Hollywood Expectations Quotes

The point of being a movie star is that people cast you in a role. Actors tie themselves in knots trying to get out of that.

The purpose of an actress is not to just look beautiful and strut around like a peacock but act, too.

I had worked for ten years in theater; I had worked at Second City in Chicago. Then I got to Hollywood, and I was like, naively, 'Where's my pilot?'

The thinnest I've ever been was after I had my appendix out, during the London run of The Seagull. I went down to 112 pounds and realized my brain doesn't work when I'm that thin, so I can't do my job. That's why, when I came out here, I never had that whole Hollywood pressure thing. I never said I wanted to be a lead actress; I never said I wanted to be a film actress. This need to trump everyone bewilders me. I'm only 25. I'm not better than anyone. I just want to watch other people and learn to be good.

All of Hollywood was convinced that 'Gone with the Wind' would be a colossal disaster and rather hoped it would be.

I don't have no story. Everybody wants this Hollywood story, but the world don't owe you nothing, man. It's what you owe the world.

I've played lots of strong women in film, in big Hollywood films, and I've sometimes had a hard time in coming to a consensus of what makes a woman strong. What is it that positions her as a force to be reckoned with? And I think it's because there's an expectation from the get-go that she isn't. If you're not starting from a deficit as a point of view, but you're starting from an assumption that says, "Well, this is what women really are," then it's a really freeing experience as an actor and as a woman.

It's frustrating when you come over here [Hollywood], especially from a position that I was in, in Sweden, where most people know who you are, but then you come here.

I did not necessarily feel that Hollywood was interested in what I wanted to do. They wanted me to do what they wanted to do.

I arrived in Hollywood without having my nose fixed, my teeth capped, or my name changed. That is very gratifying to me.

I do want people to see me as a well-rounded actress, not just someone who plays in 'Turtle' movies.

When I went to Hollywood, I had to work out in a gym. The idea was that I should look like Daniel Craig, though they hadn't even met him at that point.

Having been an actor in Hollywood for a certain amount of time, I always felt a pressure to be sort of a neutral person. 'Don't do anything to your hair. Don't tell them your age. Don't tell them you're gay. Don't tell them anything that could limit you, specify you as a person.' I always hated that, actually moved out of L.A. because of that.

Everybody just asks me 'Are you going to make Hollywood movies now?' First, I don't know. Second, I never dreamed about that; I just dreamed about making movies with Tarantino. So if I can make movies with a lot of amazing directors - yes.

I have about as much control over how I look as the guy who's short and looks more like a character actor - we both have the same drive to be actors and we both have the same drive to assume these different characters, it's just harder for me to get the chance because they look at me and say, 'Oh, he's this type,' and they stamp me.

The internal sexism within womanhood is very ­predominant in Hollywood, because we all want to be ­successful. There's a plug to it: You all have to be skinny! You all have to be pretty! You all have to be likable, because that's the ­formula that works. On an ­executive level. On a power level. And it's not always the same working with black people, because of the internalized racism. The colorism.

My first film out of the gate was financially so successful that I guess, being in Hollywood, you get kind of put into a certain box.

There's a few movies I wanted to do, and I didn't get to do them partly because they wanted me to be part of the horse and pony show, getting the money, and I'm just not doing that. There's a few movies that people wanted me to do, but they were too safe.

I'm one of those actors who's going to have to create a space for themselves. It's very easy to be the young Tom Cruise, because Hollywood knows what to do with you. But if you're someone who's bringing someone slightly left of center to the table, you're not a sure thing.

I got to L.A., and they said I had to lose weight, let my hair grow and buy some dresses. I was nailing auditions with my readings, but they wouldn't hire me because I wasn't putting on the glam. It just didn't occur to me.

It was always my dream to be a New York theater actor. I never thought I was pretty enough to be on camera.

I don't want to be obnoxious with my ambition or sound like I expect any sort of entitlement here. Hollywood is not in the business of humoring people.

Every actor thinks he's underused - unless he's a movie star.

Will there be titty? Sure. Boom! I'm a producer. Where you been all our life, boy? We been lookin for you in Hollywood.

I was looking to show people I could act. I was looking for something that would take me away from the whole hunk riding off into the sunset thing that people wanted me to play after Brown Sugar.