Ismail Merchant was just the most seductive, passionate, outrageous, driven, genius of a man.
You have to love the characters you play, even if no one else does.
I had a great time on The Shield. From working on it I have a totally different view of law enforcement.
I really think that effective acting has to do literally with the movement of molecules.
And the writers are good in that it’s easy to memorize, and good writing has an innate rhythm to it. And I’ve always felt that it’s easier to get in your head than writing that has very kind of mind busting moments.
It’s gotten out of control. It’s taking bigger and bigger names to make smaller and smaller films. I worry that important films without a big name attached won’t get made at all.
I knew the term Stepford Wife, and I knew what that meant. I never read the book, and I think before I started filming I watched the movie. I thought it was very dated.
I had a dresser who literally squeezed me in like Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind.
I’ve often been mistaken for Meryl Streep, although never on Oscar night.
I think the diva is kind of a cliche. My definition of a diva is somebody whose talent does not match what they’re trying to play, so all this temperament comes out.
As far as the difference for me between television and movies, I really thrill to the pace of television. As exhausting as it can be – there was actually one day when we never went to bed.
So I think things are going to get closer and closer to each other, because the screens will force that to happen. I think there are a lot of movies that people will only see on their computers or their iPods.
I think there’s something thrilling about going into a movie house and seeing everything on such a huge screen. I think we’re in a culture now that is confronted with various sizes of screens, the biggest movie houses and then the smallest iPods.
Because as an actor, I really feel you cannot judge a character. You have to totally commit to that character. And for me to totally commit to the character, I have to find those places where I understand the sequence of behavior.
I’ve always felt that an independent film is a film that almost doesn’t get made.
I love histories. I love learning. I love books that talk about people who made a real impact on history, because it always has to do with who they were at that time and what their personalities were like and what their strengths and weaknesses were.
I also have always felt that television has a huge potential for the kinds of audiences that some films would never dream or ever be able to have. So that potential is very exciting to me.
And those moments that I find mind busting. Meaning like there’s a word that I find in a weird place. I love the process of going to the writer and working that out, because that’s just basic communication.
I’ve found myself getting more and more cynical about what’s happening to the planet – it makes me furious.
I have the belief that truly evil people, it’s a genetic evil. I only have the experience of exploring the landscape of some of the characters I’ve played that people have labeled as evil; I don’t think they’re evil.
When you’re playing a man, you can look tired and horrible and you still look okay. As a woman, if you’re tired, it’s terrible. It was such a luxury not having to worry about that.