What I am very, very moved and struck by is that so many people in the world are often living a life that they hadn’t planned for themselves. And they wake up one day and say, ‘Hang on. Who am I? Is this really me? Is this what I really wanted?’ And also, ‘Can I change it? Have I got the courage to change it?’
As an adult and a parent, when I’m not acting, I’m not acting. I’m being a parent, and I’m on the school run, and I’m sewing labels onto socks. That’s what I’m doing.
I don’t know… part of, I suppose, my way out of everything, has been really taking care of myself. I think that comes from an awareness that my children really need me, and they need me to be the healthiest version of myself that I can possibly be.
I think that between 27 and 37 was a really big learning decade.
I was suddenly really famous, and I didn’t know how to cope. I didn’t know myself well enough as a person, number one, and as an actor, number two. I wanted to escape.
I’m not very technically minded. I mean, I don’t know how to do e-mail on computers.
My husband is not a jealous person in any way.
You know why I fear people’s judgment? Because I know they’re judging. I know they are.
I’ve never left them to go do a film. No, we all go together. I could never leave them. My kids are my whole world.
I feel very strongly that ‘curves’ are natural, womanly and real.
‘Revolutionary Road’ is a fascinating study of the human condition of a fragmenting marriage and the torment that these two people put themselves through in their efforts to try and find happiness and try and stay together, actually.
It doesn’t matter how old you are or what you do with your life, you will never stop needing your mum. And I will never stop needing mine, so thanks, Mum.
The early stage of pregnancy for me is quite hard to hide.
Playing Juliet in ‘Heavenly Creatures’ changed my life, and the role of Clementine in’ Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ opened many new doors creatively.
Single mums do come in for a hard time. Society is incredibly judgmental. I know this.
I’d rather do theatre and British films than move to L.A. in hopes of getting small roles in American films.
I don’t have those great, strong, glowing pregnancies.
I think confidence does come with time, and I’ve been really surprised by that, actually.
Jane Campion is a tough director.
It’s important that period films aren’t seen as just a lovely visual exercise.
My body will never go back to what it was, and I wouldn’t expect it to after three babies.
At a certain point in one’s career, it’s really wonderful when your child turns around and goes, ‘Oh my God, Mommy, you have to be in that film. My friends are going to die.’
I love it when a character requires me to look less than my red-carpet best.
I’ll eat one cookie, not a whole box of cookies. But I’ll still eat the one cookie… sometimes two, or even three. But not the whole box.
On the whole, the politics of moviemaking is something that actors are kind of blissfully ignorant of.
There’s nothing bloody wrong with wanting it at all.
Just because society, and government, and whatever was different 100 years ago, doesn’t mean that people didn’t have sex, pick their nose, or swear.
I think any form of self-expression is half confidence, half sheer hard work and, maybe, a bit of talent thrown in.
I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a relatively slow reader.
I’m obsessed with ‘Top Chef’.
I was always quite good with accents – I always had quite a good ear – so from the age of about 13, I used to do a lot of voiceover and dubbing for foreign films.
Experiencing those moments of being alone… is a very, very weird flooring and exposing position to be in when you’re just not used to it… But I’ve never been lonely. And with my kids Mia and Joe that remains the case.
Anyone who’s been through divorce will know that every day is really hard.
There’s not an awful lot that embarrasses me. I’m the kind of actress that absolutely believes in exposing myself.
Mothers who work full time – they’re the real heroes.
I have always lived an ordinary life, and always will. It’s who and what has to do with my job that makes it ‘unordinary.’ I cook, go to the supermarket, pick my children up at school.
When I first met Alan, I was absolutely terrified. I was 19, he was Alan Rickman, and he’s got that voice, and I remember meeting him in the hair and make-up trailer and thinking, ‘I’m going to die. He thinks I’m rubbish. Why am I here?’
I will tell you that when I was heavy, people would say to me – and it was such a backhanded compliment – they would say, ‘You’ve got such a beautiful face,’ in the way of, like, ‘Oh, isn’t it a shame that from the neck down you’re questionable.’
Acting is bloody scary.
I think groundedness is definitely something I grew up with.
To produce foie gras, ducks and geese are force-fed enormous amounts of grain and fat, which causes their livers to swell to many times the normal size.
Plastic surgery and breast implants are fine for people who want that, if it makes them feel better about who they are. But, it makes these people, actors especially, fantasy figures for a fantasy world. Acting is about being real being honest.
My dad was very much a struggling actor and spent more of his life as a postman, as a member of a tarmac firm, as a van driver.
I never had crushes on anybody when I was younger; I really didn’t.
Guy Pearce played Mike in ‘Neighbors’. I would fake illness to stay off school and watch the one P.M. show, and I would also watch it again when it was repeated at 5:25 P.M. Obsessed.
I won’t allow magazines in the house. When I was younger, I wanted to have my hair cut like so-and-so in the class above me at school, not somebody in a magazine. You see young girls trying to dress like so-and-so because they’ve seen lots of pictures of them.
When you’re 21, you think, ‘Oh God, when I’m 36, oh God, that’s nearly 40 and I’ll look really old and wrinkly by then.’ And actually, I quite like the way I look.
There’s always going to be a part of me that worries about not looking as slim as other actresses.
I’ve had a very full and lovely career so far, and I can’t honestly say that I’ve ever really found myself in a man’s world, struggling for an identity or trying to prove something.
I hope I’m always learning something.
I know the true meaning of getting by by the skin of my teeth; I do. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got money or you haven’t, whether you’re famous or not. This is the case for all women, actually; you have to carry on. You always have to carry on. And you can, because you have to.
The good and bad things are what form us as people… change makes us grow.
I’d much rather be known as some curvy Kate than as some skinny stick.
Sometimes people ask, ‘What do you wish for your children?’ and all I say is, ‘I want them to be happy being them.’
I resent that there is an image of perfection that is getting thinner and thinner. I’ve got a lovely husband and children, and I didn’t lose weight to find those things.
Ah… romance to me is spontaneity. It’s not diamond earrings; it’s a bunch of daffodils that’s freshly picked from the field.
I want to keep my health and my sanity and be well and feel happy. Plus, I want to have fun.
Let me tell you, ‘The Reader’ was not glamorous for me in terms of the body-hair maintenance.
I have wrinkles which are very evident. I will particularly say when I look at movie posters, ‘You guys have airbrushed my forehead. Please, can you change it back?’
I am enjoying my face changing, as well as realizing that at the same time, as you get older, the machine isn’t as well-oiled as it was.
I’m really happy in my own skin.
I was a wayward child, very passionate and very determined. If I made up my mind to do something, there was no stopping me.
I want to end up like Judi Dench. I want to have nice consistent work, doing lovely things, no matter how big or small they might be. I’d like to turn into a wise old thing.
My grandparents – both of my mother’s parents – were actors, and they ran the Reading Repertory Theatre Company, through the town of Reading, where I come from.
I often look at women who wear great jeans and high heels and nice little T-shirts wandering around the city, and I think, ‘I should make more of an effort. I should look like that.’ But then I think, ‘They can’t be happy in those heels.’
Jim Cameron is a feisty man and a perfectionist, but also absolutely brilliant.
Since I was 13 or 14 I’ve always felt older than I actually am.
Look, I’m not a blockbuster star.
My favorite breakfast probably in the whole wide world, real treaty favorite breakfast, is eggs benedict.
The things that make me happiest in the whole world are going on the occasional picnic, either with my children or with my partner; big family gatherings; and being able to go to the grocery store – if I can get those things in, I’m doing good.
Awards season is always a huge amount of fun whether you’re a part of it or not. It’s always really exciting seeing what films are coming and a lot of new talent as well.
Sophia Loren is glamorous.
I do endless chopping and preparing things. I really find that relaxing. I do a lot of thinking as I am chopping and cooking.
