I knew it was going to be important that if I had an audience understand who she was, then all those things had to come from a place that was grounded, as opposed to being tics and manners and twitches. I didn't think it was going to be as rich, perhaps, as if I was going to make it more emotional.

I've never understood the notion that actors and actresses should look great on-screen just because they're on-screen. That doesn't make sense to me.

Just coming to terms with the fact that I got to play April Wheeler [Revolutionary Road] and Hanna Schmitz [The Reader] in one year, let alone in my lifetime. I'm very, very aware of how rare that is as an opportunity for any one person. I can't tell you how much I've been able to take away from these experiences creatively. I really, really learned so much about acting, about myself... all of those things. It's difficult to talk about the actor's process without sounding like an arrogant asshole but they really were very challenging.

Femininity for me means happiness and freedom...freedom of being who you are in whatever shape or size you come in.

I do endless chopping and preparing things. I really find that relaxing. I do a lot of thinking as I am chopping and cooking.

She has a choice. She can either accept a life of misery or she can struggle against it. And she chooses to struggle...she fails in the end but there's something beautiful and even heroic in her rebellion.

Leo and I are kindred spirits - we're cut from the same cloth.