I grew up with a house full of dogs. My mother was a great nature lover and taught us to have almost a religious sense of respect for the natural world.

I've found myself getting more and more cynical about what's happening to the planet - it makes me furious.

So you have the challenge of just learning the lines, period, and not only learning them, but learning them to the extent that you assimilate them, so that you're not worried about what the next word is coming out of your mouth when it comes to doing a scene. And you're also in the trenches with the writers, just in the wonderful kind of back and forth of how is it best to say something, even if it involves four or five words. I love that kind of thing.

I think there's something thrilling about going into a movie house and seeing everything on such a huge screen. I think we're in a culture now that is confronted with various sizes of screens, the biggest movie houses and then the smallest iPods.

I am extremely shy. I am not happy in crowds of people.

I really hope it engenders a lot of conversation because I believe there are a lot of people who put on faces. We all do it, every time we walk out the door. And there are a lot of people who have to hide who they are. And I think this story speaks to that.

I love histories. I love learning. I love books that talk about people who made a real impact on history, because it always has to do with who they were at that time and what their personalities were like and what their strengths and weaknesses were.