Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
One of my goals is to play a villain in a Bond film. People ask me if I want to be a Bond girl, and I say, 'No, I want to be the villain.' I'm waiting for that call!
I find it very interesting: when 90 percent of the critics that review films are men, how is that helpful when trying to create stories from a feminine point of view?
Being a woman has always been a powerful thing, where history has sometimes dictated otherwise, but I believe that a woman can be compassionate, sensitive, soft, kind.
I am not one to go for traditional female roles, because I don't think traditionally female characters are very interesting, and I don't think they represent real life.
Everyone has to learn how to live in an environment that has not made it easy for women to claim their place, so I think it's all women's responsibility to step forward.
We have grown up watching women be used as props on a man's journey. It's not our fault that that's what we saw as children. But we need to acknowledge that and do better.
I was excited that my films would finally see the light of day and people would see them. But I never imagined that such nice things would be said about a lot of my films.
I find that the monsters are usually the people that I have the most empathy for because they're the ones that are hurt the most. There's a reason why they're the monsters.
I sometimes go to a movie and eat my popcorn and turn my brain off. I love those movies. But the movies I like to be in, for the most part, are the ones that challenge you.
I actually chose to do 'X-Men' because I'm working with Simon Kinberg, who's also a first-time filmmaker who I met on 'The Martian' and is an incredible writer and producer.
I no longer think in terms of, Ooh, this is a great role and what is it going to do for - actually, I've never really thought about what something is going to do for my career.
I've actually been given a great gift. When I walk into an audition with a director, I'm carrying no baggage. They haven't seen me in anything, even though I've done nine films.
I never heard in my entire life that a man was overprepared for anything. I am overprepared in my life. What's wrong with being ambitious, being overprepared, being one step ahead?
When 'Tree of Life' went to Cannes, all the interviewers were asking me about my favorite actors and actresses because I was new to the industry, and they wanted to get to know me.
There is this immediate connection, this intimacy when you're acting because there's no room to be polite or shy. Also, as an actor I get to connect with women I've never met before.
I was a dramatic kid. I remember, I was very young, and once I knew what I wanted to do I, like, created a theater company, and I would direct, and we would sell lemonade to buy props.
As an actor, I have a lot of fear, thinking that if I speak my mind, or something that feels like it deviates from the norm as a woman, am I going to be made to disappear in my industry?
What can I do to create a healthy work environment? Because we have all been groomed to the normalization of violence and the normalization of abuse. And we refuse to live in that society.
My grandmother used to say, "Sometimes the loudest person in the room doesn't know what they're talking about." Or isn't secure enough in his or her own views to be able to listen to others.
I absolutely made the decision that that cannot be the reason why I'm doing a film or a job. For me, it's always about the script and whether I'm doing something that I've never done before.
I am the worst at keeping secrets. I am the kind of person that the second I buy someone a Christmas present, I tell them what I bought them. I don't wait until Christmas. I'm not good at it.
This is an industry rife with racism, sexism and homophobia. It is so closely woven into the fabric of the business that we have become snowblind to the glaring injustices happening every day.
If someone doesn't want to hire me because they think I'm too vocal, fine. I will do a play. I will always find a job. Let them try to get me out of this industry. I am not going to be silenced!
People were confused by me, and at first I was auditioning a lot for the crazy characters or the victim, someone who'd been attacked. Which is great, because usually those are the best acting roles.
When something happens, I always check myself and know it's going to go away. So be prepared for it. This is a tough business for actors who are sensitive. If you try to hold on to things, you'll go crazy.
I feel very inspired right now because I know there are a lot of people out there who are really scared but I feel this great sense of togetherness and people coming together and saying, "I got your back."
I'm very sensitive in real life. I cannot not cry if someone around me is crying. I will start to cry if someone is crying, even if it's not appropriate. I have that thing in me, a weakness or sensitivity.
There I was at 'The Tree of Life' premiere, holding hands with Sean Penn and Brad Pitt. That walk down the red carpet was a real rite of passage for me. Suddenly, journalists began asking, 'Who's this actress?'
I look at all the ingredients of a film and say, 'Is this a positive thing that I'm putting into the world? Is there honor and respect in the way the story is being told about them? And would they approve of that?'
For the most part, I was surprised by the representation of female characters onscreen. I do hope that when we include more female storytellers, we will have more of the women that I recognize in my day to day life.
I don't want to torture anything. It's about trying to live a life where I'm not contributing to the cruelty in the world... While I am on this planet, I want everyone I meet to know that I am grateful they are here.
I think, in the past, being brave - being powerful, being strong - were qualities that people associated with being masculine. And I think... no, I don't think - I know that now we're realizing they can be feminine, too.
This is what the media does with women. You try to divide and conquer women so you can intimidate and victimise them. This is why they don't make movies where a lot of women get to be on set together. It's about dividing.
I don't want to be in my car all day. I love getting up in the morning in Venice and walking my dogs down to the café to get my tea, and then perhaps going to a bookstore and sitting and reading, then walking to the beach.
There's a lot of criticism on how an actress is aging. Why do we do that with women? I work with a lot of men who take terrible care of themselves - they drink too much, or they eat too much. We need to allow women to age.
I'm so inspired by the women who are far braver than I am, who have come forward with their stories and risked everything to help others. What is important is that the voices of these women do not disappear. We must amplify them.
I remember being a teenager and having a boyfriend - this guy I thought I was way better than, and completely out of his league. He was a year younger than me. And he broke up with me. It was so shocking, and I couldn't believe it.
An actress friend of mine shared a great trick. She told me to stick my tongue behind my teeth when I smile to keep from over-smiling. If you smile without doing it, sometimes your gums show a little too much. It's an actor's trick!
My grandmother came with me when I moved out to New York. She stayed with me for a week. I was, you know, living in the dorm. The first year, I had a lot of anxiety, and, I remember, my teachers kept saying I had so much jaw tension.
My goal is that a girl will watch 'The Martian' or 'Interstellar' and think, 'I want to be an astronaut or a quantum physicist.' It's important to show powerful women who are good at their jobs because young girls need those examples.
Making films can be very lonely, and that's the part I don't like. I don't want to feel like I'm pressing 'pause' on my personal life to make a movie. I want to feel like I'm still creating relationships and things are moving forward.
I didn't understand how much senators and members of the House are not able to represent the people because they're too busy fundraising to maintain their seat in office. I hope we as a country start looking at how we can change that.
In the characters that I play, I'm so involved in the look; it's very, very important to me. Because how a person presents him or herself to the world, they're saying something about themselves. It's their first form of advertisement.
The great thing about modern feminism is that women can define what it means to them: it can mean being ambitious, it can mean being emotional, it can mean being sensitive and compassionate and also a leader. It can mean all those things.
Every time an actress is celebrated for her great work, I cheer. For the more brilliant their performance, the more the audience demands stories about women... And as we all know: a great year for women in film, is just a great year for film.
To a female superhero her sexiness is not the most important thing about her, it's her mind, her spirit, and when I look at that character that to me is an example of characters that I like to play and I think it does a great thing for women.
My grandmother took me to a play, and... there was a little girl on stage. And as soon as I saw her on stage, I thought, 'This is my job'... I was probably, like, 7 or 8. I was very young... It was 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'.
In our society, women are valued for their sexual attraction. I'd like to get away from the sex symbol idea of what beauty is. Actually, that's probably the farthest thing from beauty, because it's makeup and hair, it's pouty lips - it's not real.
If you're one of the only women on a set - if it's you and a bunch of men - you feel like your value doesn't come from your thoughts and your talent and what you say: your value comes from how you look and how you're perceived by the men around you.
What I do now, when I'm taking on a film, I always ask about the fairness of the pay. I ask what they're offering me in comparison to the guy. I don't care about how much I get paid; I'm in an industry where we're overcompensated for the work we do.