It was not possible to film in California, because all the areas are heavily built up now. Coming to Cape Town is an invitation to step into the past and recreate Los Angeles of the 1930s.
I'd like to do interesting indie films mixed with big, high-paying commercial blockbusters. 'One for you, one for me,' is what they say.
Other actors like to rehearse on film-they like 30 or 40 takes. When you get an actor like that, it becomes difficult for me because I'm ready to quit after number two.
With film roles, it just has to be a character either I haven't done before, or a role with somebody really interesting or with an interesting person or group of people.
I'm like the king of the low-budget sequel. People ask, 'What film are you gonna do next?' 'I don't know, but it's probably got a 3 or 4 in the title.'
I'd been an actor in high school, and when I got to college, it was all about film.
A few performances have been left out of the various Woodstock soundtracks and film edits over the years, most notably The Grateful Dead.
It helps being from somewhere other than Hollywood, not having grown up with that sense of film-making. I really wasn't exposed to that as a young woman.
I will make myself sick on films, just because you want everything to be right. I can't sleep if something hasn't been done or is out of place.
An action film can have too much action; picture an equaliser on a stereo, with all the knobs pegged at 10. It becomes a cacophony and is, ultimately, quite boring.
In the midst of global recession, in the face of uncertainty about what's going to happen next, film looks for inspiration to real people.
I could never have imagined the films I've done and the people I've worked with when I was starting out; I certainly did not have a career path.
I think most of my films all have a certain tone or intensity in them. They are tense, and you kind of anticipate some kind of catastrophe, but you're not quite sure.
I will be making films, and I'm going to keep working, no matter what I have to do. And I don't plan to ever ask for permission from anybody.
How did I end up in films with people like Keira Knightley... all these beautiful leading ladies and me - it's kind of shocking.
I believe realism is nothing but an analysis of reality. Film scripts have a synthetical constitution.
Filming is always a challenge because I'm not used to it. But I approach it head-on. I'm not technically brilliant, but it's the spirit that counts.
It irritates me so much the way people talk about soaps because it is far more difficult working on a soap than it is on a big studio film.
No one turns down a film with Woody; it's something everyone wants in their career as an important moment. He's such a comedic genius, without question, so I was thrilled.
With a film, you have to pare down and take stuff out and squish it all down into a 110 page script.
I'll be with The Goat until the fall. Then I've been given three plays to look at and there have been a couple of films have come over the desk. I will probably not do either one of them.
