I came out of independent film, that's my roots. I used my independent film as a laboratory, and used what I could discover in that laboratory.

I always wanted to find a way to apply my acting in a big mad monster movie where I was transforming into this scary entity.

One of the pluses of getting older is you set some limits.

I don't like it when people on the street say "smile" or "cheer up." It's a real cheap line. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling real grateful for everything. It's a solid time in my life. When people say I look sad, they're wrong.

My mother was a dancer, so I like to use the body as part of the instrument of acting.

Helen Mirren is someone that I have really admired ever since I saw her in Excalibur. That was the first thing I said to her. "I loved you as Morgan Le Fay."

There is a misperception, if you will, in critical response or even in Hollywood, that I can only do exaggerated characters. Or what they would call over-the-top performances. Well, this is completely false.