I got on stage and I went, "Oh wow. No stage fright." I couldn't do public speaking, and I couldn't play the piano in front of people, but I could act. I found that being on stage, I felt, "This is home." I felt an immediate right thing, and the exchange between the audience and the actors on stage was so fulfilling. I just went, "That is the conversation I want to have."

I've never had a career of that kind of box office power. I've always learned the hard way

I really admire people who are extraordinarily tolerant and patient.

More and more movies have been pressured to allow reporters and TV cameras to come onto the set while you're working, and I find that a real violation

I think it's really odd, too, that the public is so privy to how much money the actors make and what movies cost. It seems to me to be beside the point. When I go to a movie I really don't want to think about the money. I want to see the story.

I think that my looks through the years have served me well because I was never a great beauty and I was never cast as a great beauty. My looks were not part of my transportation - certainly not in the typical leading lady role - so I never leaned on it and I never really made that a high value.

The rhythm of my career has always been very static, staccato and then silent, and then a lot of work, and then none