Sometimes I decide not to make something because I am proud and think I am better than that - and then I realise I have to pay the rent and I have to take something which is even worse than all the other stuff they offer you because you were being so proud not to take it! But you adjust and sometimes for one reason or another there is no strategy at the end but there is the ability to do the best that you can with what you have.

I was an illegal immigrant.

This is not love. It is a crime... You can't look the other way just because you have not experienced domestic violence with your own flesh.

My accent was horrible. In Mexico, nobody says, 'You speak English with a good accent.' You either speak English, or you don't: As long as you can communicate, no one cares.

Imagine if I'd said, 'I have to be the best actress - I want that and nothing else.' I never would have directed. I never would have produced. I never would have done a beauty line. I would have just worried about getting a job or been frustrated that I wasn't getting the job that I wanted. I was ready to be a businesswoman.

I've never met anybody who enjoys every moment of making a movie as much as Pierce Brosnan. He doesn't stress out too much, he is always in a good mood. And he has little rituals throughout the day, which he does with a lot of style - almost like he is celebrating life, not just the work. He has to have his special cup of tea, in nice china, not Styrofoam.

So you have to keep waiting and then they give you the script and it's terrible. Then you have to go to the rewrite and they're very upset because you didn't like it. I went through that for seven years.