What does Elton John talk about at a round table discussion with a group of mommy journalists and bloggers? -- his new movie Gnomeo & Juliet, and his new baby boy, of course. Elton is known for his musical genius, but hearing him gush about his newborn is just as poetic as listening to his melodies. Even for a larger-than-life icon, parenthood changes everything, and that might just mean more family friendly projects like Gnomeo & Juliet, or even an Elton John album for kids...

On the story of Gnomeo & Juliet:

"The story is obviously one of the most famous stories in the world. Written by William Shakespeare. So you can’t really get much higher art than William Shakespeare. He’s obviously one of the world’s most famous playwrights, and probably the best playwright there has ever been. But, with the Garden Gnomes, they’re probably the lowest form of entertainment. And so you’ve got the two of them together, the highest and the lowest. And we thought that we could have fun with this -- with the visual aspect of the gnomes and the great story."

On the timely message of Gnomeo & Juliet:

"we wanted to put a positive message. The message of the film is basically these two gardens and these two groups of gnomes have been horrible to each other for so long. They eventually destroy everything that they’ve created of beauty. And it takes a young gnome who’s red and a young gnome who’s blue to come through the rubble of all this destruction at the end and to bring these people together and say, what are we doing?"

"It’s a message that 11 years ago we were really strongly feeling about, and it’s, coincidentally, it’s come at a time or it’s coming out at a time where not only in America but the rest of the world needs to hear this message. I feel very strongly, with what’s happened in Arizona recently and the President said, we have to take some quiet time to think about how we treat people. We should respect our religions, we should respect our political views, and not throw stones at each other. And I’ve been coming to America for 41 years, and I love this country so much. I have two homes here, my best friends live here, and it saddens me to see the rhetoric that’s going on at the moment. We can all have different views on everything, but we must have dialogue, and we must have positive role models. And as mothers, you pass this on to your children and now as a new father, I have to pass it on to my child that you respect people’s views, respect people’s opinions, and don’t be hateful towards them. You can disagree to disagree, but have respect, and have love. And there’s so much hate in the world. And I always believe that love conquers hate, always. And that’s the message we wanted to get out in the film, that love is much more powerful than hate."

On the all Elton soundtrack and being a gnome:

About two months ago I saw the finished thing. And I didn’t know I was gonna be a gnome. I’m so thrilled to be a gnome, and so thrilled to be a glamorous gnome as well. It was great. It wasn’t my idea to use the old Elton John music. We were originally going to use new music. We wrote five new songs, Bernie Taupin and myself, and there are consequently two in the film. But Dick Cook, who really believed in this film when he took over from Michael Eisner, said, you know, we messed this movie up within the Disney Animation, we’ve tried to Americanize it and it’s a British film, it’s set in Stratford-On-Avon, it’s got majorly a British cast. Why don’t you go away and make this film in your own. So we went to Toronto, and made the film on our own terms. But he said, I would like to hear, rather than just new music, which I love, but I’d like to hear some old favorites. And so I would never have thought of that. And it was his idea and he was right on the money because it gives the feel of the film, a flow from start to finish. And the guy who did the arrangements and the scoring of the movie is James Newton Howard, who’s one of the most respected and feted arrangers in Hollywood. [He] does about five or six film scores a year, and he used to be in my band. So that was very handy. Because he knew all the songs. And did a wonderful job with them."

On being a father and his future career:

"It’s [fatherhood] the icing on the cake. We had the baby on Christmas Day, which was really an enchanting thing to happen. Because the hospital was empty! [LAUGHS] It meant that I could go in there without being seen, because we wanted to try and keep our surrogate protected. And so that was really an act of very good fortune. It can do nothing but make my life better. Already in four weeks, I found with our newborn that it’s very relaxing because basically they, as you know, they just need to be changed and burped and fed and read a story to. It’s so beautiful, it’s the most beautiful thing that I could ever imagine. I have a huge responsibility, I don’t have to tell you, you’re all moms. As a father and David as my partner, we have a huge responsibility, the hardest thing to do in the world is to bring a child up properly. With enough love and enough discipline. And so at this time in my life, I, it’s the right thing for me to happen. And I think artistically, it will inspire me to write probably lots of children’s songs. [Laughs and Sings] 'I love you Zachary, you mean the world to me.'"

Read More on Page 2: What movies, books and music does Elton share with his baby boy?