Nigel Lythgoe
Nigel Lythgoe
Nigel Lythgoe is an English television and film director and producer, television dance competition judge, former dancer in the Young Generation and choreographer. He is noted for being the producer of the shows Pop Idol and American Idol and creator and executive producer of, and a regular judge on So You Think You Can Dance. He also created the 2009 competition Superstars of Dance...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionTV Producer
Date of Birth9 July 1949
screw takes
It takes two to make a relationship, but only one to screw it up.
became home
'American Idol' became a juggernaut of epic proportions, but to me it was always like home.
I don't go into my dentist and say, 'Are you gay?' I don't say to contestants on 'So You Think You Can Dance,' 'Are you gay?' What does it got to do with me? What does it got to do with anybody?
basically certain formats whilst
Certain formats should never be forgotten, 'Blind Date' for instance, because 'Britain's Got Talent' is really 'New Faces' or 'The Gong Show,' whilst we're basically 'Opportunity Knocks.'
tolkien
'The Hobbit' by J. R. R. Tolkien was the first book I enjoyed. I was 14 and when I finished I started it again.
becomes breathing entity experience life rather sensuality sexuality
With dancing, so much is about sexuality and sensuality and without life experience it becomes much more of a performance, rather than a living, breathing entity from the soul.
achieved broken changed destroyed discovered dreams egos fame great incredibly littered lives seen stardom talented
In my lifetime, I've discovered a great many incredibly talented individuals. Some have achieved stardom. Simultaneously, I've seen many dreams shattered, egos destroyed and lives changed forever. The end destination may well be fame and fortune, but the road to stardom is littered with broken hearts.
director great incredible jon longer met producer
Jon Scoffield was an incredible director and producer at ATV. I met him when I was 30 and he made great things happen in my career. He's still alive, but we're no longer in touch.
believe business golden last might night party paula pinch prince truly
I take everything like that with a pinch of salt. I've been in the business too long. I truly don't know. I know Prince had a party last night (after the Golden Globes) and I believe Paula might have been there.
boy dancers
I need boy dancers to be strong, masculine!
ask clear holds says sing song songwriter
If we wanted to, say, clear a song by the Eagles, we would have to ask the publisher, the person who holds the rights, the songwriter and each one of the Eagles. And if one of them says no, we can't sing the song.
In my day everything wasn't so PC.
inspirational heart eye
Since we launched the original 'Pop Idol' in England, I've remained close with Simon Fuller. Working as executive producer on 'American idol' for its first seven years not only was an inspirational journey into the heart of American pop culture, it opened my eyes to the untapped potential of the incredibly dynamic young people in this world.
idols people television
That makes entertaining television. That is the circus of American Idol . We go for the very, very best and the very, very worst. It's the boring people that we don't want to see on television.