To be a producer is not something that I look at as a position of power. I just think that I have these great connections, let`s use them. I believe in it. You believe in it. Let`s do it.

I`m not this dark, twisted person. Yes, I have my demons and this is my way of exorcising them. It gets them out - and better out than in. Actually, I think that it`s the comedians who are the darkest people on the planet, because they think life`s just bloody hilarious. - on the usual dark roles that she is known for.

I don`t think I`m really the go-to girl for that sort of cheery popcorn movie. I`ve done that little bit of lightness in King Kong, and I Heart Huckabees was definitely goofy, but I just don`t connect that well to romantic comedies because they`re usually so formulaic and not really based in truth.

There`s a set of rules out there somewhere that says it all ends by 40. I hope to be able to defy that because I truly love my work.

Yes, I`ve had six great years of being in a position where I can pick and choose a bit, but it`s not like I suddenly feel so calm and relaxed about that. Having spent a large portion of my life with a constant struggle and trying to find ways to make it work, that`s what sticks with me.

Every time I`d think to book a ticket to leave L.A., something would come up-even just a three day job or something. That was enough to keep me invested. I still pinch myself when a certain director calls and says, `Would you like to read my script?` I don`t take any of it for granted because I struggled for so long.

To be appreciated or recognized is everything to an artist, but to be placed in a category where judgment occurs is awful, and yet we are all liars if we can`t admit that we haven`t all chased it or dreamed of it, even just a little bit.

I had gotten to a place where I truly believed everything I was called: `not sexy,` `not funny,` `too intense,` desperate.` All those labels they gave me, I took them because there wasn`t a trace of my true self left. - on the struggles of her early career

When I had dark hair I definitely felt that I was more anonymous.

I keep saying to myself, Oh, God, I`m sick of playing these dark, harrowing roles. I want a big paycheck, so put me in some dumb romantic comedy any day.

"Every time I dress up to go somewhere, I say this is who I am: like, I feel like a Russian hooker tonight. A long time ago, I put on a Stella McCartney top with a huge amount of feathers, and I had really black eye makeup and stringy hair. My mom was like, `That top`s not working`. But that`s what I looked like, a Russian hooker".

Yeah, I suppose I am ordinarily drawn to the darker stuff. You won`t find me in a romantic comedy. Those movies don`t speak to me. People don`t come to talk to me about those scripts, because they probably think I`m this dark, twisted, miserable person.

I`m a tomboy now. I always wanted to fit in with my brother`s group, so I climbed trees and played with lead soldiers. But I`m a woman`s woman. I never understood women who don`t have woman friends.

"That ad recently turned up in a magazine in Australia. My head is in my hands as I`m sitting at as desk, thinking, `When can I start using tampons?` I was quite old, but I was supposed to look 12". - on one of her first gigs

"The biggest place I look for validation is from my mother. That`s the little girl in me that will never grow up." - on why not having an Oscar yet doesn`t faze her.

"The consequences are that you fear and dread being abandoned. You get a little tougher, and it`s more difficult for you to become intimate. The pros are that you can adapt to any situation and that you`re open to new surroundings. A lot of people get stuck in their ways, but I embrace change." on moving frequently when she was younger.

I always love being in the company of women. It`s all about good conversation and great wine.

"It`s always nerve-racking to take off your clothes on film. But doing it with a woman felt safer than with a man. You know you can say, `Don`t grab me there: That`s where my cellulite is`!" [after being asked if it was hard to do a love scene with a woman (Mulholland Dr. (2001)]

Even during my most intense scenes with Sean Penn (in 21 Grams (2003)), we found ways to have fun. Sure, I have my dark moments, but I`m the girl you`ll see driving down the highway singing to Blondie.

If I have to produce movies, direct movies, whatever to change the way Hollywood treats older women, I`ll do it. If I have to bend the rules, I will. If I have to break them, I will.

"You have to make peace with yourself. The key is to find the harmony in what you have." quoted in the Feb 01, 2005 issue of WOMAN`S WORLD

"I`ve had people who`ve seen 21 Grams (2003) say, `Wow, you`re so brave to be looking like that`. This shocks me. I think that`s what an actor`s job is, to lose yourself in a role".

"We`re so afraid of death in our culture, but I think if we understand it better, then we`ll appreciate the life we have more." - in response to 21 Grams (2003).

My mum put me in drama classes when I was about 14. I`d been going on about it for some time, so maybe it was a way to shut me up.

Whatever is said about roles drying up, I intend to keep working. Certainly now the roles couldn`t be more interesting - playing mothers, divorcees. I think it`s going to be exciting to play a mother of teenagers. The longer your life, the deeper it gets.

Instead of thinking `how can I slow the ageing process?` I think `how can I bend the rules?` Every year you add to your life, you`re going to add a different experience to your face.

For the record, I am actually British as well as Australian. People always think I`m Australian but I`m happy for the Brits to claim me back. I`m offering myself up.

I find myself gravitating towards drama. It interests me. In the books I read, the paintings I like, it`s always the darker stuff.

On set is where I feel comfortable. The red carpet stuff, talking about the film, explaining your own life, it doesn`t come naturally. It`s all necessary stuff I suppose but it`s not my strength.

It was total naivety that got me to Hollywood. I thought it was going to happen straight away. I told myself `give it 5 years, there`s no way I`ll be here after that if it doesn`t happen`. Cut to ten years later!

"There`s a lot of skeletons in my closet, but I know what they`re wearing. I`m not gonna act all ashamed of it" - on her early career.

`Pain is such an important thing in life. I think that as an artist you have to experience suffering. It`s not enough to have lived it once; you have to relive it. Darkness is not a pejorative thing."