But I think for me, why I was drawn to the piece is, at the core of the story, it's a love story to me - between Ed and Lorraine, between these two families who are asking for help and us who are in the business of giving help.

Am I ambitious? I used to be afraid of that word but now I think ambition is a good thing.

I, for one, am tired of seeing movies about men damaging each other.

I am drawn to intimate, often uncomfortable portraits of a woman persevering and awakening.

We're all sick of holy wars and bloodshed because religion is supposed to give us life and a better life and is supposed to bring out our best self. When it results in mass destruction and hatred and anxiety, it's the antithesis I think of what religion was designed to do.

I feel my fuller-bodied characters are all in the independent films I do, and in the studio productions, I have to work harder to dimensionalize the characters. And that's certainly part of the job description of an actor - that's what you're supposed to do - but you have to work harder at it in the characters that I've encountered in studio films.

Honestly, I think a good film is spiritual, regardless of whether its subject is faith.