“What I really tried to do with Helen was make her show this sad side of her. She was married off at 16, was so young and living in this castle that can't leave because of how she looks, and married to a man she hates and three times her age.”
“Yeah, to me, acting is very therapeutic. I get out a lot of anger and frustration.”
“Her beauty didn't do her any good and she couldn't use it in any positive way or manipulative way. I just hope that people will look and see and believe in that hope of love, that hope of freedom, even if it was just for a limited time.”
“I'm not one of those women who thinks beauty is a curse.”
“A lot of directors idealize their leading ladies or turn them into these objects of sexuality and beauty.”
“I like the idea of accessibility, coming from a lower-middle-class background myself, I feel like beauty and products should be accessible to all women over the world.”
“Orlando's a really cool guy. They hired him for 'Lord of the Rings' out of drama school. He's very new at this still and doesn't have a lot of experience. So we were in this together and we've tried to help each other out. We felt very equal which was good.”
“I have a kind of boring personal life, to the paparazzi anyway, and I don't hang with the cool crowd.”
“I have three goddaughters - I'm not sure why they trust me, because I have no experience with children - but I try.”
“Family is becoming more and more important to me.”
“It's quite a famous story that takes place on Christmas Eve, and the Germans, French, and Scottish are trying to make peace one night and they bury their dead and they play football. I play a German opera singer, in German, which I never have so I am really excited about that.”
“I'm not a very good impersonator, my friends maybe, but not famous people.”
“In between films I like to travel and hope to visit every continent before I become a mother.”
“I don't have any romantic ideas about marriage. Trust me. A white dress... ? No. It's not something for me.”
“What counts in Hollywood is box office. It doesn't really matter what people think of you as an actor because, as long as you have been in a movie that has made money, you will always get another job.”
“I would do anything for a part, nearly anything. Being in movies doesn't mean being pretty.”
“Critics can be harsh and I think it's going to take me a long time to make people see what I have inside of me and that I really put my guts into movies and that I'm not superficial and that I'm not just a pretty face.”
“I don't make movies thinking: 'Oh, this is going to be a huge box-office hit.'”
“I grew up with classical music when I was a ballet dancer. Now when I have to prepare an emotional scene, to cry or whatever, I listen to sonatas. Vivaldi and stuff. It's just beautiful to me.”
“I find that classical music helps put me in a place that is very calming and allows me to express emotion through my body. I played clarinet as a child, so I guess I have a bit of a musical ear.”
“When I was younger - it might be a romantic idea - I always thought I might go crazy.”
“I made a French film called 'Merry Christmas' which is a very European film. It's a World War I piece.”
“I get offered a World War II movie at least once a week just because I speak German and was born there. I have always stayed away from it because I didn't want to be put into that box.”
“Berlin is still going through a transition since the Cold War - both in what used to be East and West Berlin. I can still sense the confusion and the struggle for identity there in the streets. There's a pulse to it.”