Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
When I grew up in Italy in the 1950s, it was still very agricultural. Food was very important; produce was very important. Everyone made their own olive oil. It took me a long time after I moved here to understand that Americans are much further away from their food.
I just always felt really confident, comfortable, and free as a kid - I understood what it was like to feel powerful and strong without having any negative connotation early on. And even to this day, I feel in tune with my body. I can sense when I get out of balance.
It looks like a marathon. And I'm proud that I'm not a DNF (did not finish). I'm not a DNF yet. I just kept going. I think that's been the key is just to keep going and really try to get better and try to be as truthful as I can and hope that good things come my way.
I've had some of the best craft services on independent movies, actually, because they get more creative, generally, with a smaller budget. The work is still the same. I didn't really notice the difference other than I was getting dressed behind a curtain, basically.
Even when I lived in Chicago and I didn't have any family there, I would just go like I would be a guest and have dinner with a bunch of friends and do potluck or something. So I think that's it, just finding people that you love that love you and hang out with them.
I wanted to be an actress. I wanted to be known. Yes, it's difficult sometimes. I believe that if you're going to be in a profession like this, which is so open to criticism, to speculation, you need to have people around you who will believe in you and stand by you.
About working with Marilyn Monroe.We got along very well. My only complaint about her was that she was late all the time, but she was late out of fear as much as anything else, but it was hard to sit around and wait. She was usually an hour or two late every morning.
I am absolutely desperate to do an action movie. And not to blow my own trumpet or anything, but I actually think I'm good at it. I did it all. I was really into the routines and the choreography. I used to dance when I was younger, and so I think that came in handy.
Directing is genderless. The only thing... I love men. I'm not being mean to them, but they can't hear you. I don't have a husband, and so I'm not really attuned to it, but I didn't know that they could not really hear you. Like, I'm talking, and they just walk away.
I never wanted to be a bombshell; I wanted to be an actor. I would much prefer to be a woman than a man, but if I was a dude, maybe I'd have Johnny Depp's island because women in this industry after a certain age definitely don't get to do 'Pirates of the Caribbean.'
I celebrated [my 50th birthday] by throwing a big bowl on the pottery wheel, then going for a water ski at the lake on our property in the Catskills, and that night, skinny-dipping under the stars. Just being free and joyful. And that's how I [felt] about turning 50.
There's a pattern of the pathway opening in a certain way. We stared thinking, there's so many wonderful films about civil rights movements, but there isn't even one yet about the women's movement? It's hard to capture because it's so sprawling, and it's an ideology.
I like people to be surprised by the turn of events. I don't want things just to be pat and formulaic. If there's some sort of internal combustion in the character or a desire to change the way things are going, that makes for conflict, which is the essence of drama.
I've been trying to really live in the moment because I will never get this part of it back. As soon as the movie comes out, everyone will turn it into what they believe it is, so I've really been trying to appreciate every minute of now. Because I know what's coming
It's really hard coming of age in today's society, where society wants you to make the decision of what you want to do with your life by the time you're 16 years old. Most kids don't know what they want to do. How could they? They haven't lived in the real world yet.
I'm not really one of those people who goes and writes some big back story and agonizes over characters. I think you kind of can get it. For me personally, it's just kind of more instinctive. But I don't have kind of an acting background. I fell into it accidentally.
Since I was growing up in New Zealand where there's a hole in the ozone layer above us, we get so much sun damage to our skin, and the thing we can do to look after ourselves is use sunscreen during the day, but making sure your skin is well hydrated while you sleep.
I think getting married gave me a focus. It gave me a focus and direction I want to have in my life. And I think having another person that you make such a purposeful bond with has given me the opportunity to see how that can be with all the other aspects of my life.
I have a lot of friends who are around. I'm having a wonderful time in my life now with my platonic relationships with men and women, because when that sexual tension is off the requirement of the interplay, then you get to who the people really are, and to yourself.
I think the market is always going to be around. The goal is not to say, let's get rid of the market, because the market does render a huge number of services, and I don't want to have a fight about the price of something every time I buy a book or a bottle of water.
Growing up with my mother who grew up during World War II being half Filipina, half Okinawan, and literally running around the jungles in the Philippines escaping Japanese military chasing after them - I grew up with what they deem now as trauma, generational trauma.
There is a restaurant in L.A. called Crustacean, which is very famous for its garlic crab. Well, I can make garlic crab better than Crustacean. My sauce is so good you'll want to dip your bread in it, put it on your egg omelet, in your cereal, and in everything else.
I think film writing, you're thinking in pictures, and stage writing, you're thinking in dialogue. In film writing, it's also, you only get so many words, so everything has to earn its place in a really economical way. I think for stage writing, you have more leeway.
I'm probably going to go more the feature film route for a while, just so I have more time on my hands. If I did go back to television, I'd do a comedy, a half hour. Or I'd go back on an hour long if it was ensemble, if I had a smaller role, if I could work less days.
I like things to be really, really funny, or really, really dramatic. Those books are certainly the ones that grab me. I like the exercise of reading through a paragraph, and it's just torture. I try not to have my eyes dart to the right. That's the stuff that I love.
When I was a kid people always asked why I didn't act like the rest of my family, and parents would say, "Well, she needs a childhood! We would never allow her to do that even if she wanted to". They were as involved in my life as any parents are in any person's life.
In high school, during lunchtime I would go in the room where the wrestling mats were and try different flips and different moves. Like windmills. I just started mixing martial arts with jazz and contemporary stuff and it would get mashed together and became my style.
Before I do episodes of 'The Good Wife,' I talk to the director and say, 'I'm trusting you to let me know if it's too much! I won't be offended.' So I put myself in their hands, and most of the time they let me do my thing, but sometimes they'll say, 'Let's try this.'
I think, in this business, you grow up quickly because you are surrounded by adults; you are needing to stay present and stay cautious of what you are saying. I have been working since I was 10, but I also went to public high school, so I know how to handle all of it.
In the (film) industry, body size doesn't matter. What matters is how much an actor contributes through his performance and not his body size. It is important that every person should wear clothes that go with their body - the cut, the fabric make a lot of difference.
Often, when you see yourself on the screen, you feel like a sweater that's been put through the washing machine. You have the impression of having done something full and luminous, and suddenly, when you see it on the screen, it's turned back into a tiny little thing.
I read every single letter. Some just break my heart. I've cried over letters that have come in, from young women and older women alike, saying to me, "You know, you made me want to stop crash dieting and just be healthy. You are my role model. I want to be like you."
It's funny because when I first met with Carmen, she said, "Have you ever thought about doing TV?" And I was like, "No, not really, but I'd audition for TV." And she said, "That's where the roles are for women now. That's where you can go and get a really great part."
I really enjoy simple things in life. I just like the idea of bringing together a few ingredients and being able to transform it into something delicious and warm that my friends can sit around and enjoy. Most of my socializing is based around good food and good wine.
In 'The Smurfs,' I was actually a live action character. So, I was a real person in that movie. But I was working with animated characters, which is very strange because they're off recording their work, and we're kind of reacting to nothing when we're doing the film.
Funny, you won't believe this, but I have actually never read my Wikipedia page. But if I were to know what it says, if I were to rewrite it, I would say, "Jenna Dewan Tatum, dancer, actress, producer, who has influenced women around the world to follow their dreams."
When people talk about televisual phenomena such as 'Big Brother,' I haven't a clue what they're talking about. Having said that, if I'm staying in a hotel and there's a television in there, I'll go straight to it and watch it as if it's some incredible new invention.
For me, the only ego that needs serving in putting together a film is the story's, the ego of the story and it's the piece itself that you want to bring out the voice of the piece. You're really serving that and that's the thing that you have a basic understanding of.
It's very hard, I think especially for women, to not take it in and to not be super conscious of the way that you're being seen, which is of course completely antithetical to the work you want to do, which is completely free and bold and truthful and honest and brave.
I think you're stereotyped after every film. Post 'Dev D,' I was only offered bold roles. Similarly, after 'Margarita With A Straw,' I was offered roles where I had to play differently-abled people. So, no matter what type of film you work in, people tend to slot you.
I'm not interested in politics, or being a part of them. I definitely do my homework and make sure that I know what's going on, and I'm responsible enough to be able to vote for people that I respect. But other than that, I've never been a part of the political world.
When I turn on my central air conditioner, I feel like, "Wow, I really have come a long way." Or buying the super expensive organic raw food for my dogs, and I remember when I had to buy the cheapest big bag of kibble. So I think for me it's often in terms of comfort.
I don't think I was bullied. If I was bullied, I fought back or turned the other cheek. I have been put in a box, I guess: "Oh you're blonde, you can't play brunette." And I'm always like: "You know what? I'm going to prove you wrong, I'm going to make my hair brown."
One of the Sunday newspapers asked me to make my favorite dish, and they photographed me holding it in the kitchen. It was roasted salmon with roasted vegetables. That's not cooking; that's putting things in a pan. It looked quite nice, but I'm not saying it was good.
On the day we filmed the scene, a bee stung me. I screamed and cried so much they called a doctor, and my father said, "It can't hurt that badly!" But it wasn't the pain that upset me, it was the thought that I mightn't be in the film. Already the little professional.
I just want to touch something deep in the heart of humanity. I don't know if that's in movies, producing films, or writing a book, but I'm concerned about our spiritual well-being as a human race. I want to impact people in a way that makes us all reach for our best.
My mom has an English accent, so we always referred to the trunk as the 'boot.' And then, suddenly, we moved to Georgia and I would say things like 'open the boot' with a bit of an accent, and I quickly realized I had to adapt; that kind of thing will get you beat up!
Once you get rid of the idea that you must please other people before you please yourself, and you begin to follow your own instincts - only then can you be successful. You become more satisfied, and when you are, other people will tend to be satisfied by what you do.
I've been trying to really live in the moment because I will never get this part of it back. As soon as the movie comes out, everyone will turn it into what they believe it is, so I've really been trying to appreciate every minute of now. Because I know what's coming.
I'm ambitious but I'm not particularly competitive. I'll try to get roles, as I think it's healthy to go for things, but... I think there's too much competition between women already. It's important to have female solidarity and support each other and other actresses.