There is this immediate connection, this intimacy when you're acting because there's no room to be polite or shy. Also, as an actor I get to connect with women I've never met before.

I always say I am a realist, and my mom says, "No, you just have anxiety."

It's a fact, the majority of films in Hollywood are from the male perspective. And the female characters, very rarely do they get to speak to another female character in a movie, and when they do it's usually about a guy, not anything else. So they're very male-centric, Hollywood films, in general. So I think it's incredible that Ned Benson, when I said I'd love to know where she goes, says okay, I'm going to write another film from the female perspective.

I've actually been given a great gift. When I walk into an audition with a director, I'm carrying no baggage. They haven't seen me in anything, even though I've done nine films.

I'm going to ask what is correct, what I deserve, especially in relation to male actors.

I love being around great actors and film-makers, and I try to hide the fact that I'm in awe of them.

Maybe that's because there are so few women lobbyists; if they're there, it's for something they strongly believe in, not just for financial gain.