Evangeline Lilly
I got the script for 'Real Steel.' I started reading and saw that it was about robot boxing, and I was immediately turned off. It's not my thing. But I continued on, and by the time I got to the end of the script, I had chicken skin and tears in my eyes. I thought, 'Man, we don't make movies like this anymore.'
'Real Steel' was this lovely little piece where I held a cup of coffee and talked to Hugh Jackman for three weeks. And that sounded kind of nice.
'The Squickerwonkers' was the story I wrote when I was on 'The Hobbit.' And I brought it to Comic-Con and sold out a thousand copies I had printed.
As a filmmaker, you have to understand the essence of the book and tell the story you want to see on the screen, and hopefully please yourself - because you can't possibly please everyone.
The difference in my body from pre-pregnancy to post-baby was night and day. I didn't have the strength, I didn't have the flexibility, I didn't have the stamina, I didn't have the mobility. I felt like I was handicapped.
I think I'm not always what I seem. Most people, when they get to know me, say, 'You know, when I first met you...' People initially think I'm a snob because I'm intensely private.
I definitely come down on the spiritual side. I think very few things in life happen by chance.
I love getting older! I really believe that a woman doesn't reach her peak until her 40s.
In your 20s you can be pretty, but you don't accomplish real beauty until you find wisdom and depth.
It's so important for women to say to other women, 'I like myself how I am.' But it's hard because in your heart of hearts you are thinking, 'I don't really.' But you have to learn to say it. Imagine what a world it would be if people felt good about themselves the whole time.
We decided to have the baby at home because we wanted it to be a natural birth, and it turns out that it was 30 hours of natural. Eight hours of pushing - that's the part that men don't understand. Women go, 'Oh, dear, oh, dear God, eight hours of pushing?' And the men are like, 'Okay, eight hours of pushing.'
I don't like the idea of playing a one-dimensional character who is just fearless, strong, and killer and has instincts and just thrives in dangerous circumstances - that's really boring to me, and I don't think it represents what most women feel inside.
My favorite parts about 'The Battle of Five Armies' were the moments where you could clearly see that we were looking at New Zealand. That it wasn't done in post, it wasn't CGI, it was the beautiful, incredible creation of Mother Nature in all of her splendor.
I have been a bit of a reluctant actress since the get-go, since the beginning of 'Lost.'
I haven't sat down and memorized the language of Elvish, and anyone who does that is crazy!
I've not worked with Martin Freeman. I've hung out with him, but I've not worked with him.
It's very difficult to play opposite nothing. I did it for, like, six years - I ran from an invisible smoke monster for most of my twenties.
I seem to be landing really great locations on a lot of my work. I hope that continues, knock on wood.
I'm an actress, but I'm not stupid.
When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being an elf.
If you're going to tell stories about life, you have to include a woman in your story.
I am five foot six, I am built of muscle and bone, and that is not very good for fashion, but it's who I am. Women who look good in fashion are six foot tall, don't have an ounce of muscle, and their legs are the size of my arm.
My son was three months old when I started filming 'The Hobbit,' and I was still breastfeeding.
Every other 16-year-old girl wanted to look at bridal magazines; I could not have been more bored with the notion.
I have an American son and an American partner, so marriage might logistically make sense at one point. My partner is a stay-at-home father, so if he wants to be on my health plan, or tax wise, or maybe on paper we want to have our I's dotted and our T's crossed, but emotionally, neither of us really feels the need for it.
In my world, I don't believe in forever promises. I don't think it's realistic.
I used to watch actors and say, 'You poor suckers, that job looks miserable.'
I actually find flying therapeutic.
I was brought up in a household where I was not allowed to take the Lord's name in vain.
Life is all about embracing each moment that is given to you.
What I wanted originally was six kids.
Peter Jackson has just really earned the right to be Tolkien's torchbearer on screen.
'The Hobbit' didn't include female characters at all and was a very linear story, a book for children, really.
I'm a pretty skeptical person, and I'm a realistic person.
People were fed up with reality shows about midgets getting married and weird Jerry Springer talk shows. There had been a real dry spell of intelligent family-oriented viewing: the type of program that Mom, Dad and the kids can all watch together. With 'Lost,' there are just so many characters for people to invest in.
In high school, people wanted to find the worst in me.
I say no to photographs. When people take my picture, I feel like they've taken a piece of me, and I can't get that back. It's soul-draining.
Somebody could take a picture of me from across the room, and I would feel like I wanted to rip their face off.
I've had to find my sanity.
I've been careful what I've put my name to.
I'm not a girl who needs to put on a whole face of make-up before I leave the house.
There are so many roles on TV that I don't covet. I see them, and I'm glad I don't have to play them.
I hated being a flight attendant. I did it for a month and then quit.
I lived in grass huts in a jungle in the Philippines for three weeks with tribal people.
I love to write. I write everything across the board - kids' stories and novels and scripts. I actually would like to give that a go; I'd like to try to be a writer.
'Why are we here?' 'What is our purpose? 'Is there an afterlife?' 'Is there a God?' 'Is it all about science?' Those are big questions, and usually, TV is a little scared to go there.
In every one of the 'Squickerwonker' books, we will explore a new Squickerwonker character and their vice and how their vice generally leads to their undoing.
I think I can allow myself one child - and from then on, I think I would have to adopt. It makes sense not to add to the population problem.
I do feel like I'm at ease in my own skin when I find an androgynous balance.