I was never nervous directing. Not once. I’m more nervous acting. I’m far more nervous on set, before I say my lines, than I ever have been, as a director.
There have been a lot of murders and suicides in my family; it’s like the primary cause of death. I wonder if there’s a certain energy that attracts that.
I like strong, strong women who don’t go down without a fight. I like iconic roles. They don’t come around very often, so I have to wait for them. Obviously I’m not the typical blonde who stands by the side, while the man has all the fun.
Quentin Tarantino is controlled insanity, I would say. He’s very loud and fun. I don’t think there’s anybody on the planet like him that I have ever met.
I’m not really one of those people who goes and writes some big back story and agonizes over characters. I think you kind of can get it. For me personally, it’s just kind of more instinctive. But I don’t have kind of an acting background. I fell into it accidentally.
There was a story that I was in a shoe shop and that I threw a pair of flip flops at the wall, shouting, ‘I can’t believe how overpriced these are!’ I thought, ‘Gosh, if I’m gonna take a big stand on something I would hope it would be for more than flip flops!’
I was a boy in the ads I did as a child. My sister was the girl, and I was the boy. I had short hair and I was in overalls and I was giving flowers to my sister Daisy, who fit their model of what a girl was supposed to look like.
If one person starts crying, I’ll cry. If one person has no money, I’ll give them mine. If I had a bicycle growing up, I always felt incredibly guilty when I see someone sitting at the bus stop.
You have to work to carve out your own little corner, and I’m certainly smacking my head against the wall trying to make a dent. I just hope I don’t get brain-damaged before I get there
