The other thing I've been discussing with friends is: when you're born do you start at a zero, or five?

I definitely managed to do different kinds of things. My focus is usually who the director is, because at the end of the day the director is the storyteller, what the movie is all about. I don't want to participate in something that I don't think is constructive storytelling.

I feel like I almost didn't grow up in the business, because my parents worked so hard at sheltering us from that. I was raised in Connecticut. And I honestly wasn't aware that my dad was a celebrity until I moved to Los Angeles a year ago.

Sometimes acting, particularly in film, can feel so contained. You need to be small and not overplay things, so it's such a relief to be able to go as far as you can go with an emotion or a feeling or a speech.

With The Help, I knew folks involved in the project peripherally. I wanted to audition for Hilly Holbrook and part of the initial feedback was: "No, Bryce is too nice." That's part of the reason why I really love auditions as well - you get to try out a character and try out different versions of a character.

I thought that I had a really healthy relationship with food, and I went home to my parents' house for a week because I cut my foot, and was recovering. I just ate loads, ate family meals, went along with group activities. And I realized how unhealthy my relationship actually is with food.

It was such a paradox for me that the only thing I know how to do is act, but that the first thing I abandoned while writing were the characters