On aging:
"It's also about the fact that I think we're lucky we got to be 40. There are so many people out there who die way too young, so all of this, 'Boo-hoo, we're getting older!' I'm like, 'Well, there is an alternative'."
On young celebrities:
"I'm a little wary of all that. Let's just say it's very easy to buy into stuff that couldn't be helpful to you as an actress or as a human being. I didn't even know what I was doing until I was 24, 25. And I could never have done that (the party scene). I had no desire for it. Too distracting."
On Anthony Hopkins:
"He's wonderful. You know, he's a legend. To watch someone like that work after years and years of experience and see how they approach things, how they pace themselves through the day... he's a master so, it was a joy."
On filming John Adams:
"History should be taught again to adults as it's wasted on the youth. There was an embarrassingly large amount of American history that I didn't know about."
Thanking author Amistad Maupin:
"It is a friendship that I treasure beyond any other. I cannot imagine my life without our friendship. Thank you for your heart, your wit, your intelligence, and everything that you have given, not only to me and other actors, but also to the gay community and San Francisco. Thank you."
On her pooch ruining Christmas one year:
"My mother had saved all this money to buy her [friend] some Godiva chocolates, which we wrapped and put under the tree. My dog sniffed them out, ate the entire box and then got sick all over the apartment for about four days. Then, to add insult to injury, the dog had the runs all over the house. It was terrible."
On repeatedly playing the role of a sister:
"I've always wanted a brother. I think it was a fantasy of mine particularly to have an older brother. I often wonder what it would have been like if I had had a sibling. I would have been a totally different person if there had been someone else around. I just can't imagine. I have had great actor brothers to work with in Mark Ruffalo in You Can Count On Me, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. They're the kind of actors that liberate you, and makes you feel more comfortable. You can dig a little deeper and trust each other in a way, and also the scripts were fantastic pieces to jump into."
On Jim Carrey:
"He has tremendous charm. He has an enormous heart, just a big big heart. I think that is the thing. I think if you look at his other work you can see that there, which is what makes his characters more then just mimicry. I think that is why his work has hit so hard. Because there is just more there. So with this one you see more of his humanity."
On The Truman Show:
"Well the thing that was interesting was that we sort of did these back stories about these characters, and where they were and what was going on with them. And when the movie picks up, Hanna Gill, who plays Meryl Burbank, is aware of the fact that she is losing her influence over Truman. He's not happy at home. He's beginning to get agitated. He's beginning to think of things outside the house, and she can feel that she is losing her power. So consequently the smile gets bigger and bigger, and the desperation, that is why there is that intense undertow to her. Because she knows she is losing it."
On her character on The Truman Show:
"Well the thing that was interesting was that we sort of did these back stories about these characters, and where they were and what was going on with them. And when the movie picks up, Hanna Gill, who plays Meryl Burbank, is aware of the fact that she is losing her influence over Truman. He's not happy at home. He's beginning to get agitated. He's beginning to think of things outside the house, and she can feel that she is losing her power. So consequently the smile gets bigger and bigger, and the desperation, that is why there is that intense undertow to her. Because she knows she is losing it."
"The concept of The Truman Show - it was so much fun. What gave us all an additional challenge was that those of us who were the cast of The Truman Show play the actors but playing a role. So we did all this elaborate backstory. So I made up my actress name Hanna Gill, who plays Meryl Burbank, who is married to Truman Burbank. So we did all this double layering of character work not really knowing what was going to come through. I'm glad that some of the people who have seen the movie can say that they can actually see it in all of us. All of us who play the characters surrounding Jim in the film, that they can see the double layer."
On seeing a woman over 30 having sex on screen:
"I don't think there is a cut-off. I think people want there to be a cut-off. I don't think there is a cut-off. I think a lot of it is perpetuated by a relentless desire to hang to that for some reason. You know, it's not that rare."
On her father:
"My parents were divorced and I didn't grow up with him, but I spent a lot of time around him, and his influence on me has been profound."
On school:
"At school I was always trying to con my teachers into letting me act out book reports instead of writing them."
On herself:
"I've always thought that I'm sexy in my own right, but not in a way that people thought was bankable."
On being an actress:
"I grew up in Manhattan and, since my father was a playwright, all I ever wanted to be was a stage actress."
"Just because you're not famous, doesn't mean you're not good."
"I'd love to put on weight for a role. I'd love to sit and eat ice cream. I'd love to be able to cut my hair. People want my hair. They want my hair. When I do a movie, it's like, 'I'm willing to cut my hair.' Yeah, sure."
On being a movie actress:
"I grew up in the theater and went to Juilliard and really expected to be a stage actress, which was fine ... I wanted to be a stage actress. Film was something I was completely intimidated by. I thought that I had some promise as an actress, but I figured I'd never crack that particular nut. So to be where I am ... well, I just love it. I love it."
On her fame:
"I don't consider myself a celebrity, and I don't consider myself a star."
"Fortunately, I'm in a perfect position for me. I'm able to work, have a wonderful time, and I'm not really a celebrity, and that's great."
On making You Can Count On Me:
"Kenny Lonnergan and I locked horns. It was about tiny things that would drive me crazy. He was very specific about his script being word perfect."
On shooting on independent film sets:
"I have a bag with a toothbrush and toothpaste and all the things I might need during the day. I call the bag my trailer. Sometimes you don't have a trailer, so that's my trailer."
On Hollywood:
"When I first came to LA, I had my lovely list of theatre credits. My resume was golden in my mind. I had worked regionally, I'd worked on Broadway. And a casting director looked at my resume and said 'You really haven't done anything, have you?' I was just dumbstruck. The attitude here is that theatre is what you do when you can't get filmwork, and that is just insulting to the marrow of my bones!"
On being a part of a well received project:
"It's always nice when you do something and it's well received as opposed to the other way which God knows happens to everybody. When the good times come around, you take a deep breath, appreciate it, but not take it too seriously."
On Liam Neeson:
"It's heaven to work with Liam. We work really well together ... we just sort of do it, you know. And we're also great friends. We spend a lot of time together, and I love his wife and children. We all have a lot of downtime."
On Kate Winslet:
"I adore her. We had our little swat gobble backstage. The two of us just would really go at it. She's just, there's something about Kate that I love. She's the only person I've ever met who has pure self-esteem. In the most refreshing way. She's just... and she's invigorating to be around. I just love her."
On Robin Williams:
"I've never seen anybody make so many people happy. I used to love to watch him walk into a room or go to dinner with him and look at the faces of everyone else in the room."
Others on Laura
Young John Adams co-star Madeline Taylor:
"It was so much fun to know the other kids, to work with Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney - they're all incredible. [Laura] is such a nice person. I made her a bracelet, and she personally came up to me and thanked me for it. I thought that was extremely nice, especially for a person of her skill."
The Nanny Diaries authors Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin:
"Laura Linney is such a gentle, kind person. But she would get that costume on and they would say, 'Action,' and just this rage would come vibrating from under her skin. Emma and I stayed far away from her. It was scary."
Paul Giamatti:
"She's one of those people that makes you feel a hell of a lot better just being around them. She's definitely one of the best actresses around. And she's also very funny."
"It was great. We were married in both [The Nanny Diaries and John Adams], but they were different marriages. She was great. I was really happy that she was going to be doing [the miniseries]. It was nice, too, somebody I knew and had worked with before was going to be doing this part [of Abigail] because she's kind of the most important person in the thing, in a way. She was great."
Richard Gere:
"Laura's a good friend of mine. She has extraordinary grace, talent and beauty. Every fiber in her body is actor in the most extraordinary way - that's who she is."
"Warm and intelligent, a trusted friend."
Liam Neeson on making Kinsey together:
"Laura and I - we’re good friends. We did The Crucible together on Broadway for two years. Laura and I have a nice dance together. We don’t over-intellectualize stuff. When we did Kinsey, we rarely even talked about the scenes we were doing. We just started our little dance, you know. She moves that way, I move this way. She moves that way, I do this. We’re very comfortable with each other. We do have a relationship. It’s so comfortable. Especially with this, you don’t have to worry about your costar and what their ego’s going to be like, or what their demands may be."
quick links
current projects
The Nanny Diaries Character: Mrs. X Status: now on DVD Released: US (Dec 05) gallery | info | official site
The Savages Character: Wendy Savage Status: now showing Released: US (Nov 27) gallery | info | official site
City of Your Final Destination Character: Caroline Status: coming soon Released: US (Apr 23) gallery | info | official site
John Adams Character: Abigail Adams Status: coming soon Released: HBO (Mar 16) gallery | info | official site
Les Liaisons Dangereuses Character: Marquise de Merteuil Theatre: Broadway Dates: Apr - Jun 2008 gallery | info | official site
The Other Man Character: Lisa Status: filming Released: n/a gallery | info | official site
The Nanny Diaries
The Savages
City of Your Final Destination