I trust other people to tell me if it's too far or tasteless, because there's not too much that I won't do. I like to push the limits. Obviously, that's more dangerous and more fun for everybody.

Comedy is a serious business. It's frustrating when I can't find the right thing that makes the crew laugh. If I don't make them laugh, I get very disappointed in myself. You don't really have a live audience, so you just depend on the crew to let you know if you're doing something funny.

Great drama is all about conflict, and what's a better conflict than Republican-Democrat?

With John Wayne Gacy - the serial killer who dressed up as a clown - there's just something about clowns I don't trust. I don't think they're particularly funny. They're a little spooky. Not my sense of humor, I don't laugh at clowns.

There was a courtroom scene where my son is convicted of killing Kevin Spacey's character. I find the bloody T-shirt and realize my husband did it. I get up the courage to take the shirt and send it to the police as evidence. I go out of the house for the first time. There was all this stuff I had to do that became quite truncated, because they slimmed down the movie. I understand the American Beauty is brilliant without all that stuff, but for me, personally, it was hard to see all that go.

The pre-shoot days are so relaxed and fun and the writers are laughing. I love the rehearsal process.

It is a very difficult job, being the servant of two masters.