Joe Wright Quotes

I was always the observer, trying to understand what was going on. I was always the new kid. Writing became my safe place.

The thing about me and school was that as much as I felt that I didn't belong, as long as I was on a stage or dancing, that's where I excelled the most, felt worthy.

I never felt comfortable in real life very well. It's always been an awkward kind of thing for me and so when I hit the stage I just sensed freedom. I sensed, 'Here's a place that I can have all the experiences of life and not feel uncomfortable about it.'

One place that I really feel comfortable is being a comedienne. I'm very socially inept. There's so many things that I can not do in life, and this is, like, the one thing that I have mastery over. It's my world. And anybody who's coming to the show, it's like they're coming because they know that this is my world.

I always felt like the rug could be pulled out from under me at anytime. And coming from a racially mixed background, I always felt like I didn't really fit in anywhere.

I come from a dancing background, and I know it's stereotypical, but I would dance because I wasn't comfortable speaking to people.

I feel more at home knowing I'm not really at home. It takes all the pressure off you trying to fit in!

When you put a camera in front of me, I'm home.

Maybe I am not French, maybe I am from nowhere.

I was going to middle school in Berkley, and I did not fit in at all. Like a lot of kids, I found theater to be a good place for me.

I was a weak kid, not good at what all the boys at school were good at and I found that by acting, by being other people, I could liberate myself from those inadequacies.

I had great difficulty in school interacting with others, and I took refuge in the contrived setting of play acting, which is what I still do.

I'd never really considered film. If I'd thought about film more growing up, I probably would have changed my name. I had no concept of my name in lights.

In real life I'm very low-key. A wallflower. One of the reasons I went into comedy and acting was that I was sick of being shy.

I was always a little unsteady in my self-belief. Then there was the Jewish thing. I love being Jewish, I have no problem with it at all. But it did become like a scar, with all these people saying you don't look it.

When I was young, I had this feeling that there was this handbook that I had never gotten that explained how to be, how to laugh, what to wear, how to stand by yourself in the hallway. Everyone looked so natural - like they all practiced and knew exactly what to do - even the way they pushed their hair out of their face.

I was always a class clown, so I never had trouble fitting in; I just had trouble finding out where I really wanted to be.

It was this feeling the whole time like I shouldn't be here among all these stars and professionals. I was trying to keep my distance because I wanted to watch everyone. But they want you to feel at home and be part of it, and it became normal very quickly.

South America was not really that open - you had to fit in, and I didn't fit in. I was different - my tastes, my point of view - were a bit weird, and I found in Britain a sense of calm, that I could just be.

I definitely understand not entirely fitting in. I think everyone has their own version of feeling out of place and I think one of the great things we have the ability to do is to know it's all right. It's OK to have that awkward phase.

I didn't know what country I represented anymore.

I was so bad in school that acting gave me some kind of identity and gave me a home.

I used to not even be able to order pizza on the phone because I was just so shy. I think that's why so much comes out on-screen: because that's my time to let go in a safe place. When you're doing that, it's all written down on paper, and it's total fiction.

I never felt like I could be myself at home.

I felt like I couldn't fully be myself and accepted in my family, so I would lock myself in my room on a Saturday night and watch 'Saturday Night Live,' and that was, like, the best thing that ever happened to me.