you the possibilities of what the character could become because of what they bring to that character.

Gwyneth's singing in the film comes as a surprise to most people, but obviously you knew about it?

I've known about it quite a while. Since she could speak, her mother and her used to sing together in our house all the time, and of course, as she grew she was in singing groups in school and so forth.

Tell me about casting Huey Lewis.

He came in and auditioned and he was exactly what I thought the part should be, so I see myself as Huey Lewis. It's an odd situation, casting someone to play my daughter's father, if you think about it.

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