Jodie Foster

I love more than anything looking at a movie scene by scene and seeing the intention behind it.

I love European movies and I kind of grew up on European films.

I think Anna and the King is a look at Asia from the Asian perspective, reflecting the Asian experience, which is very rare.

I was one of those avid moviegoers as a kid, and we didn't have video, so we went to see everything five times. I went to see every foreign film playing in my town. As times went on, I watched a lot less films. I have a different film school now. My film school now is my life experience.

It's an interesting combination: Having a great fear of being alone, and having a desperate need for solitude and the solitary experience. That's always been a tug of war for me.

Being understood is not the most essential thing in life.

I had a prodigious life, living in a grown-up world when I was a child. But I think my abilities were about perceptiveness, and they were about examining psychology and examining people and relationships.

All the movies that I make in some ways have to be the story of my life. There are different chapters in my life.

I think every movie changes me and is life changing, especially movies you direct.

Otherness is a big thing for me. I'm always drawn to characters that live lives that I couldn't lead.

I prefer to commit 100 per cent to a movie and make fewer films, because it takes over your life.

I don't know why people think child actresses in particular are screwed up. I see kids everywhere who are totally bored. I've never been bored a day in my life.