Annette Bening

I never speak for my husband, and I never speak for my children. It's a rule. Believe me, it is.

I'm lucky: almost all my family has lived to be very old. I have one grandfather who lived to be 100.

It's always 'busy' with four children; it's chaos.

I feel very, very lucky to have come from the family I did. We have our dysfunctions and our problems, just like any family. But my parents are extremely loving people.

When I started, I was a theater actress, and there were roles that I couldn't imagine not playing, like Rosalind in 'As You Like It.' I used to think I would die if I could play that. But then I started doing movies, and I had children, and I moved to Los Angeles. And now I kind of can't remember what those roles would be.

I feel that certain things are best kept inside a family and not discussed with anyone else.

I still remember the five points of salesmanship: attention, interest, conviction, desire and close.

I read 'Game Change.' If you want to relive the campaign, that book is unbelievable. It's great. It's the book of that campaign. It brought all the memories back of everything with Clinton and Obama, and Sarah Palin and McCain, and choosing her, and John Edwards. It was an interesting book.

I find the reality of our emotional lives interesting.

I'm interested in writing that explores all sides of human beings.

With movies, so much of it is, 'Who is the human being that is going to be directing it?' Because it is their medium. In a way, you are serving the director, and when it is someone that you feel you can have a lot of confidence in, it can make a big difference.

I think for all of us, as we age, there are always a few moments when you are shocked.