When I'm writing, I look like a fool because the parts are moving through me and I'm crying and laughing and making faces..

I think action should be revealed through character, so if you have a plot problem, it's probably a character problem..

Part of the challenge of being a girl living in the 21st Century, looking back, the danger is to not judge your character by your own standards..

I was really surprised when I started working and realized that you're actually on your own, a lot of the time. It makes you really responsible, as a….

My hero is Michelle Williams, who I grew close to when we did 'Meek's Cutoff.' She's an extraordinary actor and mom..

Nothing's going to come to you by sitting around and waiting for it..

You set up the story, but the characters start talking, and they go places that you didn't expect. You have to follow..

I'm not that interested in writing for myself. That's not where my impetus as a writer comes from..

And then the really awful thing is that at the end of the day after crying and experiencing things, then you look at what you've written and you're l….

I really love people. I love to meet people. I'm curious about people..

Sometimes I feel that the people I'm writing are more real to me than the people around me. When you take that imaginative leap, you're living so muc….

I never wanted to be a playwright..

I find playwriting to be incredibly difficult compared to screenwriting. Part of it is that I grew up watching movies and not watching plays..

Half the fun is getting to play dress-up and imagine what it's like to be this other person. If you're not excited about a part where you get to use ….

And I think the female creative urge is intrinsically biologically linked to our ability to give birth to a child, even if we've never... I've never ….

There are people a lot smarter than me investigating nature versus nurture who would have a lot to say about that, but I think it's an enormous privi….

Wildlife was the only thing we've written together with Paul Dano. It's based on a book by this author Richard Ford, who just published a memoir abou….

I'm always disappointed after an audition when I don't get a part and I hear, "Oh, she was too X, or too Y," and it's too much of a quality..

I have mad luck. I'm super-good at games like backgammon or anything that requires rolling dice..

I hate going to bed. I read scripts, clean, listen to the radio - I've fallen asleep to 'This American Life' more times than I can count!.

I'm used to very low-budget situations. In 'The Exploding Girl,' we were literally changing in Starbucks because we didn't have trailers..