That's why they call it work, because it's not what you'd prefer to do with your free time.

I wish I could always look like I've just finished a really good laugh.

Blessings come in disguise. And challenges can be a blessing.

I've always had this unresolved desire to prove that I could get a Ph.D., or contribute something else to the world.

I think a lot of the time, the studio system is so compelled to kowtow to its fear that women are not going to be found sympathetic. It just sort of euthanizes any hope of more diverse examples of the emotional realities of people. Representing my gender, I think, "Well, I have those emotions, why don't those ever get brought to the screen so I can feel recognized?"

I do feel that if it's not on the page, there's no hope of it getting to the stage. You really can't take a cat and turn it into a dog, or try and get lemons off an apple tree, or what have you. Sometimes there's this real naïveté that people possess, where they want you to infuse a scene with a certain quality, and it's like an apology. "I read the script, didn't you? What's the agenda here?"

Independent films have a very different cachet than success films.