I am a big popcorn fanatic. I love popcorn. In fact one year for my birthday, my husband bought me one of those big popcorn machines like they have in movie theaters.
Moviemaking is just really neat, and I really like doing that. I'd like to get into it more, but in terms of my role in all of this and in terms of the gift that God has given me, I had to come to the conclusion that my strength is as a storyteller, creating the story.
I've lost fights before where I'm landing more punches and I'm moving away from the guy. So, the way that they score things at the end doesn't seem very consistent to me.
Moving away from home was the biggest challenge. Leaving my mum and my sisters behind, I miss them a lot. But I wanted to do what was best for me, and that was what I did.
Sometimes I get insecure about being a real director because I look at the great directors, and they have such command. But maybe that keeps me critical of myself. Maybe it keeps me moving forward.
My family supported me before any of this crazy notion of moving out to Hollywood and staking my claim. That support has never waned.
Moving out and living on my own was a big thing, but to be in a different country with different coaches and a different mentality changed me as a person, as a player, the way I think about things and the way I see people.
For the three years I lived in New York leading up to moving out to Los Angeles for 'Mad Men,' I was an office temp at Ernst & Young in Times Square. That's about as desk-jobby as it can get. There was a lot of, 'Go two floors up and make a copy of this and then bring it to me.'
On 'The Spy Who Dumped Me,' it wasn't fear as much as it was feeling overwhelmed because there were so many moving parts. But I felt that I knew what I was doing. And on a movie like this, there's so much preparation that goes into it that by the time you were there, you had done months of planning.
Use she, he, it, one, they. You could call me mow mow, and I honestly don't care. A pronoun is just a sound. All I'm listening for in that sound is positivity.
I went to college on a classical piano scholarship. My grandmother made me practice one full hour a day. Every day. Man. I thought all she wanted was for me not to have any fun. Next thing you know, you have a career in music. Now, not everybody's going to go on and be Mozart or Michael Jackson. But music makes you smarter.
As someone who grew up with a father who was the prime minister, many people liked me, and many didn't. I don't pay much attention to labels and certainly don't let people define me through the labels they apply. I stay focused on what I need to do.
Being a developmental psychologist didn't make me any better at dealing with my own children, no. I muddled through, and, believe me, fretted and worried with the best of them.
My dad was very influential with the music he exposed me to. He was really into blues and folk, so he'd play me guys like Muddy Waters and T-Bone Walker and Richie Havens - a lot of very emotional players.
James Cotton is a real blues guy, and he played with Muddy Waters, and it surprised me that they would want me to make a record with them, that he called me to do this record. I'd never done anything like that before. But I love blues, so I was very happy.
I love early blues like Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf. I listened to the way these people sang, and it was just beautiful - straight from the soul. That, for me, was an inspiration.
I'm sort of standing on T-Bone Walker's shoulders, Les Paul's shoulders, Lightnin' Hopkins' shoulders, Muddy Waters' shoulders, you know? And if I've inspired other people, I'm pleased. That pleases me greatly.
My breakfast consists of two cappuccinos and maybe a toasted English muffin, and that's pretty much it for me unless I decide to go a little more upscale, and then I'll have scrambled eggs.
I tell people I'm on a diet. If somebody sees me with a muffin, they'll think I'm off my diet. It's like secret little police that I've made for myself.
