Latest Jennifer Jason Leigh Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• Even if the role is very far away from me, to try and make it as nakedly me as possible is an intriguing notion.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Trying, Intriguing, Far Away

  Source: film.avclub.com

• I think Robert Altman could see things in me that I didn't know I possessed, which is really exciting. He also instilled a tremendous amount of confidence, because he would say things like, "These are the bare bones, but I want you to go fill it out. You find the character. You bring it to me. You write whatever you want." And if you had an idea, he wouldn't want to hear about it. He's want you to show it to him.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Character, Writing, Thinking

  Source: film.avclub.com

• There's so much confidence and freedom that comes from that way of doing things. Robert Altman and Alan Rudolph make the set the place to be. It's fun. It's a kind of creative freedom that's really inspiring. Altman loved actors so much. He was a great mentor for me, really.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Fun, Creative, Mentor

  Source: film.avclub.com

• It usually takes about two and a half weeks after you're done filming where you kind of return to yourself again.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Done, Kind, Week

  Source: film.avclub.com

• I've never done anything that I felt was crossing the line for me. But everybody has to make that decision individually. Like, I've never shot heroin to play a heroin addict. I've never turned a trick to play a prostitute. Whatever. You draw the line where you feel it could be harmful.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Decision, Done, Heroin

  Source: film.avclub.com

• Children accept their world as the world. I grew up like kids that I went to school with. Their parents were either shrinks or actors.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Children, Kids, School

  Source: film.avclub.com

• You try to find the internal life, but a lot of it is creating it through physical behavior and figuring out the voice when you create as much of a past as you would in a naturalistic piece. But it's fun, because it's like you're learning something, learning some kind of physical skill.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Fun, Past, Trying

  Source: film.avclub.com

• In some ways, you're always redefining your craft and figuring it out, but in some ways, I almost feel I'm going back to what I was doing 20 years ago.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Source: www.avclub.com

• I'm not necessarily less gratified by films where you're given less room to maneuve. Because I love a great script, and I love to respect it, and I love to try to give a director what he needs and wants, especially having directed now. [Laughs.] I'm much more open to try to give him what he wants and figure it out. I like working with directors I respect and admire, obviously. And everybody has their own way.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Giving, Laughing, Trying

  Source: www.avclub.com

• I loved acting as a kid because I was kind of shy, so it brought me out of myself. Acting for kids is like playing house, you know? But growing up in Hollywood, it just made it seem possible. It wasn't like some idea of going to Hollywood; it was in my backyard. I lived two blocks from Grauman's Chinese Theatre growing up. It was what people did. It's an industry town. So it wasn't some far-off fantasy, it was like "Oh yeah, when you grow up, you do this because that's what people do here."

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Growing Up, Block, Kids

  Source: www.avclub.com

• I like as much time as I can get and I'll do whatever I think is helpful to prepare for a role. Sometimes it's practical research, meaning if I had to write shorthand, I'd learn how to write shorthand. Or if I have to know how to dance a certain way, I would learn that. And then there's just research of talking to people similar to the characters I'm playing. And there's stuff that I just feel is inspiring, whether it be music or a painting or a photograph. I've used a lot of Nan Goldin's photos in the past to inspire me. I use certain paintings and pieces of music.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Writing, Character, Past

  Source: www.avclub.com

• Sometimes the work can get in the way and you give a less-good performance, and sometimes it doesn't and you can really get to the heart of something. And all the other stuff is just interesting and adds another layer to your performance. It helps you find the reality. Because you're not just playing yourself, you know? That would be kind of boring.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Heart, Reality, Giving

  Source: www.avclub.com

• Even when you think you can detach yourself from the characters, you don't. Because you're spending so much time trying to realize this person and make them real that they do infect you, in a way. And you do take them home and live with them, even if you think you're turning the character off. But in order to pull off a role convincingly, you wind up thinking about that person all the time, and it does sort of creep into you. And then there are things that you'll respond to, or react to in a very different way than you would normally.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Real, Home, Character

  Source: www.avclub.com

• Quentin's [Tarantino] thing is "I don't want anybody to get up until they have to. So, because he really wants things to come organically. And he may have specific things like "No, this ... I want you to be here so that when he punches you, it falls. I want that action to happen here." But you feel like it does, all the blocking does come from an organic response to the material.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Block, Fall, Doe

  "Seth Rogen, Jennifer Jason Leigh on Challenges of ‘Steve Jobs,’ ‘The Hateful Eight’". Interview with Malina Saval, variety.com. December 29, 2015.

• I hope my talent has something to do with it. I just think this business is so crazy. I obviously do the best I can, and the directors I admire see something in me. But this is a strange business, and there are people who are incredibly talented who never make it, who never get these opportunities. So that's why I say I'm lucky. I don't feel that I'm not talented - I think I am talented - but I also think I'm very lucky.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Crazy, Opportunity, Thinking

  Interview with Michael Martin, www.interviewmagazine.com. November 3, 2015.

• I feel like I turned down a lot of things that I wish I hadn't. But you never know when you're younger. I don't have regrets about certain things I turned down. Those films would have required things of me that would have been challenging, and they ended up being really good movies. But I was never a careerist, I never thought in those terms. I'd be like, "Oh, I'm tired. I don't want to work."

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Regret, Tired, Being Real

  Interview with Michael Martin, www.interviewmagazine.com. November 3, 2015.

• I worked with great, brilliant directors. I've been so lucky. It's terrible to compare anyone, because you can't. But I can just tell you that this experience was just a truly magnificent experience for everyone involved.

  Jennifer Jason Leigh

  Directors, Lucky, Brilliant

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com