Nancy Willard Quotes

I won't take parts where the female character has no substance.

I loved all the other movies, and I loved all the other movie stars, but I was very aware of the fact that I didn't look like Marilyn Monroe - although I still wanted to be Marilyn Monroe. Then Josephine Baker popped up, and she wasn't the maid - she was the star of the show. To me, it was mind-blowing.

As a girl, you're supposed to love Sleeping Beauty. I mean, who wants to love Sleeping Beauty when you can be Aladdin?

Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History

Despite the gender stereotypes in the '80s, my race-car-driving dad taught me that I could do whatever my brother could.

Having had that experience... I think, what modern culture wants to see is the relationship with the woman. I don't think you can tell a story on film nowadays where the woman simply is there for the man when he decides to settle down.

There are few films where you have women really driving the plot.

I guess there's a vulnerability in seeing a female character trying to get out of something really drastic.

There have been a few times when I've read a script and it's really cool but the girl character's just kind of pathetic. It's not going to do me any favours just being 'the girl' in a cool movie.

I don't really want to just play the girlfriend or the love interest. I get so many scripts like that, and - not to moan, because I'm really fortunate - but I just look at those scripts, and my heart sinks a little bit because I think there's so much more to us than that.

There's such a stereotype about men and women. Obviously, people think men are faster and stronger and all these other things, and I don't want people to get sucked into that anymore. I want them to realize that the women are out here and doing just as awesome things. They can be just as great, too.

When I did the first 'Matrix,' after it came out, I had a woman come up to me and just thank me for Trinity because she was an action writer. She said she was getting really good opportunities now.

I grew up with that completely fictive idea of motherhood, where the mother never strayed from the kitchen. All the women in my books are very afraid that if they do anything with their minds they won't be complete women. I don't think my daughters' generation has that feeling.

Whatever your fight, don't be ladylike.

I go into every film not just wanting to play the hot girl in the movie. It kills me.

Comedy's really about not being afraid to look terrible, look ugly, look silly, make fun of yourself. And that's something that women are just not socialized to do. But more women are doing it, and more women have examples of women doing it brilliantly.

I portray female characters, so I have the opportunity to change the way people look at them. Even if I wasn't consciously doing that, it would happen anyway just because of how I present as a woman, or as a person. I present in a way that's not stereotypical, even if I'm playing a stereotypical role.

Maybe even at six or seven, I knew that, sweet as they were on the surface, all fairy tales needed a feminist shake up.

It seems to me quite often that the journeys of young women are more moving because they are hemmed in more, and dramatically it's more interesting to think about and write about people whose lives are circumscribed in some way.

I knew there was a school where women could study astronomy. So... it never occurred to me that I couldn't be an astronomer.

My goal is to send a message to Muslim women and young women everywhere that it's okay to break stereotypes and be yourself.

I don't want to play the girlfriend who's there because she's the girlfriend. And. That's. Her. Job. I want to play women and girls who are active and strong and who have a character arc and make decisions and have a rich background.

I'm not in any rat race. This allows me to take up roles that are traditionally considered risky for a heroine to essay.

I see the portrayal of any believable female character as feminist.

Any story about a powerful woman owning herself in any way is automatically deemed feminist.