Quotes

I like to work and I like to work with great actors and great directors and great material - and there isn't a ton of it. It's not overflowing. My cup doesn't runneth over in opportunity that way. To me, this was the opportunity to act something that was so opposite of who I am as a person.. Someone quite famous whose name I won't mention told me, 'I can't believe you did that part. I couldn't have done that. She was too horrible. I could never have done it'. But it would never occur to me to not take a part because something would be hard or complicated or tough for an audience to watch.

[on being directed by Steve McQueen] The main thing that we would talk about was a carriage, a posture, and [Mary Epp's] own sort of loftiness, her ideas about herself. He gave me an image which was very helpful - to be a figurine or doll on top of a cake..It was a very good note to give me, because then every time I walked out, the thing that was most important to me was that I had a kind of statuesque stillness. I was unfussy and immovable. Those little statues that you pick up and stick somewhere. They just stand. They never lean.

[on developing the role of Mary Epps] I was never afraid of the question of whether she could be liked, because I feel - as an actress - it's none of my business whether you like me or not. It's my job to play this character as authentically and truthfully and with as much commitment as possible - no matter how horrible she is perceived and how deplorable her actions are - and they are. I had to find a way into that. She behaves deplorably and does terrible,terrible, unspeakable things but in her mind they are defensible..It s my belief that Mrs Epps is not a particularly deep or complicated woman.. I am not saying this as an excuse for her behavior or defending her behavior. I'm just saying from an acting standpoint, it's not interesting for me nor is it possible that a person just walks around doing such things horrible things without motivation.

[on '12 Years a Slave'] What surprises me, I guess, is how powerful it is. Because I read the script, I knew about all the moments that were there - the scene where he is hanging, and all that whipping, all of these things that I could read on the page. But what I think is so great and powerful about the movie is that when you put a real image to it, connect it to a person that you have connected with as the audience, it becomes personal. It takes it to a whole other level of comprehension. That's why I think it is so effective.

If my life choices had to be predicated based on what was expected of me from a community on either side, that's going to make me feel really straitjacketed, and I don't want to feel that. What I can say absolutely is that I am in love, and that person happens to be Holland Taylor.