Valeria Golino

I've learned so many things from directors in my acting career. There are even some things I've learned that I didn't want to do. There are those directors who've really made me shine and others who've made me opaque.

I came to Hollywood and I loved it. It was a great time, but in my head I was still elsewhere, in Europe. I believed in a certain cinema, which I still do believe in - a certain European cinema - and as a young woman being in America, I thought I was being taken away from that.

As an actress you can participate, you can be a co-author, help the director. But I always wanted to be able to make the big decisions.

When I think of Italy now, I think of accessories, possessions, bad TV, fake boobs, BMWs.

I love acting. I've been doing it since I was 16, and it's in my nature. It's the thing I do best. But as much as I love acting, I love cinema more. I always had a thing about creating images.

Miele' is a code name for a girl who has a double life.

I worked with fantastic actors, fantastic directors. People I would never otherwise have met. Was I limited? Yes. Did I use it as I could have? No. But I was always ambivalent about Hollywood and what I wanted. And ambivalence in our business is no good for success.