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.

I'm just a sensitive little soul who's put so much into her career that I haven't had enough energy or time left over to sustain a relationship.

One of the things that has proven true in our career is that even if you take something that's as straightforward and classic as a father-son story, you can express it in a way that's totally unique to you.

Having spent many years working in New York's Chinatown restaurants early in my career, I have the utmost respect for the history and connection New Yorkers have with Chinese cuisine.

So I think that if I do feel more freedom right now in my career, it's not so much because I have less at stake but more a sense that I've learned more.