- The problem for me was that by being in the film the magic was broken. I loved the first Star Wars film and my mum was really into it too, that's why I took the part. But the Force wasn't there when we were filming it, and they didn't have real light sabres, which annoyed me.
- About wearing a corset on _Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)_ (qv): "I had a Scarlett O'Hara thing, she gets her waist down to 18 and a half inches--so I thought I would try that. For five minutes, it's fantastic--you have this tiny waist and fantastic cleavage, but oxygen deprivation is a big problem!"
- (About kissing 'Orlando Bloom' (qv) in _Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)_ (qv)) There were these teen-aged girls off-cam, and they were ready to kill me because I kissed 'Orlando Bloom' (qv)!
- I feel less blonde now and, er, smarter!
- There's no point having an 18th birthday in America.
- I've always been a snob about qualifications.
- on _Bend It Like Beckham (2002)_ (qv): "I thought there would be doubles--stunt doubles--and I would just run in for the close-ups, but unfortunately they didn't have the money for that.
- (After being called the new 'Hayley Mills' (qv)) "That was cruel! Nothing against 'Hayley Mills' (qv), but I'm trying to be cool here. I'm trying to be edgy".
- Do you know that on all the sets I've been on, nobody has ever made a pass at me?
- (on shoes) "I see a pair of shoes I adore, and it doesn't matter if they have them in my size. I buy them anyway."
- (On _"The View" (1997)_ (qv)) "I met 'Barbara Walters' (qv) backstage and didn't know who she was. She's an American phenomenon, I was told later. I'm just sooo English".
- (at a photo shoot) "I'm a hooker in these pictures, and I must be a high priced one because I'm staying at the Ritz, which is good."
- I'm a tomboy beanpole? I can't use a computer, so maybe I'm a bit out of the loop. I don't know whether to be flattered or not flattered. The beanpole bit, is that good? Can you be a sexy beanpole?
- "'Katharine Hepburn' (qv) and 'Vivien Leigh' (qv) are my heroes. Not because of their ability, but because of their perseverance".
- When in doubt, faint.
- on making _Love Actually (2003)_ (qv): "We had kind of done all our wedding and we felt like the stars of the show, then sudden you've got all these other people with story lines and you think: Excuse me, I know you're 'Alan Rickman' (qv), but get out of my film, please, thank you.
- I know for a fact the work is going to dry up, and people will get bored of me. That's not bitterness, just the truth.
- (On her conception) I was a bet. My mum was desperate for another child, and my dad told her that the only way they could afford to have one was if she sold a play. So Mum wrote When I Was a Girl, I Used to Scream and Shout.
- I don't think I can call myself an actress yet. I just don't think my skill level is that high. I hope that with every job it gets better. But until I'm good, I can say I'm trying to be an actor, but I don't think I've completely made it.
- As a moviegoer and a woman, I want to see that, so it's great to get to play parts like that. But Guinevere is a terrifying creature. If I saw a battle, I'd run in the other direction. I'm not strong in that way at all. But I'm certainly someone who has always known what I wanted and tried to get it.
- In this business, fame lasts for a second. You can be blown up and be blown down. People keep losing interest in faces because new ones come along every single second. I'm one at the moment. Tomorrow I won't be. That's cool. I'm not saying that when it does end, I'll be like, 'Yay! It's ending.' But I'll move on and do something else because that's what has to be done. It's about survival. If you're sad about it, then you're in the wrong job.
- (On actresses living in Hollywood) I take my hat off to actresses there, particularly the young ones, because the emphasis is on trying to find perfection. But I think it's the imperfections in people that make them perfect. I don't find perfect faces very interesting.
- Acting requires me to be very observant, which means being able to sit in cafes for hours and watch people.
- I don't have a problem with my body. I'm not just going to strip off all my clothing, but if the part calls for it and I don't think there's any way round, I'm absolutely fine.
- I'm a bit of a tomboy so the action stuff was fantastic.
- It's also strange when people recognise you in the street and they know you but you don't know them. It's a little weird, but nothing to complain about.
- I'd wanted to get stuck into the action on Pirates of the Caribbean and I asked Jerry ['Jerry Bruckheimer' (qv)] if I could have a sword fight in that, and he more than made up for it in _King Arthur (2004)_ (qv) by giving me axe fights, knife fights, and all the rest of it. I absolutely loved it. It was like being 11 years old and in the playground again.
- It was part of the job. There's no point in being embarrassed about it, because that is the name of the game. It was just another day at the office. A very nice day at the office. [on the love scene with 'Clive Owen (I)' (qv) in _King Arthur (2004)_ (qv)]
- I don't think about nutrition. The very thought of a diet makes me want chips and ice cream. And I just hate going to the gym. I cannot stand it.
- The fact that we haven't focused on the love triangle between Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere was actually one of the things that made me want to do the film. It's interesting to tell it in a completely new way.
- Every part I've ever got, I always thought it was completely ridiculous that I was up for it. With Pirates, I only packed for a week because I was sure that I was going to get sacked. I thought they'd made the hugest mistake.
- We're all fans of cinema, you know. Forget about being an actor, I love watching films. I really do. That's what I love doing, as a hobby. I find the whole process fascinating, as do my parents, they go to the cinema a lot.
- I don't do a thing to keep fit, I just cannot make myself work out. My abs are just luck - my mum has good ones so it's a family trait.
- I don't read any magazines or newspapers any more, because I find it really scary and I get really scared when I'm followed by photographers. I have, on many occasions, broken down in tears because I find it terrifying. I dropped out of school when I was 16 so there's nothing else that I can do.
- I don't like parties very much. I'm not a very sociable being.
- I've always been quite tomboyish.
- In LA, I'm twice the size- height and everything else- of most of the other actresses who are going for an audition.
- Three years after that I was diagnosed as dyslexic, and we struck a deal: I was allowed to start acting on condition that I would read constantly and get good grades at school.
- I always feel like I'm the one with everything to prove.
- I paint and draw, but very badly.
- Talking about her possibly being anorexic: "I've got a lot of experience with anorexia. It was in my family. My grandmother, and my great-grandmother suffered from it and I had a lot of friends at school who suffer from it so I don't think it's anything to be taken lightly."
- A newspaper here voted me one of the scruffiest people in Britain. I'm quite proud of that. It's completely true.
- I suppose I'm more of a tomboy than the girly-girl, which is why I can't walk on stilettos very well.
- I do remember, at six, thinking I should be earning my own living. My mum says I was born 45.
- The most fantastic date I've ever had was going bowling, because I don't bowl and I'm awful.
- There are pressures to conform to a certain type, tall, blonde, thin, big breasts, you know - The Type.
- Last year I went to the Vanity Fair party after the Oscars and I stood in the corner and had a lot of champagne. It's very, very scary.
- I'm dyslexic, and at six years old they realized I couldn't read a word and had been fooling them. My mum said to me: 'If you come to me with a book in your hand and a smile on your face every day through the summer holiday, I'll get you an agent.'
- I don't court attention, which is why I've never been to nightclubs like Chinawhite.
- I'm not a social person, so I really have very few friends in the business.
- To be honest, I'd sooner be with my mates having a pint.
- If I have a dark side, I haven't discovered it yet. How very boring of me.
- Producers usually hire a stylist for me when I got to premieres because they think I'm so pathetic.
- I'm incredibly self-conscious about my body.
- There's no individuality on the red carpet. That's why I loved 'Björk' (qv)'s Oscar swan dress. I wish I had the courage.
- [Guinevere] "She's very manipulative and calculating and would use whomever to get her own way, whether it was with her sexuality or by killing someone. It felt very empowering playing her!"
- People send over dresses for me to wear to these functions, but I often feel like a 5-year-old in my mom's clothes. So I just wear jeans and a top every single time.
- People said to me yesterday, 'How does it feel to be anorexic?' I had no idea that I was. I can safely say that I'm not. I've got a lot of experience with anorexia. My grandmother and great-grandmother suffered from it. In a way it's good that it's out there and people are talking about it. It's quite interesting because it's normally high-achieving women who suffer from it because, I guess, they're control freaks.
- Nudity frightens me, but I will do it when I think it's necessary - or when it makes me giggle.
- The most exercise I do is turning on the television.
- I'm naturally an extremely lazy person, so if someone did everything for me, I really think I would do nothing at all.
- I don't read anything and I don't look at newspapers. It's too weird, so I'm not really aware of hype anywhere.
- I think I always disappoint people, because they always expect someone very pretty. Very done. There's so much pressure to be thin, blonde and busty. I'm skinny, but even I couldn't fit into some of the clothes there (in L.A.)!" In a funny kind of way, I think you create it yourself. I think it's much better to go with the flow and embrace your body, whatever shape it is, and just be happy.
- "The Celts would've been fighting naked and painted blue, but there was no way I was going to do that. Having a bare midriff and running around killing people was fun. But you don't want to see boobs bumping up and down on a battlefield. It would be distracting" On modesty over historical accuracy in _King Arthur (2004)_ (qv).
- [on turning her back on Hollywood blockbuster adventure films]: I can't imagine ever doing another one. I had five months off from "Pirates" during the summer last year, when I made Silk and _Atonement (2007)_ (qv), and it was so great - I want to be able to explore emotions in smaller projects. That's not to say I won't suddenly read a big Hollywood blockbuster and go 'oooh, that might be good...' But I haven't yet.
- I was literally sewn into these dresses. Because of that, and the hoops, I just couldn't fit into the loo at all - I just had to hang on all day. - On her costumes for _The Duchess (2008)_ (qv).
- I think it's important to make time for the people in your life who you love and who love you back.
- [on her wardrobe] I go for whatever is clean.
- [on being asked if she would go out with 'Robbie Williams (I)' (qv)] I don't know, I don't know him. He's very good looking though.
- I tried college for three months but I was desperately unhappy. I just wanted to perform. I was getting straight As but I had no friends and cried every day.
- I could never have an affair with any of my leading men, though. They always turn into brothers. I'm a classic turn-them-into-brothers kind of girl.
- On screen these days, you rarely see a big, strong man. You see slender, androgynous-looking boys. I've worked with very few people whom I feel small against. The most manly thing ever is a guy who can cry, who's in touch with himself.
- I love working in Britain because it is my home and it means I can be with my friends and family and work at the same time. If you are working in Britain, a lot of the time you are doing much smaller budget. I like doing a mixture of both. Early on in my career I did some enormously huge-budget films, and to be able to switch it up a bit and do small-budget ones is great as well.
- (On being famous) I think it broke something in me. I was told very early on that if I didn't go out to openings and parties and events I would be left alone. I didn't, and they still didn't leave me alone. I knew it was part of the deal in the life I had signed up to, but the fear of it has never left me. I'm still not good at being recognized. I wear scruffy clothes and hats and keep my head down.
- [on _Never Let Me Go (2010)_ (qv)] I thought that Ruth was fascinating. For me, it was kind of a study of jealousy. She had a great path and I thought it would be an interesting thing to try and get into her head. I didn't like her. It's tricky playing people that you don't like and finding a way to empathize with them. It's challenging and very exciting for an actor.
- I started acting when I was 7, but I asked for an agent when I was 3. I don't remember it, but that's what everybody says. I don't think I knew what agents did, but I thought it was kind of unfair that my mom and dad had one and I didn't.
- I’m a total romantic — I love romantic films, but I don’t like being raped by sugar.
- [on performing certain scenes in _A Dangerous Method (2011)_ (qv)] I phoned up David ('David Cronenberg' (qv)) and said, 'I love you, I love your work, but I really don't think that I want to do this'. And he said, 'Well it would be a tragedy if you turned the role down because of that, so if necessary we can take them out'. And I said, 'No, because I understand why they are there'. He said, 'Well, look, I don't want it to be sexy, and I don't want it to be voyeuristic, I want it to be clinical'. We talked for quite a long time about exactly what it was, and trying to understand it psychologically. Once we discussed I said, 'All right, fine, as long as it's not sexy. That brutal horrible aspect is kept, and it isn't a sexy spanking scene'.
- The first thing I knew about _Never Let Me Go (2010)_ (qv) was the script that came through my door. I thought it was a completely unique piece. I'd never read anything like it. I then started talking to friends and saying, "I might do this film. I think it's really interesting." And tons of them were saying, "This is my favorite book in the entire world." Actually, one said the most terrifying thing: "It sums up our generation." Which, now having read the book, I find it a bleak prospect indeed. But then when I said yes, I read the book, and I thought it was completely astonishing and, once again, completely unique. And it's very exciting to be part of something like that.
- When you do the Hollywood vibe on a big film you are shot from the perfect angle and you do tests to make sure, so they won't shoot you from this or that angle. With _The Jacket (2005)_ (qv) you look shit and that's great. It didn't matter what angle they wanted to film from. I didn't have to look perfect. It's all about finding the truth in any situation and the situation in this wasn't a pretty one.
|
