I want us to have it all, love and career. It's a struggle sometime to achieve that, but I love the struggle.

I'm very shy. But as a director and especially a female director, absolutely: How I used to walk on the court is how I walk on set. And I have to - I mean, I'm controlling 150, 200 people, and everything is on me.

Sports also teaches you that it's about the team, and the better your teammates are, the better they make you.

My parents are amazing. When I said I wanted to go into film, they didn't understand it, but they were incredibly supportive. But growing up, I absolutely did have that feeling of, "Wow, somebody just gave me up." That was infused in The Secret Life of Bees too - the protagonist wanting unconditional love from her dead but much-imagined mother.

I grew up with white parents and until after college, it was a lot of confusion, especially because I grew up in an all-white area. So I never looked around and saw anyone who looked like me.

I write to music, so every script I have has its own playlist. Music just opens me up to the emotions that I'm writing.

A classic is a classic for a reason. Let's try to create new classics. The idea of repeating ourselves drives me a little crazy.