Quotes

I've always had the perspective that roles come into my life when I need them most and sort of teach me lessons. The same can be true of films, films are released into society to aid in a lesson, inspire people, comfort people.

Right now as an artist, what I want to do is be a part of works that are unignorable. I couldn't be less interested in how people receive it, honestly. As long as it's unignorable.

I feel like I almost didn't grow up in the business, because my parents worked so hard at sheltering us from that. I was raised in Connecticut. And I honestly wasn't aware that my dad was a celebrity until I moved to Los Angeles a year ago.

I've learned to think in terms of having a long career. Actors can have very long careers that last until the day we die, but there will be moments when you'll feel like you're a failure or when you're disappointed in yourself. I've learned from my dad that those feelings don't mean you should stop what you're doing. They mean you should try even harder; you should push even further. Perhaps because of failure, you're getting even closer to your ultimate goal.

On her famous dad: "My dad's more three-dimensional than Opie Taylor or Richie Cunningham. He even has a temper! He's a real person. But some people are disappointed by that."

[on The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008)] I don't really get nervous. I just get really focused and intense. I feel a responsibility to do the best that I can. And I feel that nervousness sometimes gets in the way of that, because you get wrapped up in your own neurosis. I feel very protected, as well, because Fisher Willow was such a thoroughly written character that I could obviously trust the writing enormously.

I didn't always want to act. My passion was writing, and it still is one of my primary passions to this day, but it wasn't until high school when I started acting in plays that it became a thought of something I might want to do. And when I applied to colleges, at NYU, I was able to study both writing and acting.

[on The Help (2011)] What I find so remarkable about this story is that it holistically depicts the time period. It's not necessarily vilifying anyone, but rather, vilifying certain mentalities and belief systems that were evil at their core. Playing Hilly [Holbrok] had been a journey for me to understand her ignorance. I feel really comfortable in assuming that people will think this is a performance and that it isn't me.

I definitely managed to do different kinds of things. My focus is usually who the director is, because at the end of the day the director is the storyteller, what the movie is all about. I don't want to participate in something that I don't think is constructive storytelling.

[on her The Help (2011) character] When I read the book Hilly is the character that you love to hate and that's just a really fun character to play. But when we were in Mississippi doing rehearsals I realized I needed to actually play her as a three-dimensional character and not just a two-dimensional villain. That was where the challenge was for me.

[on The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008)] Working with directors whose history is in performance, I feel like there's a different kind of focus, as opposed to directors who are more prone to being really technically proficient or visual. I feel like there are two schools of both, and a director needs to have both. Jodie Markell has both, for sure. I felt really, really supported, in terms of my performance. When I had questions or when she was directing me, there was an approach that was coming from a psychological place because she's an actor, and so she knows how to speak that language. Kenneth Branagh was the same way. M. Night Shyamalan is the same way. And, that's highly effective, for a number of reasons.

[on The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008)] There's an iconic Tennessee Williams female character that you see elements of, over and over and over again, which is a woman ahead of her time, who's being suffocated by the world and who's too bright, too clever and too sensitive to really survive and feel grounded. So, to go through and watch Blanche DuBois and Maggie the Cat, who are these really iconic characters that he had created, and steal, to be honest, was something that was helpful to me.

[on The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008)] Literally two weeks after giving birth, I was working on the part, learning to play the piano. I was worried that it was a huge responsibility and I wouldn't be able to rise to the occasion. Jodie Markell was so helpful. She's a mom as well, and she kept talking me through it. Once we started shooting, I was lucky to have a character to lose myself in. I had to let certain things go, like fixating all day long in how I could be a better parent or how I'm a terrible parent or how I should be doing more as a parent.

I've never had a sip of alcohol in my life, I wasn't interested in losing control. There was alcoholism in my family, so I saw the negative effects and how difficult it was to recover. When I was in high school, I would never go to parties because I would be embarrassed to say no. Consequently, I had almost no social group.

It is powerful idea to have the wisdom to know the difference between what you can control and what you can't.

Honestly, for an actor it's fun [playing polarizing characters]. I was initially hesitant to do The Help, because while it's a wonderful book, it's also rooted in a lot of painful truths ... but I had the greatest time ever working with these women [co-stars Emma Stone and Viola Davis] and playing this character, even if she is a despicable human being.

[on her first and last sip of alcohol] Matthew's [Matthew McConaughey] going around, pops the champagne. It's a party! He motorboats me - is that what it's called? We're all dancing. He comes up to me like, "Oh Kay baby!" pours champagne and puts it up to my lips. And I feel a camera next to me and I smell, and I'm like, "Holy f***, is this alcohol?" I've gone 35 years without a sip, so I'm like "Mmm.'' Afterwards I'm like, 'don't lick your lips, don't lick your lips' [because I was scared I would get drunk from any remaining droplets].

[My prolonged postnatal depression was so severe I] felt like I was in a deep pit, and I couldn't get out of it.