Brit Marling

So at some point you realize that your life is not just going to start one day in the future, that you're living it. ”

When I'm sitting writing, I know that something works if I've made myself cry, or laugh, or have a visceral emotion. ”

Human beings are flawed and complicated and messy. ”

I think I am looking as an actor to find ways to push myself into places I haven't been before as a human being. ”

As an actor, you have an accumulated knowledge base. But there's also something about it that every time you really feel like you're doing it for the first time; you have no idea whether you're capable of it. ”

If you play it safe every time, then you're missing the best part of acting. You haven't learned anything about your humanity. ”

I think I realized very early on that you can spend a lot of time constructing a really perfect scene in final draft and just end up throwing it away because you didn't figure out that mathematics of the story first. ”

A whole film is just about arriving at a moment where you hopefully transfer some feeling to the audience. ”

I feel like I'm a much better person when I'm developing my imagination and my innocence and my vulnerability. I like that version of me better than the version where I'm just working on my analytical mind. ”

A lot of people think, 'I'll give acting or poetry or filmmaking a try. And if it doesn't work out I'll go get a law degree, do something else that's more practical.' For me I went the reverse way. I lived the back-up plan. ”