Quotes

Acting is great. When it works it is so fulfilling. You do the research and work with other talented people who are creative and compassionate and use all your faculties. The ability to express yourself completely is the most wonderful feeling in the world. Each film is a chapter in my life wherein I learn so much more about myself.

I so much enjoy being able to completely allow myself to be consumed by a role, and really grow in the process,once you've done that, it's hard to go back working on things you don't care about.

[talking about the films she did in the beginning of her career]: You don't want to get rid of your experiences, because they're your experiences - good or bad - and you need them, but it would be great if they weren't on the video shelf!

[Talking about her character in A Beautiful Mind (2001)]: Alicia is the person who's trying to ground John Nash in reality and bring him home, literally, and back to what he was. In "A Beautiful Mind", there are scenes that were painful and scary and sad. I didn't have to go through degradation as I did in Requiem for a Dream (2000), but there is a lot of emotional terrain in this movie. There's a tragedy in the family and it takes a toll on each of them as they try to live with each other.

[talking about her son Kai Dugan]: We've already done plays together. Very short plays. He dictates them to me. Sometimes he casts me, sometimes he doesn't. And when I'm in the play, he'll sometimes say to me, "No Mom, you didn't say that right!"

[on "The Ball Room Dance" scene, her favorite from Labyrinth (1986)]: I wore a beautiful silver ball gown, which was a refreshing change from the blue jeans I wore in almost every other scene. It was really a gorgeous set, with masses of huge chandeliers and thousands of flickering candles, hundreds of silken cushions and curtains, and masses of people in strange masks and ornate dresses. There was the thrill of dancing with David Bowie to one of the songs he composed especially for the film. There wasn't enough room, for technical reasons, to really dance around properly, but we just drifted slowly and gracefully (I hope!) to David's music, and he looked fabulous! It's all a sort of magical fantasy sequence inside a huge bubble.

[about her son] I don't think I would be doing this quality of work if it hadn't been for my son. He's changed me. He's helped me to understand myself and find my place in the world.

[on growing up with a Catholic father and a Jewish mother] Ultimately I'm an Irish Catholic Jew. I'm riddled with guilt!