"'Pain is such an important thing in life. I think that as an artist you have to experience suffering. It's not enough to have lived it once; you have to relive it. Darkness is not a pejorative thing."

"There's a lot of skeletons in my closet, but I know what they're wearing. I'm not gonna act all ashamed of it" - on her early career.

"It was total naivety that got me to Hollywood. I thought it was going to happen straight away. I told myself 'give it 5 years, there's no way I'll be here after that if it doesn't happen'. Cut to ten years later!"

"On set is where I feel comfortable. The red carpet stuff, talking about the film, explaining your own life, it doesn't come naturally. It's all necessary stuff I suppose but it's not my strength."

"I find myself gravitating towards drama. It interests me. In the books I read, the paintings I like, it's always the darker stuff."

"For the record, I am actually British as well as Australian. People always think I'm Australian but I'm happy for the Brits to claim me back. I'm offering myself up."

"Instead of thinking 'how can I slow the ageing process?' I think 'how can I bend the rules?'"

"Whatever is said about roles drying up, I intend to keep working. Certainly now the roles couldn't be more interesting - playing mothers, divorcees. I think it's going to be exciting to play a mother of teenagers. The longer your life, the deeper it gets."

"My mum put me in drama classes when I was about 14. I'd been going on about it for some time, so maybe it was a way to shut me up."

"We're so afraid of death in our culture, but I think if we understand it better, then we'll appreciate the life we have more." - in response to 21 Grams (2003).

"I've had people who've seen 21 Grams (2003) say, 'Wow, you're so brave to be looking like that'. This shocks me. I think that's what an actor's job is, to lose yourself in a role".

"You have to make peace with yourself. The key is to find the harmony in what you have." quoted in the Feb 01, 2005 issue of WOMAN'S WORLD

If I have to produce movies, direct movies, whatever to change the way Hollywood treats older women, I'll do it. If I have to bend the rules, I will. If I have to break them, I will.

"Even during my most intense scenes with Sean Penn (in 21 Grams), we found ways to have fun. Sure, I have my dark moments, but I'm the girl you'll see driving down the highway singing to Blonde."

"It's always nerve racking to take off your clothes on film. But doing it with a woman felt safer than with a man. You know you can say, 'Don't grab me there: That's were my cellulite is'!" - after being asked if it was hard to do a love scene with a woman (Mulholland Drive)