The most complicated character I have ever played - she has many, many, many layers that even I'm not fully aware of.

Whenever I start freaking out and getting stressed, I have to remember that this is just the beginning.

Ellen [Page] and I had only met a couple of times, but had mutual admiration for each other's work. When I first heard about the film [Into the Forest], I was excited to get a chance to work with one of my peers because it's usually one or the other. You don't get to work with all of the other actors that you're usually competing with.

I adore Susan Sarandon, she's just so cool, and brilliant, and beautiful. I just like her whole vibe - off- and on-screen.

Working with men like Al Pacino, Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Douglas, Edward Norton, David Morse, and Kevin Costner, you have to step up and look them dead in the eye and, you know, scare them. I can see it when it happens, and they don't know it's coming. It's the best look on any man's face when he gets paired with a woman and he doesn't expect her to kick his ass. I'm not saying I've kicked any of their asses, but I feel like I have held my own and said, "I am a force to be reckoned with." It's about not being intimidated. I feel it makes me a stronger woman.

Whenever I talk about being a feminist or speaking out for equality, it's also about the idea that men are treated with respect. It's not just about treating women like people and not abusing them. You also can't abuse men and you can't say things like, 'Oh, he was just a man. He didn't know any better.' Or 'He's a man, what did you expect?' That's just as abusive and damaging to men, I feel.

I think I did realize that early on, and then I went through a fun phase where I was figuring out who I was and the different sides of myself. I think like most women, I bought into a certain ideal of beauty that I didn't quite fit into, and I tried to pretzel myself and alter myself to be what I was told is beautiful, and then I realized that you are in control of what you think is beautiful.