I don’t have control over what’s on screen, and that’s terrifying.
If I could give my teenaged self any advice, it would be ‘Calm down!’
In a lot of movies, you’ll see people on crazy dates, and you’re like, ‘No one would ever do that!’
I think I’m a fun flatmate. I’m always cheerful. I go on tour with my band so it’s 12 people on one bus and I feel like I’m the one who’s happy in the morning. I’m not a chaotic person, but I might slack off on doing the dishes from time to time.
I tend to like simple music. And clever, succinct lyrics. Songs that don’t try to be more than they need to to be effective, to stir up something emotionally within you.
I sort of consider myself a comedic actress, not a comedienne. I think it’s different. You know, I’m not a stand-up or anything, but playing into comedic situations is sort of where, I think, my strength lies.
I put myself out there; it’s part of my job, and I get it: people will attack me. At first I was thrown off, but now I have a pretty thick skin about it.
I love indie movies. I think that independent cinema is where it’s at and where a lot of trends begin. It’s where new filmmakers are breaking through.
I listened to a lot of Joni Mitchell in high school. She was sort of an inspiration to me. I think she’s a great lyricist, and she makes interesting choices.
I like acting with no lines because all of a sudden you’re able to express things without always worrying about the text. It’s great to have a great text, but there’s a lot of stuff you can’t say in words, and I think there’s something really nice about good physical moments.
I just feel like growing up in Los Angeles, you learn, ‘Well you’re never gonna be the prettiest girl in the room, so just don’t even try.’ I mean, I care about being pretty, but it’s not my most valued thing.
I think making a movie or a record, the best things happen by accident – and those end up being the magic. Every time I’ve followed my gut it’s been better than when I’ve tried to do what I was supposed to do.
I wanted to be a child actor so bad that every day I’d beg my parents if I could audition, but my mom said, ‘Not until you can drive yourself to auditions.’
I’ve never pursued a role. I always hear stories about actors going after parts and I’m, like, ‘How do they do that?’ It seems so weird. It seems like a total myth or something.
I’ve always straddled a weird line – there’s a lot of mainstream stuff that I love. At the same, I still feel like an outsider. I’m the outsider who’s on the inside.
I’ve always been really picky about roles and make a point of reminding myself that it’s not about the money – because, obviously, there’s a lot of money to be made in this business if you’re willing to do anything.
I’m wary about this thing about being in the generation of social networking where people are like, ‘I am my musical taste.’ I am not just a collection of music. Or a collection of movies. I think that’s a thing that people romanticize: ‘Oh my God, she likes this band so she is a dream.’
I’m always trying to do stuff I haven’t done before or challenge myself so I’m not resting on my laurels all of the time because if I just found my little niche and never left it, I’d be pretty boring, I think.
I went to Northwestern because I had gone to a really nontraditional high school. I was like, ‘It’d be cool to have a traditional college experience.’ Then I was like, ‘Oh, but none of these people understand what’s cool about me. My specialness is not appreciated in this place.’
I feel there are tone singers, and there are more vocal gymnastics singers. And I think that’s amazing when people can do that, but I think there’s room for the tone singers. And there aren’t a lot of them.