When you learn not to want things so badly, life comes to you.

I have made decisions based from purely an actor's point of view.

It comes down to something really simple: Can I visualize myself playing those scenes? If that happens, then I know that I will probably end up doing it.

It was easier to do Shakespeare than a lot of modern movie scripts that are so poorly written.

I never just slide through anything. I explore everything to the fullest, whether good or bad.

Usually, you get a script and you have the whole story. All the acts are there, for a play. You know what happens in the first, second and third acts, and you know how it starts, where you go and where it finishes. [With American Horror Story: Asylum], it's a whole new experience. I don't know where it's going, and I don't know what's going to happen next. It's been an interesting way to work. It's made me work in a much more fluid, braver way, just taking every chance that comes along.

I like to work in costumes, makeup, and hair that allow me tremendous freedom.