Knowing what paint a painter uses or having an understanding of where he was in the history of where he came from doesn't hurt your appreciation of the painting.

It's an interesting combination: Having a great fear of being alone, and having a desperate need for solitude and the solitary experience. That's always been a tug of war for me.

I want to be inspiring to myself, to my kids, my family, and my friends.

I wish people could get over the hang-up of subtitles, although at the same time, you know, that's kind of why I'm kind of pro dubbing.

The best reason to make a film is that you feel passionately about it.

I wish that I spoke more languages. I speak a couple languages, but not well enough to really dub myself. French is really the only one, and it's a difficult thing.

I think 'destiny' is just a fancy word for a psychological pattern.

I fantasize about having a manual job where I can come home at night, read a book and not feel responsible for what will happen the next day.

I'd like to be Dakota Fanning when I get young.

I guess I've played a lot of victims, but that's what a lot of the history of women is about.

I didn't have any ambition to produce big mainstream popcorn movies.

I had to take my makeup off at work every night. I wasn't allowed to do it at home because my mom said that when your work day is done, you're done with work.

I'm kind of a chatterbox and I talk really fast.

I think Anna and the King is a look at Asia from the Asian perspective, reflecting the Asian experience, which is very rare.

The movies I made when I was 14 or 15, I have a hard time looking at those. Those were the awkward years. I don't know if anybody can look at something they did when they were 14 and not wince.

I prefer to commit 100 per cent to a movie and make fewer films, because it takes over your life.

Normal is not something to aspire to, it's something to get away from.

I spent a lot of time not in school, so I didn't have deep relationships with kids my own age.

Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable.

I don't know if I see myself as really an action hero, but I like doing physical movies and I like doing movies where the writing is very lean.

I think anybody over 30 plays parents because it happens in your thirties and so that's kind of a natural progression. But I'm definitely drawn to it. It's probably the most intense, passionate thing that happens to you as you get older.

I love more than anything looking at a movie scene by scene and seeing the intention behind it.

I love European movies and I kind of grew up on European films.

I've always had this idea that I wanted movies to make people better not worse.

By the first week of shooting, you know exactly where your film is heading based on the psychology of your director.

Part of me longs to do a job where there's not a gray area.

Well, I certainly was exposed to and learned to appreciate the work of great directors early on. As a kid, my mother used to take me to see really interesting arty films in Los Angeles.

You develop a third eye where you kind of know where they are in a room at all times but no matter how vigilant you are as a parent, at some point, you'll look around a room and can't find them and there's a searing pain that goes through your body.

But the reason I became, why I wanted to be in the business was because there was Midnight Cowboy.

I think an artist's responsibility is more complex than people realize.

My kids are young and my life with them is really stimulating and really full and significant.

I have, in some ways, saved characters that have been marginalized by society by playing them - and having them still have dignity and still survive, still get through it.

Knowing what paint a painter uses or having an understanding of where he was in the history of where he came from doesn't hurt your appreciation of the painting.

I don't know why people think child actresses in particular are screwed up. I see kids everywhere who are totally bored. I've never been bored a day in my life.

So, yes, there's nothing I love more than listening to directors talk about their movies.

But now I really don't want to work unless I really, really care about a project.

I am the luckiest filmmaker I know.

'Taxi Driver' was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I didn't become a weirdo and squawk like a chicken.

Acting just happens to be my skill, but I think I would probably be just as happy being a technician or entering into the film business in some other way.

Acting, for me, is exhausting. I'm always more energized by directing. It's more intense to direct. I can pop in and express myself, then pop out again. It's a huge passion for me.

Adolescence is a tough one to be a child actor.

All the movies that I make in some ways have to be the story of my life. There are different chapters in my life.

Any actor working a long time should know how a shot is set up, where to place themselves, how to handle the lines. I'm a member of the crew, like the best boy, the electrician. What I'm good at is making eyes at the camera.

As I've said before, and I still hold to, I truly am the most boring person alive. And if there was a great investigation to be found at the end of the resume, it would be, the most boring person alive.

As an actor, I'm attracted to drama; as a director, it's humor - because it's the story of my life, and I can't be that serious about it. Being alone is a big theme in all my movies, both as a director and as an actress.

Being understood is not the most essential thing in life.

Boys are easy. I mean, there are just a lot of bruises when they're young. With boys, you get a lot of accidental jabs in the eye and stepping on your feet, and those tantrums they cause when they don't want to leave the toy store.

Every movie that I've had to really knock down the door for has been an enormous success for me. Not just like a financial success but a real personal success.

Everybody reads for me. I was never weird about that. I never minded coming in and reading. They should know if I'm the right person, and I should know if I want to do a movie.