My first lead role was probably 'Party Girl' in 1994.

I've gotten to portray things in [Christopher Guest's] movies that I wouldn't have in others.

It felt really good to kind of find my voice and say stuff, and to be funny, hopefully.

With Dazed and Confused I got the high school experience I didn't get to have. So you do create families and homes. You're projecting and it's your job. The amount of time and headspace and thought it takes on your psyche is huge. It's exhausting, yeah. And it's exhausting but it's also great.

I don't have a publisher yet, so I'm not in the process of that next stage and I don't know what that's going to look like. So I feel like I finished stage one [with my book].

My grandmother is this amazingly theatrical woman. She acted like a movie star, as far as looks and attitude, kind of like Susan Hayward.

Early on it was much easier to play leads, but now independent movies are being co-opted by the studio system, and they want bigger names to guarantee more audience and more numbers.