In fact, there's an entire universe out there that's pretty much indifferent to struggles that big, no matter how serious they've been in your life.

I feel like we want women to be simpler, less complex, so we project a lot of versions of simplicity onto them to fit that.

With being a mother, I feel like you choose how you spend your time so much more carefully - which is a good thing.

All of my short films are about marriages, and I think that this probably comes from some kind of unconscious fascination with my parents' story and what they went through.

We're still at a point where women [directors] aren't allowed to be mad visionaries. We have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that we're responsible, that we can handle it, that we've got all our ducks in a row . . . most women who direct always come in on budget, always come in on schedule, and if they were wild and irresponsible it would not be put down to brilliance, but to a general flakiness.

I enjoy doing my more intimate and less commercial pictures and also I enjoy directing.

I feel like I've always had two selves - the part of me that makes films and the part of me that's political, and they haven't really connected that much. Alias Grace talks about things like class and immigration and women's rights, which felt really good. But especially now, there are pressing things to be said. It's a really scary time in the world. It's a very scary thing to have an American president who openly brags about assaulting women and is openly racist. This isn't a moment to be speaking in metaphors.