Miranda Otto
I think, with TV, you create kind of a family to work with.
There's a film I did years ago, 'Love Serenade,' that I still really love. It's such an oddball sense of humor. It was a really special film for me when I did it.
Premieres are pretty fun, but probably the most fun was when I went to see 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,' and I'd just flown in from Africa, and I hadn't even seen the movie yet. So, the first time I saw it was at the premiere. It was really fun.
People often say, 'I thought you were much taller.' So, I don't know. Maybe it's the way I stand or something.
I think most big stars do have just a certain amount of mystery; you don't know everything.
I tend to not think about the kind of movie things I want to be doing, because I've worked in all sorts of different places, and I've spent all sorts of time in England, and I'd still do things in Australia and in America.
Usually, I end up looking for something completely different to who I last played. But there is just a spark that's lit when I read a script or character I want to play.
Alison Carr on 'Homeland.' She was such great character to play, so clever and full of surprises. I was sad to see her go.
QVB have a long history of supporting Australian talent.
I enjoyed playing someone who is a professional, intelligent, defined by her work and not her role as a wife or mother.
Certain characters get to me and stay with me for a while.
Acting is bluffing, pretending to be something.
The detective genre is not easy because you've got to get to a conclusion that is unexpected.
I think 'Rake' was a very clever crossover, actually, because it does lend itself to the city of L.A.
That is definitely something that I feel more comfortable with now. When I did 'Lord of the Rings,' it was something I wasn't quite prepared for, I didn't know how to deal with that sort of attention, and I kind of shied away from that, but I'm better at dealing with that now - a lot better.
In everything I do, I like to set the idea for girls that they can do anything. I was really moved by Hillary Clinton's speech when she lost the election - she didn't want young girls to feel like it wasn't possible and wanted them to know a female president will eventually happen. That's important.
There are so many successful women working in intelligence, but it's still seen as a male-dominated world.
I've been on shows where they're just setting it up, and they're trying to find the tone of the writing and performance. That's always a really chaotic period on shows.
It's so great to come in and do something where you know how strong the format of the show is and you're working with writers and directors who worked on the original show. It feels like you're going into a well-run ship already. Then it's just a matter of creating these new characters.
That fascinated me. I used to watch all these operations on TV and thought it would be really cool to do that.
I was cast in a film toward the end of high school. Even then, I wasn't sure.
I ask myself, 'What is the value of acting and the attention that actors get? And yet there are so many people in the world doing incredible things for mankind, and they don't get much attention.' I do question about that, but I don't think I would've been a great doctor. I think I would've been a good surgeon. That fascinated me.
Sometimes, as a young woman, you are boxed in more to playing characters that are emotional and vulnerable.
I have been really lucky to play roles younger than myself for most of my career.
As your career goes on, you get to flex your brain a little more and play characters that are stronger and more intelligent.
In the past, I was always drawn to really quirky, idiosyncratic characters.
I always feel this huge responsibility to the script when it arrives, keeping it confidential.
I really like research.
I just feel like TV takes more risks than film. Film has gotten very safe: it's very compartmentalized about what type of things will be successful. And whereas in TV, since all these new platforms opened, they're saying to writers, go out there, write the most different show that you can write. Write something that's really original and different.
With TV, the most important thing is just to get people to turn it on.Collection: People
The talent of the people in Brazil was extraordinary. I thought all of the hair and make-up was really fantastic. The aesthetic there is really something to behold. They just have such a great sense of taste.Collection: Hair
Everyone says you should get a photo taken of yourself while you're pregnant. I've got a film [War of the Worlds]. It'll be nice for my daughter, too, to look at one day. She was in it.Collection: Mother
Whenever I mention Greg Kinnear's name to anyone, they always say, "Oh, love him!" He's a really terrific actor, and very funny.Collection: Names
You can make the best show in the world, but if people don't actually turn it on and see it, they'll never know it's the best show.Collection: People
As an actor, I would call it a role where you get to stretch out a bit.Collection: Roles
You do remember things that people say in movies. You remember particular lines and things that are funny. But, you also remember really strong images. Images have a way of bypassing your brain and hitting you emotionally. There are so many things from movies that are remembered, that are just looks on people's faces or incredible vistas or beautiful pictures. That is a very important part of cinema.Collection: Beautiful
I think sometimes people haven't really quite worked out how to peg me, or exactly what it is that I do. In that way, I feel lucky that I can get to play different things because they haven't quite decided what I am.Collection: Thinking
Theres such big pressure on people who are incredibly famous, on those who have people sitting outside their front door and taking photos every time they move.Collection: Moving