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1. I’m really enjoying being able to do these unhinged comedies and emotional dramas alike. I’m having a lovely time. After shooting a role that requires months of crying, it’s quite nice to be able to play something very different.
2. If a script is good, you are 10 steps into the part just reading it. But my choices are not all down to my taste. It is about people you have worked with before.
3. I feel fortunate that I’m not a beauty. I’m not a classic beauty. I feel it is harder for girls who are like that. There are fewer parts.
4. I’m not a pin-up, thankfully. I’m not suggesting I feel unconfident. I am beautiful to my husband. I am beautiful to my friends. I feel sexy and all those things with the people I love.
5. In general, I’m rubbish in heels. I love them, and I own a lot because it’s like being in a sweet shop: they’re pretty. But I’m not good in them. I don’t walk nicely in heels.
6. I want everyone to know what they deserve in relationships: that they can demand equality and kindness. Because everyone will have a relationship at some point in their life. It’s what we all do, every day, and we need to know how to do it.
7. Actually, lots of women, when they’re pregnant, feel like steel. They feel incredible.
8. I did a forward roll for the kids the other day, thinking it’d be a breeze like it was when I was six, and I had to lie flat for about 20 minutes afterwards — ‘Leave mummy alone; she’s feeling a bit dizzy.’
9. I was nervous about meeting Charlotte Rampling, as she’s a proper legend, but she is just so sweet.
10. I’ve been with my husband and friends for so long, I’ve forgotten what is unappealing to new people.
11. There was nothing about ‘The Killing’ that patronized its audience, and it was quite slow and detailed, all of the things which, for a long time, people had been nervous of making.
12. If something touches me, I cry. That’s it. I’m a bit raw, a bit rubbish, really. Often, a director will say to me, ‘I don’t think this is a scene where your character cries.’ And all I can say is, good luck with that!
13. Everything with me is pretty close to the surface, but having kids has completely ruined my emotional equilibrium.
14. I do sometimes wonder if people think, ‘Oh we’ll have her because she cries well.’ The odd thing is I don’t really know where it comes from. If the script is good, I find I can usually cry without too much trouble — in fact, the hard thing is trying to get me to stop. But I’m not really a crier in real life. I’m not a dramatic person, you see.
15. This may sound mad, but you sort of assume that no one’s going to watch what you do. You go on set, have a lovely time, and then you forget anyone’s going to see it. So it’s always a bit of a shock to be recognized. I get terribly embarrassed.
16. I think a good dollop of sadness is quite a useful thing in comedy sometimes. I think if everyone’s happy all the time, it’s a bit dull. It’s like salt and caramel — you wouldn’t imagine they would go well together, but they do.
17. If the script’s good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it, and do it honestly. I also don’t learn things for auditions, because I feel like it’s just a test of memorizing rather than being real. Maybe every other actor would think that was terrible, I don’t know. But it seems to have worked for me, so far.
18. Proper love should be utterly supportive and comfortable, and it feels like a raincoat or a jacket potato.
19. I was always pretty ambitious, although it probably helps that I can’t do anything else — apart from cleaning lavatories. But I remember my mum once said, ‘I suppose you’ll give it a year and see if you can make it as an actress?’ And I said, ‘No Mum, I think I’ll give it 10.’
20. I want to be helpful to the charities I support. I think you can dilute it, the more you do. You have to be a bit strong about what you do… otherwise, you risk spreading yourself a bit thin, and you can be less useful.