The thing I like about acting is being able to lose yourself completely in someone else.

I’m a huge fan of the program Democracy Now, which is hosted by Amy Goodman, and I subscribe to the podcast.

The idea behind it did come out of my love for travel shows. I loved them as a little kid and I loved Anthony Bourdain, but I really did want to see one about LGBTQ communities and culture and the specific country that we visit. Of course it is about the joys and the triumphs and the nightlife, but sadly, unfortunately, it's also about the discrimination that people face, because that's the reality.

I was in a store in Halifax, Nova Scotia that I love, sort of like an environmental friendly sort of store. But they had a great book section. So I went in there all the time. The woman who worked there - which I feel so bad; I've forgotten her name - she handed me the book and she said, "Hey, you should read this. I think it would make a good movie." I remember reading the back of it and I was like, "Huh." Then I just devoured the book and I was so moved by it and said, "Why don't we start developing this into a film?" So that's how it ['Into the Forest'] all started.

We became so close [with Rachel Evan Wood], in the process of leading up to making the film [Into the Forest ]. We were saying goodbye to each other, wrapping the film, and we knew we'd be seeing each other again.

I've never done a movie in that genre, and I love a lot of those movies. I watched the director's [David Freyne] short film [The First Wave], which I loved. And the script was just so good. He's found this way to tell a new story.

When we're growing up there are all sorts of people telling us what to do when really what we need is space to work out who to be.