Jennifer Jason Leigh Quotes
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I don't need a reason to kill myself-I need a reason not to.
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Even if the role is very far away from me, to try and make it as nakedly me as possible is an intriguing notion.
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I'd love to have children, and I think marriage is great, I really do.
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Writing, producing and directing, I must say, is incredibly satisfying and gratifying.
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It's very exciting to work with people who inspire you.
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For me, something dangerous would be playing thebabe in a huge studio film. That would be terrifying because I'dstink... I want to explore human beings on as deep a level as I can.
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Sometimes the work can get in the way and you give a less-good performance, and sometimes it doesn't and you can really get to the heart of something. And all the other stuff is just interesting and adds another layer to your performance. It helps you find the reality. Because you're not just playing yourself, you know? That would be kind of boring.
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I loved acting as a kid because I was kind of shy, so it brought me out of myself.
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There's so much confidence and freedom that comes from that way of doing things. Robert Altman and Alan Rudolph make the set the place to be. It's fun. It's a kind of creative freedom that's really inspiring. Altman loved actors so much. He was a great mentor for me, really.
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I'm a typical middle child. I'm the mediator. The one that makes everything OK, puts their own needs aside to make sure everybody's happy. It's hard to change your nature, even with years and years of therapy.
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Quentin's [Tarantino] thing is "I don't want anybody to get up until they have to. So, because he really wants things to come organically. And he may have specific things like "No, this ... I want you to be here so that when he punches you, it falls. I want that action to happen here." But you feel like it does, all the blocking does come from an organic response to the material.
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You know, you really do choose your existence in a way.
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I've had guys, when I've been single, come date me and I've found out they were expecting some kind of whirlwind, some dramatic crazy person-- and that's just not me. I'd much rather be in a movie that people have really strong feelings about than one that makes a hundred million dollars but you can't remember because it's just like all the others.
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I worked with great, brilliant directors. I've been so lucky. It's terrible to compare anyone, because you can't. But I can just tell you that this experience was just a truly magnificent experience for everyone involved.
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People equate success with youth. And if you haven't had a certain amount of success by a certain time in your life, it's never going to happen. There's a fear about that. So people start lying about their age really young. I've never done that because I think it's so insignificant.
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I hope my talent has something to do with it. I just think this business is so crazy. I obviously do the best I can, and the directors I admire see something in me. But this is a strange business, and there are people who are incredibly talented who never make it, who never get these opportunities. So that's why I say I'm lucky. I don't feel that I'm not talented - I think I am talented - but I also think I'm very lucky.
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Children accept their world as the world. I grew up like kids that I went to school with. Their parents were either shrinks or actors.
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I feel like I turned down a lot of things that I wish I hadn't. But you never know when you're younger. I don't have regrets about certain things I turned down. Those films would have required things of me that would have been challenging, and they ended up being really good movies. But I was never a careerist, I never thought in those terms. I'd be like, "Oh, I'm tired. I don't want to work."
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Acting for kids is like playing house, you know? But growing up in Hollywood, it just made it seem possible.
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I love Polaroids and I have a Polaroid camera collection from the '50s.
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I don't really watch my moves all that often; I mean, really, I don't.
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I like to investigate all different kinds of people, I guess, and find out what makes them who they are, and try to be honest in the portrayal, and truthful, and find out how to understand that person, how to communicate that person's experience.
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Even when you think you can detach yourself from the characters, you don't. Because you're spending so much time trying to realize this person and make them real that they do infect you, in a way. And you do take them home and live with them, even if you think you're turning the character off. But in order to pull off a role convincingly, you wind up thinking about that person all the time, and it does sort of creep into you. And then there are things that you'll respond to, or react to in a very different way than you would normally.
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I think Robert Altman could see things in me that I didn't know I possessed, which is really exciting. He also instilled a tremendous amount of confidence, because he would say things like, "These are the bare bones, but I want you to go fill it out. You find the character. You bring it to me. You write whatever you want." And if you had an idea, he wouldn't want to hear about it. He's want you to show it to him.
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I like as much time as I can get and I'll do whatever I think is helpful to prepare for a role. Sometimes it's practical research, meaning if I had to write shorthand, I'd learn how to write shorthand. Or if I have to know how to dance a certain way, I would learn that. And then there's just research of talking to people similar to the characters I'm playing. And there's stuff that I just feel is inspiring, whether it be music or a painting or a photograph. I've used a lot of Nan Goldin's photos in the past to inspire me. I use certain paintings and pieces of music.
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In some ways, you're always redefining your craft and figuring it out, but in some ways, I almost feel I'm going back to what I was doing 20 years ago.
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I love being in therapy. It's just constantly fulfilling for me.
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I hate parties. I don't like big crowded things.
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I used to hang out by the food table at parties because you don't have to talk to anybody. If you do then you can talk about the food.
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I just don't plan things. I live a month at a time.
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