Talent is a very potent aphrodisiac. When someone is incredibly gifted, I find them incredibly sexy.
In 8th grade I started doing theatre and I remember it was as though I had taken a trip to a foreign land that I had never seen before yet felt completely at home. I remember feeling a genuine wave of happiness and of feeling complete.
At the core, I am an actress. And I think, in a way, that's a good thing in that I am, I think, empathetic and sympathetic to the film. I would never pretend to have the discerning and acute critical eye that a lot of the great critics in our business do have. I don't look at it as being a critic or placing a judgment on a film, and I do think, how do you decide which film is best anyway? It's always a little bit of a mixed bag. But, I think it is just a collective group of people coming together to honor the work of an artist - that's how I think of it.
I will say from the outset, I think if you're great, you're great from the very beginning. And because I do think it is innate and I do think it is a gift you just have, and I don't think you can - you can hone the skills of a director, but sadly, I do think that you are born a great director. I think it's just in you and it's something that is deep in you. But, I find it can be difficult working with first-time directors, but it's also moving.
That's the hardest part of acting: when it is ultra-personal, when it is deeply personal, and there's no lying involved. You can't fake it, you can't get by it. This is dealing with the most primal instincts and emotions that a mother can have.
I always try to approach character first and foremost viscerally.
If my gravy train stops at SAG, honey, it's been a great ride.
I really haven't joined the 20th or the 21st century yet. Someday. I'm getting closer. I have voicemail and a fax machine.
I have walked away from enormous amounts of money and I have made that life I have wanted somewhat in this business. I love doing independent film, I love doing theater, I love doing studio films, and I do all three now.
I try to take off the rose-colored glasses and view it in all facets, but I probably would be lying if I didn't say that probably the way in for a film with me is the performance. But I have been on juries where you have to give Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography. So you do have to put on several different hats and I try to broaden my scope. And what's great is, when you're in a room full of people who are not your milieu, so to speak, you find yourself speaking in a way that you do discover a slightly discerning eye.
I like to think of myself as a free spirit. I've never married. I'm not conventional in that way. But I do like romance. I've been fortunate enough that I've had great love, and I've dated remarkable men in my life. I'm very thankful for all of that.
I have stunning friends. I value my friendships as I value my family.
I don't like a lot of rehearsing.
New Orleans. Born and raised. I lived there until I was 19.
I'm obsessed. I've always needed to know what's going on but now it's a must.
Even though I'm a free spirit, I like to keep my friends and my lovers separate. I have extraordinary friends, but I don't want to see them naked.
But no, had I been successful in my 20s I would have been just fine. But it is nice to defy the odds.
The odds are not in your favor the older you get, especially if you're a woman in this business.
Why are comedic parts for women the exception, not the rule?
I think every metropolitan city has its pockets of - that's what makes them great.
But I have had the luxury of working on good films with great people.
I'm really a director's actor. I rely heavily on a director.
I have to watch the news or my day is not complete.
I love writers. All of my best friends are writers.
And I have a really great agent and I know it's almost an oxymoron to say you have a smart agent. But she is and she has a beautiful aesthetic and she has guided me.
