I would never accept a role that wasn't going to stretch me or challenge me in some way. I'd say Holy Smoke! probably did that more than anything I'd ever done. It took me to places I didn't actually know I could go to, and that's what I want my career to be all about.
People say to me, 'You seem to have made this conscious decision to do independent films'. In reality, I haven't. After each movie, I always think, 'how different can I possibly be? Is this going to challenge me, is this going to inspire me, and is this going to make me love my job more than I already do?'
It's my chance to challenge myself to the fullest, which is one of the great joys about my job... I love it when a character requires me to look less than my red-carpet best. It's more fun playing a character that requires you to look like dog s - t.
I wanted to play incredibly challenging, multifaceted characters. Because we are all a puzzle.
Just coming to terms with the fact that I got to play April Wheeler [Revolutionary Road] and Hanna Schmitz [The Reader] in one year, let alone in my lifetime. I'm very, very aware of how rare that is as an opportunity for any one person. I can't tell you how much I've been able to take away from these experiences creatively. I really, really learned so much about acting, about myself... all of those things. It's difficult to talk about the actor's process without sounding like an arrogant asshole but they really were very challenging.
For me, they definitely made it more challenging. The comfort zone factor really kicked in between Leo and I, and I just think that's because we know each other so well. We've known each other since we were 20-years-old.
Yeah, acting is very difficult. As much as I love it, and the challenge of it, I'm so often just terrified by it.
When I think about somebody like Keira Knightley, whom I don't particularly know, I see somebody who is working hard, really trying to challenge herself and make smart choices in spite of people criticising her size and performances.
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