It's thematic in my career, if you look at most of my choices. It is some level of exploration of maternal angst and maternal heroism.

I grew up in a Christian home. The strictness comes with religion in general. Whether you grew up Jewish or Orthodox Jewish or Muslim, there are certain rules and regulations. But my parents instilled in me the importance of defining God for yourself.

Not just as an actress, but on a human-being level, I've experienced frustration on many different levels. [With my] career, it would be more the frustration of not always finding challenging material or inspiring material ... [Acting is] therapeutic for me. I'm pretty accommodating.

The depth of exploration of the male psyche and the female psyche is uneven. I see further, deeper renderings of what it means to be a man.

Faith is important to me.

To me representing clairvoyance, how was I going to achieve that, how I was going to capture that? For me, it all became about her gaze and the way she takes you in. It's a rhythmic thing and a stillness thing to consider but these are little details, little nuances. We were invited to the sanctity of her home and there were roosters running around and she's screaming, "Jackie, be quiet!" Even though she's in the middle of the thing. And these are the details that we wanted to incorporate into our story.

The biggest research of all when I do a character is self-examination. You look at yourself and you ask, 'How am I similar to this person and how am I different?'