Playing Juliet in 'Heavenly Creatures' changed my life, and the role of Clementine in' Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' opened many new doors creatively.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Rather nostalgically, I sometimes think I could still play Juliet. Inside, I'm still an incorrigible romantic.
I wanted to play the part that Mary Kay played, the lawyer who wanted to have baby and felt her clock ticking, because it was something I could relate to.
I feel a bit like when we came through the doors on the first day of rehearsals of that play, from that minute on, my whole life changed.
I just started writing for my own amusement and occasionally singing in little clubs around Los Angeles. Then I wrote 'The Rose,' and through a series of divine things that I had no control over and had no idea were going to happen, it got in the movie, and that changed everything.
I could never play the ingenue, the girl next door or the very successful young doctor. That would be a bore.
When I was asked to play 'Miss Marple,' I was given the Kevin Elyot script for 'The Body in the Library.' I was a fan of his theatre work anyway, and I just thought it was brilliant. I was immediately taken by 'Miss Marple,' so I read some of the novels, and I knew I had to do it.
Peter Brook's 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' I remember seeing. That was pretty early on. And suddenly, I realized how theatrical Shakespeare is, how alive, how wonderful it is when it's opened up by a great director and a great company.
I did a crazy version of 'Romeo and Juliet' once, and I played Romeo.
'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' was this role that utterly fell into my lap and changed my life.
My first major role was in a play called 'Through the Leaves.'