“I know that my way of tackling a character is very different.”

Feisty women are my calling!

We actually did perform it in front of all those thousands of people. And just beforehand, we had a little dress rehearsal, and there were all these famous wrestlers going around and watching as well. Terrifying.

I love watching faces as they grow up. It’s the difference between so many strong British actresses compared to what America does to women.

I always hate it when I see the wrong person in massive roles, so for me, my biggest fear would be accepting a role I thought I wouldn’t find the rhythm of.

In order for us to appreciate this world, we have to be a bit more honest, and I hope I do that.

I love all of Kate Winslet’s characters. And Natalie Portman. If I can have a smidgen of what they’ve done, that would be awesome.

Why aren’t there these epic roles for women, for whatever age you are?

Sometimes in the real world, there is fire between people.

I have been enormously lucky. My first role was in a great film by a woman director.

Everybody’s story of getting into the industry is just as difficult as the next person. Whether you come from money or no money, it’s not easy… you have to offer yourself; you can’t expect someone to get you.

I’ve tried not to get too bogged down by what people want you to be.

With ‘Lady Macbeth,’ I had two other things offered to me, and they would have also been very fun, but you just have to figure that out. And then you do it.

Lady Macbeth’ is a great opportunity for me to prove that maybe the outcome of ‘The Falling’ was not necessarily a fluke.

I do like a bit of danger. Guns, cars, running, bullets. I’m up for it.

Do we need to have a female Bond? Couldn’t we just make something new?

When I look for roles, I am looking for incredibly powerful women.

“Oh, you know,” I say. “Sun shining. Birds chirping.” She raises an eyebrow at me, as if reminding me that we are in an underground tunnel.

You know what I think about violence. For me it is profoundly moral -more moral than compromises and transactions.

He is stronger than anyone I know, and warmer than anyone else realizes; he is a secret that I have kept, and will keep for the rest of my life.

A friend is one to whom one may pour out the contents of one’s heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that gentle hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.

I love to sing some Beyonce – ya know, like ‘All the Single Ladies.’ I’ll sing that – maybe not with the body shakin’ – but I’ll have a little bit of the hand movement going on.

When a person knows and can’t make the others understand, what does he do?

About the joys and the courage, I really don’t know what other people think. I just know that I’ve never left Africa. I’ve lived there all my life. And one of the wonderful things, in spite of all the terrible things that happen in South Africa, is the way people continue to keep their dignity.

The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.