Allison Anders

I've worked on movies where there's all these people coming and going, and I don't even know who they are.

I hope the next actress offered millions to play the 'fat girl for the day' stops to think about this before she signs the contract - even if just to ask, like any professional actress would in any other situation, 'Why does she weigh 350 pounds? And why me for the part?' If the director can't answer these questions, don't do the movie.

The women I cast have to embody all sorts of contradictions... I have to find the right woman to speak to other women.

It was such a struggle for me to make it off welfare. I was getting $630 a month for myself and my children with no support from their fathers. The rent was $600 a month, and if you got a job, they took it out of your welfare.

Movies can tell us about our place, or lack of place, in our culture.

There's never been a 'girl wonder' mythology.

Nowadays you don't get to see composition in a movie because nobody ever keeps the camera still long enough to see it. Actors don't have the thrill and the power of working with space.

Trauma creates one of four types of people: victims, rescuers, or perps - and if you're really lucky and really strong and very willing and brave, survivors.

During the '90s, a lot of us in the indie film world were not making our money off our movies. We were screenwriters doing scripts for hire for studios.

I'd be just as happy being a midwife. That's my ideal job.

I was a single mom.

I've been amazed watching people who are not ready with their scripts when they're getting a lot of attention.