Melanie Lynskey Quotes

The acting life is different than I thought it would be. I love it - it's actually a lot less pressure than I thought it would be.

I'm not one of those people who can cry on cue. If I have to cry in an audition, I'm like, 'Okay, let me see what I can do.

There's a rhythm to script [ in "I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore"], as well, especially the pacing of it. But there definitely were times when I would say something and [ Macon Blair] would say, "I didn't think to deliver it like that" or, "I didn't think it had that meaning." And he'd say, "I like it. I think it's good." So he's open. He's not battering it into you.

I guess I have a strong constitution.

I was a kid who didn't have a lot of self-esteem.

I feel weird when I go to the movies and everybody's faces are perfect.

I was at university and I was studying modern drama and studying English, and I just was like, 'I don't wanna be in this place. I wanna be acting.'

There's not much of a follow-your-dreams kind of vibe in New Zealand or my family.

For a while, I was only being sent fat-girl parts. Seriously? Sometimes I feel like I'm making some kind of radical statement because I'm a size 6.

I want to go and have a real experience and it's just lovely to sit and watch a movie and just be really transported by a story and care about the characters. That's always what I'm looking for.

Sometimes you just feel so fortunate to be in the company that you're in and you just want to soak it all up.

I've definitely had times in my life where I've been depressed and not able to do anything at all.

I don't think I've played a lot of crazy people.

I felt like the script [of "I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore"] was so clear. It was sort of packed full of information. [Macon Blair] puts in a lot of discussion in the script. Characters are introduced very thoughtfully. The way he described walking into particular environments was very specific.

I was a very independent teenager.

People in New Zealand go out of their way to not be impressed by things.

I love festivals because I feel like I'm more of a movie fan than a person who's in the film industry.

Even just reading "I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore,"I got a sense of the world and the story [Macon Blair] wanted to tell. And then I had a meeting with him and understood how he likes to work. I really trusted him from the beginning.

I read every single review, because I love film criticism and I'm interested.

I feel like I'm always put with someone who's like, "Come on! Please be happy!".

I feel so grateful when I see a movie and there's a woman who looks somewhat like me. I'm like, 'Thank you, Samantha Morton!' You know, a woman who feels like a human being. That means so much to me.

I think there's so many little specific things in the script [of "I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore"]. And the script was also structured so beautifully that I didn't want to mess with it.

It's always nice for me to get to explore somebody who's feeling that and then does something with it and takes it in a different direction or does something with it. It feels very powerful. It helps me with my own.

I always like [while filming] to have a sense of what led this person to this point.

I'm pretty active, so I wasn't really worried [about filming "I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore" ]. But there was a day when I was like, "God, I've been rowing for two hours."

I feel so lucky to have done so many things that I love in the past few years so I'm just going to keep trying to do them.

The interesting thing about acting is using all your own stuff and having some kind of personal catharsis while you're working.

For "The Intervention" I came up with a back-story and Clea [Duvall] was like, "No." And I was like, "I don't care."

I used to write stories and poetry, but for some reason I have it in my head that if I'm going to write, I have to write a script.

I feel like I'm kind of faking something if I'm talking as myself and putting on an accent.

I feel like any actor should always be thinking about how to serve the story. The thing to be cautious of is trying to make too much of your "moment," or whatever. The story is a lot bigger than you, and you're there to help it along. The thing to think about is whether what you're doing is true to the moment and where the story's going, rather than going, "Here are my scenes. What can I try and do to make the most of them?"

I talked with [ Blair Macon] a lot. I always like to come up with it - sometimes the filmmaker is not into it at all.

Honestly, I think if I had to stop acting I'd be like, 'Well, I guess I have to go live in the mountains now.' I'd probably be a good assistant.

New Zealanders can be a little hostile.

I feel like a character actress - it's where I'm comfortable.

I think filmmakers are always interested in getting the best actor that they can find, the person who's the most right for it.

Some scripts are pretty sparse.

People have something on their mind. It almost feels [on marches against now-President Donald Trump] like after-tragedy. People seem sort of preoccupied.

I've had a lot of struggles with depression. It's very easy for me to go to a bleak place, or for me to doubt humanity, myself, the world, my choices.

It's good to feel tired at the end of the day. It's not often as an actor that you're like, "Oof. Ow. I feel like I've been out working."

If I could be working every day, I would be.

Even though it's still, annoyingly, something everybody feels the need to bring up to anybody who doesn't look like a model, there are more women now who are super successful and have different body types. You know, like men do. That feels like progress to me.

I guess I've never really had a great desire to be a leading lady, or be seen as an ingenue.

I really like 'Girls.' I know everybody does, but I love 'Girls.

I've done a gazillion readings that have gone on to be movies that are made without me.

I know my mother-in-law would drive two hours to go see a movie that I'm in.

I don't think I've played a lot of crazy people. If ever I had a choice between two movies, I'd try to do whatever was the opposite of what I did last time.