I want to be paid fairly for the work that I'm doing. That's what every single woman around the world wants. We want to be paid on parity with a man in a similar position.
— Felicity Jones
You still slightly down that you're ever going to work again, every time you finish something. That's the territory of being an actor. It's like anything that's competitive. It takes a lot of determination. I just feel lucky to be able to do something that I really love.
People keep saying how amazing it is having a female lead, and I just sort of feel, 'Well, of course!'
When you're in the head of the character, you feel less self-conscious. If I was just being me, I would feel so exposed and be like, 'Why is there a huge camera in my face?' But, when you're believing in the person that you're playing, you feel protected. It's about being true to that person you're playing.
When a relationship with a director is really working, you have the same idea at the same time. You go, 'Look, this isn't working,' and they'll go, 'I know it's not working. What are we gonna do?' And you go and try something else.
I feel like I personally have been lucky.
Often the last thing I want to do is stand up in front of 50 cameras on the red carpet. I'd rather have a cup of hot milk and an early night.
I was so passionate about wanting the role in 'Like Crazy,' I filmed myself in the shower because that's where one of the scenes was set. It just felt instinctive. It was a close up! It would have been strange if I'd sent off a wide shot of myself. That's not the kind of work I want to do!
I've heard directing talked about as being a benign dictatorship, and I think that's probably the best way a director should be. They're open to collaboration and feedback from people, but ultimately, it's got to be that one person's vision. That's what I think makes a film really stand out.
On 'Rogue One,' we had these sets with tiny little buttons that would light up when you pressed them, and screens full of graphics, and it really felt like you were driving a spaceship. The level of detail; you'll be two meters away from where the action is, but there'll be a little detail there just in case the camera catches it.
My grandmother has dementia, and my mother is looking after her as her primary caregiver. Seeing their relationship has had a profound impact, seeing how tough it is for both of them and seeing how the roles change and how my mother has gone from being a daughter to being the mother.
I think there is an enormous appetite for great roles for women.
I did think that acting would be much more like being a pop star. Now I'm here, I can't think of anything more different.
My boy cousins used to sit my older brother and me down and take us through a film-studies course. It included 'Tremors', 'The Goonies', and, of course, 'Star Wars'. That was when it began: sitting cross-legged watching as the opening crawl goes up the screen.
She was obsessed with French and Swedish cinema. I also remember our mother showing us 'Gone With the Wind' very early on. She absolutely loved Vivien Leigh, so it must have been a formative experience for me, thinking, 'Oh, maybe one day I'll be like Vivien Leigh.'
I love 'Annie Hall'; I will always come back to that film again and again. Diane Keaton has been such an inspiration to me. She always brings humour, but complexity, and I love watching her on screen. She's got real charisma.
I always love listening to Bob Dylan. 'Blood on the Tracks' is one of my favorite albums.
My mother was in the kind of late-'60s, early-'70s origins of female emancipation. And she was very much like, 'You're not going to be defined by how you look. It's going to be about who you are and what you do.'
I love moments in film where there's no dialogue, and somebody communicates something with a look that kills you. That's why I love going to the cinema.
I think it's absolutely about time that we have as many female leads as male. It's a very exciting time to be an actress.
I'd studied English literature at university, but I was also far more enamored with Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, and James Joyce. That was my passion.
I'd love to do more comedy. It'd just be nice to go into work and not be crying every day. Some broad slapstick would be great. Falling over banana skins would be wonderful.
I love being able to change from big films to small films.
The luxury of radio is that you don't spend hours in make-up, and you can wear whatever you want. It's bizarre. You'll be saying lines, with various people around making sound effect noises.
London is my home. I miss my family so much; it's hard being away. And I miss salt and vinegar crisps. And Marmite. And good fudge. Oh my God. Clotted cream fudge.
I just always want to play people. I don't want it to be necessarily that you relate to the character as female or male, but that you relate to them as a person. That's the driving force.
When you're a skateboarder or a snowboarder, it affects the way you talk, the way you move, the way you interact with the world and other people.
It's funny how seeing a love story never gets boring, because it's the dream, isn't it? It's the dream to have a true connection with another human being.
I don't actually think there has ever been too much emphasis on what I am wearing.
I've always been a feminist, and what I love in my work is being able to explore a full-sided woman and not patronize her.
I always had a very strong sense of independence. I really liked being able to buy my Alanis Morissette 'Jagged Little Pill' album. I wore that as a badge of honor. I love not having to rely on anyone.
I have such an eclectic taste. I like listening to classical music and pop music.
I love going swimming. I spent a lot of time in North London in summer going to Hampstead Heath and swimming in the ponds there. It's so beautiful; we're so lucky to have that in London.
I always take off my makeup. My mother always told me to do this, and I never go to bed without doing it. I use a good moisturizer and Mario Badescu face wash.
I actually love doing comedy!
While you are improvising, you need to be prepared, and I like to have a sense of who the character is, what she likes to read, where she grew up, where we went to school, and what she has for breakfast, so that when I go to set, I'm free to explore.
Nothing beats an 'Archers' fan for their levels of devotion. I think it's because it's radio, and you obviously conjure up an image of the character that is so powerful.
'Great Expectations' has become one of my favorite books.
If the part isn't always there on the page, I've had good relationships with writers where there's an openness to bring more to the role.
I make all my decisions by listening to my instinct and then keeping my fingers crossed it will lead to a good place.
It can be frustrating when you're put in a category with others. Women do get lumped together in this reductive grouping, and you think, 'Gosh, that rarely happens with the boys.' I'm sure people don't say to Eddie Redmayne, 'How do you feel about Andrew Garfield?'
I was thinking 'Love Story', obviously, was a romantic film of that time.
It's nice to film in somewhere that you actually love being. Usually, you're in a studio for months on end, and you never see any daylight, so you really make the most of it.
The ideal would be to have a career like Meryl Streep's or Kate Winslet's. It's just unbelievable how they manage to make such incredible choices one after the other. If you could have a career anything like that, then that would be a great thing.
I am definitely romantic, and I love romantic stories - that's why I keep making romantic movies.
I would be writing an essay that was due in the next day until about 1 A.M., and then I would be up at 6 A.M. and on a train to Birmingham to record 'The Archers'. It was pretty intense.
My agent called me up and said, 'There is a tremendous female lead in the new 'Star Wars' film, and I think you're really going to like it.' The opportunity to play someone determined, who's trying to find her skills as a leader; to be in a fantasy movie; to be able to do a leading female role in a film of that scale - that's very, very rare.
Interviewing someone is very similar to preparing a character, isn't it? You're just asking questions: 'Who is this person? Why did they make that choice? Why are they doing that?' You're being Sherlock Holmes.
I usually have two or three books on the go at the same time. If I'm in different moods, I want to read different things.
I think we're very lucky that there is a tradition of British actors working in America and being respected in America, and I've always liked Kate Winslet and her work and respected her.
