Quotes

I really want women to throw their shoulders back and stand up straight and use their big girl voices and not feel like they're compromising their femininity to be strong and smart.

That one thing you do give up when you get married is that magic moment of meeting someone, and the sparks and the spontaneity.

I think the idea that women can stand up and be strong and still be seen as beautiful and sexual is kind of cool, and I would like to see more of that.

You put three girls in a house, and all of a sudden before you know it, you're talking about boys and drinking whiskey, and things go down and you get deep real quick.

Okay, sense of humor: plus one. Being able to laugh at yourself: plus one. Being able to laugh at other people without being mean: plus one. Vanity: minus one.

I'd like to make mistakes on my own dime and not have a herd of people tell me what I'm doing wrong. and I'm also still trying to find and develop my voice as a filmmaker, and I think that's easier to do on your own terms than trying to satisfy a bunch of people that are paying for the movie.

There is something really nice about learning that you can take the reins of your life and your career.

I don't know what's wrong with me, but like, the second I stop working, I have a panic attack, so it's good for me to be thinking of projects ahead of time and lining things up.

By the time you are in your thirties, most of the time, you've got a job, you can pay for your rent, you can create this nice world around you. And still, you're only in your thirties - you're not that far away from your twenties, which is when you're making all of your stupid mistakes.

As an actor, you're lucky if you get a month before a project starts. There are times when you get a day before a project starts. So to be able to really sit and inhabit that mind and the story is really beneficial, and it really helps for me to be able to then compartmentalize as we're shooting and detach and go somewhere else.

There are very few shows that show women talking like strong, sassy women. Do you know what I mean? Sex and the City (1998) started doing that, and that was why that was such a huge hit.

I have always had this secret fantasy of being a Bourne girl or Bond girl, and I've never even gotten called in on one of those roles.

What I get really excited about are movies that I connect with emotionally. Deliverance (1972) was on TV, and they don't really make movies like that anymore, just simple and scary. The truly scary thing is, 'I'm going to threaten your life, I'm going to threaten the people you love. What are you going to do about it?'

I love my kids, they are amazing children, but they drive me bananas sometimes. And sometimes, I want to sell them on eBay... but I'm not going to.

I really like oysters, and I won't eat them alone. They're just a weird thing to eat by yourself.

I think I'm still trying to find my voice as a filmmaker and finding stories to tell.

If you're a woman, just make a freaking good movie. I don't believe in the women who say, 'It's too hard, I'm getting shot down.'

It's not rocket science to make a movie.

I would like to get jobs doing other things that aren't necessarily always with my husband. I'd like to show range - and kiss another guy.

If people want to talk about anything I do, they can give it any name they want. As long as they're talking about it, I think it's great.

I came to filmmaking as an actor looking for great characters and great opportunities, both of which are kind of hard to come by. It turns out I really love the process. And, it's exciting to be able to take my career by the reigns and make things happen for myself. Hopefully, in doing so, more opportunities will become available to me.

I love profanity, but I think if it's used too much, it just sounds a little trashy. I think it's more effective when it's dropped intelligently. I like intelligent profanity.

If the opportunities are not being presented to me, I'm going to take the reins and do it. Brit Marling was not waiting for the phone to ring. The great roles are not there to be had. If you have an idea, do it.

I am a very talented belcher. Very deep and bassy.

It took me a really long time to decide who I want my circle to be and who I want to surround myself with. Once you make that choice, that is where I feel like I have built my strength. This is my life choice. These are the people that make me feel good about me, and that I love and adore and will do anything for.

I have a very hard time picturing myself in a room with some type of goo oozing out of an air vent and killing me; that doesn't really scare me because I don't think that's going to happen to me.

I love sports. I was an athlete in high school, and my school was so small we didn't have a football team, so it's the one sport I didn't bother to learn the rules to because I never went to game.

I think part of what makes someone a great actor is being able to walk into a situation emotionally available and open, and have all your guards down, and just have that level of trust and security in yourself to know that you could walk out on that limb with someone else and be safe.

I don't love horror movies with something surreal happening. That doesn't work for me. What's terrifying is something that could actually happen to me and what I would do. I don't know how to throw a punch, and I've never had to do it.

I have respect for anyone who's going to go out and make a movie for a small budget and turn it into a phenomenon. God bless you. Please keep making movies. That's great. But it's not what entertains me.

It took me 30 years to figure out who I really am, as a person, and who I want to surround myself with. I was very much the kind of person who would just meld in with whatever group I was near.

Part of the process of acting in a film that you're also directing is really trusting the people around you to capture your vision, which hopefully you have communicated well to them.

I think there are certain tenets set in place for all different types on genres. For thrillers, women usually die first. I can't say exactly why, and it's kind of a bummer... But I also can't explain why the wallflower girl in the romantic comedy always gets the guy in the end. That's just the way those movies go.

It's really fun to go back and forth from acting projects to directing projects. You don't have as much responsibility when you're acting, but you have more fun. But then you miss having that responsibility, and so you go back and torture yourself and make a movie.

I'm not super nostalgic for friendships I've lost along the way. I feel like, if they were truly meaningful and really special, they would still exist. I think we grow and change, and that's okay.