I really wanted to do a comedy. I've done a lot of drama, and comedy was the one genre I was not being offered. So I became obsessive about getting one. I tried with two little parts in comedies that were more mainstream, I was kind of fumbling around, and then I read The Brothers Bloom and knew it was the one I wanted to jump into. Did it take adjusting? Actually, it's not really any different from doing drama.

The most interesting characters are those you're drawn to, then repelled by, and then come to understand. All that tension - I live that. But I don't plan the tension. It's just something that should happen.

I don't believe your soul mate has to share your politics.

It's hard to remember that life is a miracle. We're just living it and we forget that.

I don't think balance is something you get from someone else; it's something women have to find from within. For me, finding balance is still a work in progress.

For me, being a mum has been a really, really instinctive thing.

I was offered more work after the Oscar. When I was younger, I would take whatever I was offered because it was money and work and experience. In a way, choosing is the hard part. I know that's a luxury problem, but it's true. I try to go where passion takes me.