Some of the most successful, talented actresses of our generation, be it Julianne Moore, or Charlize Theron, or Charlotte Gainsbourg, or Isabella Rossellini, if you know your cinema history, have taken their clothes off. There's nothing wrong with nudity, per se, if it's part of the storytelling and it's eloquent and it says something about the raw humanity of the story.

I just think that if we stopped playing on the superficial level and concentrated on women in real crises throughout the world, it would be a better thing if we all stood together about the important stuff and stopped getting distracted by superficial things.

I think that's the most dangerous kind of sexism: People don't realize it's there and we end up surreptitiously accepting it because it's just part of our culture. I've never experienced explicit, overt, confrontational sexism personally.

Famously, Anne Boleyn was not a beauty: she was more about quirkiness and an innate sensuality, and there are a lot of references to her eyes. Which sends out a great message for women, because life is not about the aesthetic all the time.

I started writing it, because it was seven years ago. But yes, that is the genesis of why I started writing.

I just want to play real human beings. You know, I don't care if they're male or female.

Problems reconciling mom and the wife are difficult in the best of times.