Vengeance is just a lazy form of grief.
I think having my life be as private and quiet as possible is a way in which then I can go and play characters.
I just want to be nominated; beggars can't be choosers.
Now I can wear high heels again.
It was very natural for me to want to disappear into dark theater, I am really very shy. That is something that people never seem to fully grasp because, when you are an actor, you are meant to be an exhibitionist.
I love acting with very little dialogue. As long as it's supported. I mean, in terms of cinema, you can have a great monologue, but if you're not supported by the images ... You can be feeling things and then you see it back, and you're like, "None of that came across." Or the angle of my face gives it a completely different interpretation than what I was trying to communicate.
I just feel like I'm in the world right now. There have been times when I haven't felt in the world, when I haven't cared whether I was going to be here or not, so my relationship with being on the earth was probably not as intense. And right now, there's an intensity - I want to be here.
I didn't do so well in the academic world, so I think the only way I could express myself was through visual art - anything I could get my hands on, whether it was glassblowing, sculpture, painting, or photography. I always wanted to be a painter. Or a farmer.
As an actor you're only as good as the things you're offered. And there just weren't any female directors offering me things. So when you dissect that, you realize there aren't women offering you things because they don't have the opportunities. I work to raise money for women's cancers; I use my voice for violence against women.
Probably the biggest compliment someone can give you is, "Gosh, you look great. You don't look tired."
At this time in my life, I want to be giving to my relationships. And out of that, whatever work you do prospers because you have more to give. There's something very primal about giving birth. It puts you in a state of being very raw.
[As a producer] [Big Little Lies] is the stories of women that I know, and it was a way in which we could go to other women and say, "Here's a great role. There's five great roles here. They're all complicated. They all deserve to be told, and are you interested?" And that is rare.
I want to be with people I really like. I don't want to be working on things with people that I'm not happy to be there [with].
I love that ["Big Little Lies"] is about women coming together and making something happen very quickly, with friendship being the core of it.
For me, my storyline [in Big Little Lies] is very complicated and nuanced. [The script] was so beautifully written. It was very, very easy to play. ... I think one of the scenes is almost eight minutes.
We worked with Jean-Marc [Vallée] [on Big Little Lies] in terms of finding [style]. Because when you have five women, you're trying to find how they each dress and how they present themselves to the world.
When I was working with Stanley Kubrick [on "Eyes Wide Shut"], he would always say, "You never tell the audience what to feel. Let them choose to have their responses."
Sometimes as an actor you're struggling to make things work. That was never the case for me with [Big Little Lies script]. It just kind of flowed out.
I'm interested in storytelling. I love being an artist now and connecting through art.
I always say, when I work with younger actresses, "I'm here." Reese says it, too: "We've lived it. We know things. So if there's anything you want to know." I'm careful not to be the preacher, like, "Now, listen to me!" But I do want to be available. Even in terms of things like finances - where do you learn that, if you don't have people you can ask, "Hey, can I ask you a question?"
If I was in Sydney, I love the beach. Even though I'm incredibly pale, I put on these terribly long unattractive rashies, and people laugh at me. My kids laugh at me. But that's what I would do.
As an actor you don't control the end result. Because you're a director, you get to control the end result. I think for us, we really have to show up and participate and give. And then let go.
Actors have to protect each other in a way. The idea of humiliating another actor or being humiliated myself is devastating.
