Growing up, being watched from the outside... it`s kind of very taxing and maybe I should just do some kind of manual labor-it might be more relaxing. But I can`t, it`s not in my nature.

Everything changes as a mother. Yes, work has changed. The projects that I choose are even more important to me now. The world he`s growing up in and the kind of stimulus that is out there; they are so precious and I`d do anything to protect him.

I had a good time working with Russell Crowe, Ron Howard and Ed Harris. It was a great cast and Russell worked really hard, doing tons of research and questioning everything.

I don`t always like my own behavior. I haven`t known anyone who is perfect all the time.

People who are incapable of having any kind of intimate relationship have to turn to feeling this incredible hunger and void, have to turn to some quantifiable external product to make them feel whole.

I`m so happy in the projects that I`m able to make, to be involved in projects like this. This isn`t always where it was at for me, I started working when I was a kid. I`m just a different person now, I`m 30. I started working when I was 11 and it`s a different ballgame.

Dark Water was one of my favourite films to shoot because of Walter. I had seen the previous films he had directed, Central Station and Motorcycle Diaries, and I thought they were great. I really trusted him.

I`ve chosen not to live in Hollywood, and instead I live in Brooklyn, New York. It`s how I like to live. I`d rather hang out with my kids and family when I`m not working. Going to premieres is not my idea of a fun night out.

I do finish reading a script and say, Why are they making it and what are they talking about? I like to try and be responsible in my choices in that way.

You can`t predict what someone else is going to do and when someone else is going to leave.

It`s funny looking at yourself. You know how it is when you look back at old pictures? It`s just funny looking back at yourself walking and talking at age 14.

We live in downtown Manhattan and we have pretty big windows that looked right at the World Trade Center. I was home along with Kai and we watched it all happen. I was holding him in my arms and we were looking out the window when the second plane hit.

I didn`t expect to win the Oscar. You grow up watching the Oscars on TV and you think it happens to fancy people. It was really surreal.

I can`t comment on any outside perception. I`m happy to come out and talk about movies that I`ve worked on in a setting like this. Otherwise, I have my own life that I live which is very different and private.

When it`s good it`s great, it`s really great.

If you get too attached to how you want it to come out the other side, you freeze. I try to trust that it will work out in the end.

That`s a great feeling to know that I`m going into a project that I have no idea what will become of that movie, but I really trust Ang Lee. And I really trusted Ron. It`s just really nice to work with people that you feel that way about.

[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.

I try to do a lot of research beforehand so I know where I want to go with a scene. I try not to get too stressed about it, because I find that`s the worst thing.

I don`t know if I was a star. I was certainly working a lot and that was strange because there were good things about it and things that were difficult.

It was, when I read it, I thought, such a beautiful script. I loved the story. I thought it was well handled. I thought it was even more moving because it was a true story and that made it even more poignant.

I felt for a long time that this is what I want to do so I`m happy at this point to just take my time and work on projects that I feel strongly about, and the rest of the time just live my life.

I try to stay focused on my life and do try not to be brought into the Hollywood fantasy.

[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."

[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!"

[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 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!

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.

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.