I sort of became infatuated with soldiers. I got to know some of them and got a little perturbed with Hollywood making a spectacle out of them and making them look like they have screwed up somehow.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I'm pretty upfront about my love and admiration for the military. One of the perks of making movies is that you get to sort of follow your own passions, and I believe quite passionately that we don't pay enough attention and respect to our veterans. Not just our wounded veterans, but all veterans.
Then when I went to Iraq and saw the strength and character the men and women in our military service exhibit every day and their belief in what they're doing, I knew I wanted to get that on film and share it with everyone. They are my inspiration.
I've spent enough time with soldiers to know that once they get to know you and they loosen up and become themselves, they are some of the biggest hams and most charismatic, cocky, fun, humorous guys I've ever met.
I learned about life before I went into the theater, which is why I've been so happy. I was a soldier.
While shooting 'The Unit', I went to the Middle East twice to see the troops. I met some great men and women.
Not disown my past or upbringing, but I'd admired American actors, really American movie star - particularly the rebel heroes of the '50s.
I have the most utmost respect for the men and women overseas, and I only played a soldier on television. Again, I can only imagine the sacrifices that they make every single day.
I joined the army on my seventeenth birthday, full of the romance of war after having read a lot of World War I British poetry and having seen a lot of post-World War II films. I thought the romantic presentations of war influenced my joining and my presentation of war to my younger siblings.
During the war, I saw many films that made me fall in love with the cinema.
I fell in love with a civilian. Not an actress and not a famous actress at that. Because then the attention doesn't double - it grows exponentially. Because then suddenly everybody wants to be in your bedroom. But I don't really give them anything.