Why do you think previous attempts-like Blake Edwards's Son of...-couldn't revive the Pink Panther series?

It just failed to capture the imagination of viewers at that particular time. But thanks to everyone from Jim Carrey to Will Ferrell to Steve Martin, there's been a resurgence in physical comedy over the last 10 or 15 years. Steve was one of the trailblazers of the genre. In fact, many people who have seen him in The Pink Panther compare it to The Jerk (1979), in terms of Steve building a movie around a fully created comedic character, for the first time in decades, arguably.

Why did Steve, your star in Cheaper By The Dozen, handpick you to direct The Pink Panther?

Steve is zany on film but totally intellectual off screen. He likes a process that is thoughtful, specific, and meticulously prepared, so my anal-compulsive overthinking of things dovetailed nicely with his needs. Literally every gag, joke, set piece, and fall was
discussed, worked out, choreographed,
and locked in before we hit the floor. We're like-minded in our approach to comedy. And it didn't hurt that Cheaper By The Dozen was a big hit.

Was having Beyoncé in this film an insurance policy in case the younger demographic wasn't interested?

I think that's well put. If you're a director and you gotta cast a gorgeous, charismatic, sexy international pop star, hmmm…. It's not a long list, and Beyoncé tops it.

Her character happens to be an international pop star that goes by her first name. How did you make sure Beyoncé wasn't just playing herself?

The truth is no one's going to confuse Xania as a deep undercover character role for Beyoncé, but she had to play a love interest and murder suspect simultaneously, so there's an enigmatic quality to her in the film that's more cagey than the way she is in real life.

Isn't she a little young to be playing Steve's love interest, though?

I'm no fan of the unseemly massive age difference on-screen hook-up, so we hinted at it. It's more flirty than actually sexual. You have to understand, the Panther movies have a timeless elegance to them. It has a romanticism to it that's a little timeless, a little idealized, so the romance is pretty tame by today's standards.

You're known as a family movie director. If the studio asked you to make an R-rated feature, what would it be like?

Probably a drama like The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Good Will Hunting (1997), or Searching For Bobby Fischer (1993). But I think that a studio head would have to be seriously medicated to come at me with a thriller or dark erotic psychological drama.

So we won't see you helming anything with gratuitous sex or violence?

You know, maybe a little sex or violence, but hopefully not entirely gratuitous. You know, I'm all right with sex and violence. But I'm in no rush to run away from the wheelhouse that's been so good to me.