Mara Casey gave me my first job. I saw something online, and it was for a part in a "Gilmore Girls" episode, and I thought I was right for it.

All you 'Twilight' fans, can't thank you really enough for being so supportive. You're real cool people.

When you do something that people respond to, and then you start altering the blueprint for what worked, it's pretty fear-inducing. But sometimes, you have to do that, in order to push the boundaries.

I've always laughed at the term "female director" or even "black director." A director's a director.

I'm very fortunate to have the privilege of working with directors like Bill Condon and Paul Thomas Anderson, who I think is one of the greatest filmmakers of our time.

I would say 'The Master' was one of the most inspiring things I've ever got to work on.

I do it when I'm a preparing for a role quite a bit - I sit with music. It helps influence the discovery of something. Then sometimes during filming I like to listen to the same things. It brings me back to a place where I just feel more creative and focused.