The people I look up to the most - politicians, actors, artists - are the people who manage to do a high-powered job while staying themselves. They aren't afraid to be nice.
That old question about whether, as a woman, you can be funny and attractive at the same time. Argh! I hate that question. Of course you can.
In some ways, comedy and something like a musical do go hand-in-hand.
I wouldn't consider myself a so-called 'celebrity.' Arrrgh, for the love of God!
For me, the political part of being an actor is very tough. To sit somewhere and tell somebody why you should feel this way or that way about my character does not feel like my responsibility. It feels like the responsibility of the writer and the person who created it.
Those people that have hardened to rejection or hardened to life in general, it's pretty hard to feel them. You know, to look at their eyes on screen and feel them. I guess that's specifically talking about actors, but I think that's probably [true] in general. You want to keep your skin thin.
I moved to New York when I was almost 21 and I've lived there for almost eight years, now I have a totally different relationship to L.A. There's like all this space and it's so beautiful seeing all these different landscapes and all my friends are here so now I really like it so much but my adjustment period was a little like "What a strange town".
The importance of balance is huge but I think it is for everybody. It's a big issue for at least anyone that I talk to in any career.
Whatever happened to chivalry? Does it only exist in 80's movies? I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me. Just once I want my life to be like an 80's movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason. But no, no, John Hughes did not direct my life.
I really like grammar. And spelling. I was a spelling-bee kid. I'm hard-core about grammar.
I mean, I haven't been around very long. I can't expect everyone to have seen 'The House Bunny'. Oh God. I am having such waves of internal embarrassment, which now I'm admitting on a tape recorder. This is so one of the things I should keep in my head.
You can always veer off the path, that's one thing that has really comforted me over the past year. When you think, 'I can't do something because of this, this and this,' you can actually do anything you want. I could go ballistic right now and tear this whole room apart. I could. I'm not going to, because logic is stopping me, but you can do whatever you want. You really can veer off any path at any time - never give up.
It’s such a fun job, and it can be silly and light and about making people laugh. I think I was doing it a disservice by thinking it’s not something ultimately important. I always was saying, ‘I’m not saving lives; I’m not a brain surgeon.’ And that’s true—I’m not saving anyone from any life-threatening illnesses. But I get to tell stories, and that’s a pretty important task.
I was a good-looking kid. I never felt, like, dorky. I was just like, 'Yup, these are my braces. I've had them forever.'
My stylist has really great taste - Petra Flannery has really great taste. I mean, I am opinionated, and as time goes on, as I've gotten to see more dresses or more clothes, it's easier to say, 'I like that' or 'I don't like that,' but it's nothing I would ever, you know, design.
I do put on a little make-up every day because it helps me feel put together. Mascara is essential.
I'm not there to be the token sexy girl. I don't know that I would ever be able to pull that off. It's nice that those characters I've played feel uncomfortable as well because it's so much more realistic.
There's so much I'm interested in that I didn't discover in high school. For 'The Amazing Spider-Man', because Gwen is a scientist, we went to a lab in San Diego, and we were learning about biology. And I'm fascinated! Because I never went to biology class in high school.
I know that when you're a teenager - sometimes when you're an adult - what sets you apart can sometimes feel like a burden and it's not. And a lot of the time, it's what makes you great.
Censorship makes me really angry. I even hate it when people censor themselves.
As much as I try to be present, it just doesn't really feel like reality. It feels like a fleeting thing. There's a million other incredibly wonderful girls that are much more talented than me that are out there all the time. So I'm just trying to appreciate it for what it is. But I don't want it to take on that feeling of pressure, because I don't know where that's gonna get me.
Being able to work on projects that I love and care about has been the greatest gift ever, and that's been a pretty recent thing in my life. But success for me at some point will probably be having a family.
I find more and more, as time goes on, these people I meet, they are starting to become these people I look up to more and more. Like Julianne Moore, also, on Crazy Stupid Love: kids, husband, priorities straight. Or Woody Harrelson's like that. Those are the people I really admire, and that's success to me: being able to balance that life and not buy into it. And do the work that you want to do and makes you happy, because you're lucky enough to do it. But if I never got a role again, I've got this incredible life.
Sometimes you're not like the person you'd want to hang out with. Would I really want to hang out with me full time? No, you've gotta find people who balance you out.
When you don't even get to try, you're like in a vacuum.
