“There are a lot of words that I knew first as a reader, and I never put the pieces together in my brain. The word segue I thought was pronounced "seeg," I think until I went to college, which is horribly embarrassing.” ThinkingFirstsTogetherBrainPiecesCollegeReaderEmbarrassing Author:Zoe Kazan
“I stopped Googling myself a long time ago. I'm sure there's plenty of misinformation out there, but I am blissfully unaware of it.” LongLong TimePlentyLong Time AgoMisinformation Author:Zoe Kazan
“I was a vegetarian for a really long time, from 7 to 23, so I feel like some things aren't that weird but they seem weird to me, like blood sausage or snails. Those are things I've eaten now that, years ago, it would have been totally improbable that I would have eaten.” FeelsYearsLongHas BeensSeemsBloodLong TimeYears AgoVegetarianImprobableSausageReally LongSnail Author:Zoe Kazan
“On a personal level, just for me in my own work, I would say the most interesting thing has been getting to work with the people that I've worked with.” PeopleHas BeensMy OwnInterestingLevelsMost InterestingInteresting Things Author:Zoe Kazan
“I've gotten incredibly lucky with the people I've gotten to work with. It's made my mind better, and it's made me a better person.” PeopleMindPersonsMadeLuckyBetter Person Author:Zoe Kazan
“I would not wear any clothes that had a brand name on them, and I only read books that were canonical.” BookNamesClothesBrandsBrand Names Author:Zoe Kazan
“I wouldn't wear makeup, and I didn't like to let boys open the door for me because I felt like it was sexist.” FeltBoysDoorsMakeupSexist Author:Zoe Kazan
“I would not wear any clothes that had a brand name on them, and I only read books that were canonical. I wouldn't wear makeup, and I didn't like to let boys open the door for me because I felt like it was sexist. My heart was in the right place, but I was such a tiny dictator about it. It's embarrassing to me now because I was so rigid. It's such a rigid way of looking at the world. There's something very young about that mind-set.” WorldWayMindHeartBookYoungNamesFeltBoysDoorsMy HeartClothesTinyBrandsMakeupDictatorEmbarrassingRight PlaceSexistMind SetBrand Names Author:Zoe Kazan
“I am proud and embarrassed by how incredibly self-confident I was in my late teens and early 20s. I know that there were other things going on, too, but I had an overwhelming belief in myself. Like I said, I'm embarrassed by it and proud of it.” KnowsSaidSelfBeliefProudLateOverwhelmingTeensEmbarrassedSelf ConfidentEarly 20s Author:Zoe Kazan
“It's a good thing I learned some humility and perspective as I got older.” HumilityPerspectiveGood Things Author:Zoe Kazan
“I had a real feeling of being fated to be an actor and do my work, and I remember so much speaking up in a room full of people who authentically knew as much or more than me, and feeling like I was absolutely equal, and what I had to say was important.” PeopleImportantRealFeelingsRememberActorsRoomsEqualSpeaking UpReal Feelings Author:Zoe Kazan
“There's part of me that's grateful for the delusion, because it takes a very hard shell to get started as an actor, and I don't have a very hard shell.” HardActorsGratefulDelusionShells Author:Zoe Kazan
“What I did have was an incredible amount of belief in myself.” BeliefAmountIncredibles Author:Zoe Kazan
“When I would get close on a part but wouldn't get it, I would be like, "They made a mistake," which is not how I think about things now. I both admire it and I'm grateful for the modicum of health, knowledge, and humility that I have acquired over the last 10 or 15 years.” ThinkingYearsMadeWould BeLastsMistakeHumilityGratefulAdmireMade A Mistake Author:Zoe Kazan
“I've never stolen anything. Well, that's not entirely true. I once accidentally took a gift card from a store in a mall. I was carrying it around to show my mom because I thought it was funny, and I forgot to show it to her and left the store carrying it. I had a complete nervous breakdown, like, 20 minutes later and went back to the store in tears. So that's where I stand in terms of my ability to steal something.” WellsShowsLeftTermAbilityMinutesTearsMomMy MomStoresStealingCardsNervousStolenBreakdownMallsNervous Breakdown Author:Zoe Kazan
“I've worked with a lot of really famous people. It stops being weird really quickly. For me, at least.” PeopleBeing Weird Author:Zoe Kazan
“I grew up with my grandfather [Elia Kazan] being famous in a way that's not like Beyoncé, but famous in a relative way. It made me feel weird about the way that we treat people that are famous, and it made me feel weird about fame in general.” PeopleWayFeelsMadeGrewFameGrew UpTreatsRelativeGrandfatherMy GrandfatherBeing Famous Author:Zoe Kazan
“I don't feel like I have a super straightforward relationship with the idea of fame. It makes me sort of level things out in my own brain almost immediately when I meet someone.” FeelsIdeasMy OwnLevelsBrainFameStraightforward Author:Zoe Kazan
“I guess I always like being asked questions about influence or inspiration, like, "What are you reading? Who are your heroes? Is there any one person you want to shout out to now?" I really love paying it forward with love and attention, because that's what I like to read.” WantPersonsInspirationReadingAttentionInfluenceHeroShout OutPay It Forward Author:Zoe Kazan
“You know, it only happens a handful of times in your career, where you walk out of an audition feeling like all the stars aligned, my preparation paid off, something magical happened in the room. I've gotten really lucky and I've gotten to work a lot, and I would say it's only happened, like, two or three times, where I've walked out and been like, This was the right thing and the right choice and they should just cast me.” FeelingsChoicesLuckyPreparationRight Thing Author:Zoe Kazan
“I don't love the word "quirky." I think it's a word that's a catchall. It's a word that doesn't stand in empathy with the person, it stands in judgment of them. It's a very externalized word.” ThinkingJudgmentEmpathyQuirky Author:Zoe Kazan
“I don't think a lot of people are like, "I'm just quirky!" Or if they are, it's a stage they're going through as they figure out who they are. I never felt like I was choosing roles that were quirky.” PeopleThinkingQuirky Author:Zoe Kazan
“I feel like a lot of my work on stage, I've gotten to play a wider range of characters than I have on film. This feels closer to who I am than stuff I've played on stage, or, like, Olive Kitteridge.” CharacterFilm Author:Zoe Kazan
“I don't feel like I possess a particular political intelligence, and when I read work that does, I feel like somebody else is going to have the right political thing to say. As a citizen, I feel an enormous need to respond, and immediately post-election, I felt like, What is my work worth? Should I quit what I'm doing and go work on the 2018 election now? How is what I'm putting into the world meaningful?” WorldPoliticalElectionQuittingMeaningfulI Quit Author:Zoe Kazan
“I think everyone is always asking themselves, How is my work meaningful, how is my life meaningful? As I get older, I feel like who I am as a person and a citizen is more important than who I am in my work. But I do think it reframed slightly for me, how much I have to care about a project in order to want to do it. Sometimes, obviously, you have a take a job for money. But I think I'm quicker now when I get a script that's, say, borderline misogynist, I'm not going to go in for it. I'm thinking more about what I'm putting into the world.” ThinkingWorldImportantSometimesCareMeaningfulMeaning Of LifeMeaningful LifeLife MeansBorderline Author:Zoe Kazan
“I don't feel like it's a time to be shy about raising my voice, and I don't think that the things I'm raising my voice about should be alienating. If it's alienating to a "fan base," then I'm not responsible for that.” ThinkingResponsibleShy Author:Zoe Kazan
“Most of the things I'm talking about are essential human rights. I don't think it should be political to say that children should be able to have lunch at school when their families can't afford to feed them properly, or to say women should have access to basic health care, or that Muslims deserve equal protection under the law, or police shouldn't be killing black people and getting away with it - it shouldn't be a political thing to say. A lot of people on the right standing behind Christian values should be standing with us, because equality is a basic tenet of Christianity.” PeopleThinkingChildrenCareSchoolChristianPoliticalValuesBlackChristianityEqualDeservePoliceKillingHuman RightsProtectionHealth CareGet AwayBlack People Author:Zoe Kazan
“I just don't care that much about how famous I am. I care a lot about our world, and whether our planet will survive. It seems really low-stakes how many Twitter followers I have, in the grand scheme of things. In 80 years, who will care?” WorldCareI Care Author:Zoe Kazan
“Wildlife was the only thing we've written together with Paul Dano. It's based on a book by this author Richard Ford, who just published a memoir about his family that's really wonderful. Paul fell in love with his book, and we optioned it ourselves, and he took a first pass at writing it. He asked me for notes, and then our note session devolved into an argument really quickly.” WritingBookTogetherWonderfulArgumentMemoir Author:Zoe Kazan
“I have a lot more writing experience than Paul Dano has, so to be able to put that experience to use in exercising his vision was almost an acting exercise: How would I write if I were Paul? When I look at it, it feels so completely his, but it's also mine.” WritingActingVisionExercise Author:Zoe Kazan
“A lot of what I've had produced are plays, and I just don't want to do that. It's different than a movie, where you only have to act the scenes the one time, and you have other collaborators helping you make it better, so you don't feel as obsessed with your own mind. Plays you have to do every single night, and the thought of that is agony to me. There are days when you hate your own work, and you don't want to be confronted with that, have it coming out of your mouth or listening to somebody else say it to you. There are days you want to leave the theater and get a drink.” MindDifferentHelpingNightHateListeningDrinkSceneObsessedHate You Author:Zoe Kazan
“I'm not that interested in writing for myself. That's not where my impetus as a writer comes from.” Writing Author:Zoe Kazan
“Lena Dunham or Miranda July, those people are sort of thinking about their work in a slightly different way than I do, where their whole body is a seed of what they're creating. I can't imagine watching Miranda's movies with anybody else playing her role, she's so integral. But for me, it feels more like every story is really individual. If I thought of something else, or thought it should be my body representing it, I'd fold my body into it. But most of the time I'm writing to get something out of my body.” PeopleThinkingWritingDifferentIndividualImagineMiranda Author:Zoe Kazan
“Every piece of writing I've done has been something where I feel like I need to get this out of me, whether it's a seed of something personal or an anxiety that turns into a play or an image that's in my mind and haunts me that I'm trying to investigate.” WritingTryingMindDoneAnxiety Author:Zoe Kazan
“I just went through my childhood attic with my sister. I'm not an expert, and I don't mean to put myself in that category, but thinking about Malcolm Gladwell and the 10,000 hours, I was like, Here are my 10,000 hours!” ThinkingMeanHoursChildhoodMy Sister Author:Zoe Kazan
“In a way, you normalize your own childhood to yourself, so I never thought about how much I wrote as a kid. So I was there, confronted with it - so many notebooks, so many tiny plays. Every week we put on a play. We had a big futon, so my sister and I would use the futon as our stage, and I wrote little skits and made her faint because I found it so funny.” KidsWeekChildhoodMy SisterNotebook Author:Zoe Kazan
“There are people a lot smarter than me investigating nature versus nurture who would have a lot to say about that, but I think it's an enormous privilege to be born into a family where my parents had enough time to read to me and listen to my stories and foster my imagination. It's a privilege to have time to investigate your imagination. And not to have, like, an amount of stress on you as a kid that prevents you from maturing creatively.” PeopleThinkingEnoughKidsParentImaginationStressMatureNurtureMy Imagination Author:Zoe Kazan
“If I was born into a household with anxiety about money, I wouldn't have had as much freedom to be in my own world. So it's impossible for me to divorce the privilege of my childhood from the other things.” WorldImpossibleChildhoodAnxietyDivorce Author:Zoe Kazan
“I will say they were horrified when I wanted to be an actor. It wasn't a showbiz-y family, and my parents are real introverts who don't go to a lot of Hollywood parties and are most comfortable in their pajamas in our sweet little home. Part of the reason I wanted to be an actor and not just a writer is because I felt much more extroverted than that - I love to be around people, and feed off people's energy, and collaborations. If I hadn't had their example, I wouldn't have been so serious, but I also wouldn't have wanted so much to find another creative outlet.” PeopleRealReasonHomeEnergyParentPartyCreativeSeriousSweetCollaborationIntrovert Author:Zoe Kazan
“I was 14, when I wanted to be an actor. My parents were basically like, "This is a very hard life, and you have to be really serious about it, and show us that you're serious about it. You can't drop out of school." They strongly encouraged me not to act professionally until I finished college, which I didn't. And I think they should have been horrified! It's a really hard life. I'd be really scared if I had a child who wanted to be an actor.” ThinkingChildrenSchoolParentCollegeSeriousScaredHard Life Author:Zoe Kazan
“When my sister decided that she wanted to act, I was so nervous for her. She's doing great, but I have a lot of friends at every level of success as an actor, and we all go through periods of time where they feel like their worth isn't within their own control. That's a horrible feeling for an adult to have.” FeelingsHorribleNervousMy Sister Author:Zoe Kazan
“Most adults get to a point in their careers where they feel secure, where they have a body of work behind them that will ensure longevity, and for actors, it's just not like that. You're basically always a temp, going from job to job.” Longevity Author:Zoe Kazan
“I do not do my own taxes. It's too many forms. "Here are my 70,000 forms. I have no idea."I would be in jail.” Taxes Author:Zoe Kazan
“I think even probably the people we look up to the most, and think are on the Mount Olympus of actors - they're still experiencing nervousness.” PeopleThinkingLook UpNervousness Author:Zoe Kazan
“I've always really been interested in the Pygmalion myth and both what it has to say about creativity and what it has to say about relationships between men and women. I'd been thinking about what I would want to do with that if I was going to write on that theme, and one morning I woke up and Calvin and Ruby Sparks were in my head.” ThinkingMenWritingCreativityMorningMen And WomenMyth Author:Zoe Kazan
“I think for acting on stage and in film, one informs the other. Obviously, they require really different kinds of discipline and really different kinds of work. It's more along the same continuum, for me.” ThinkingKindDifferentFilmActingDisciplineDifferent Kinds Author:Zoe Kazan
“I think film writing, you're thinking in pictures, and stage writing, you're thinking in dialogue. In film writing, it's also, you only get so many words, so everything has to earn its place in a really economical way. I think for stage writing, you have more leeway.” ThinkingWritingFilmDialogue Author:Zoe Kazan
“I think a large part of an actor's job in preparation is just making the words feel organic to them, and obviously they came out of me, so they felt organic to me already. And then I think then it was all about clearing away all the other voices.” ThinkingPreparation Author:Zoe Kazan
