Shooting guns is not something I would do in my spare time. I really don't understand why Americans can purchase guns so easily and why they use them for sporting purposes.
— Lena Headey
As a teenager I was clinically depressed. Although I had lots of friends, I found those years very difficult.
Sometimes it's a bizarre, fairly cold, and horrifying thing to be a parent.
Does our culture have a need for violence? I don't know. I guess it's a personal thing.
I am very much a seat-of-the-pants actor. I will prepare when I have to. But I like being unprepared.
I have an internal protectiveness where it's like, if it comes to just me, as frightened as I am of losing someone I love or things going sour or simply being alone, there is a dark place in my brain where I'm like, It could happen and I'm okay, I'm prepared.
'Lost Boys' is one of my all-time faves. I just thought it would be great to be a vampire. I remember this movie called 'Once Bitten,' which is about an '80s sort of power girl who became a vampire and was really, like, sexy. Hair like she was from 'Dallas,' shoulder pads, big earrings.
With fantasy and sci-fi, it's based in a real fandom. You're presenting to experts, and their source material is really important to them. They'll come up and ask: 'so when you turned your head slightly in that scene, what were you thinking?'
I was obsessed with vampires when I was 13 or 14.
I've got quite a big gay following. I played a lesbian prostitute in the TV series 'Band Of Gold' but I think my following really grew when I played one in the film 'Imagine Me & You,' with Piper Perabo.
I think I cry when I'm angry. I let it go that way.
I'm sort of like a T. rex in the world of female actresses. Every time a job is finished, I look at my car and think, 'Could I live in it?'
I love being physical, but I am extreme either way. I can be superfit. And then I can be really lazy and ignore everything.
Since being quite young, I've had a very strong sense of independence and survival. As a child, I was on my own two feet emotionally.
There's nothing more exciting for an actor than a chance to lose, to be someone who has lost - especially if it's someone who starts off with a veneer of control. To be broken is wonderful.
There's a perceived inverse relation between looks and talent. Look at Charlize Theron - she made herself ugly for 'Monster' and suddenly everyone said 'she's a genius.' It shouldn't be like that.
Getting the role in '300' saved me. I'd been out of work for 11 months after 'The Brothers Grimm.' Once the film came out and didn't do so well, the director Terry Gilliam blamed me for absolutely everything. It was pretty appalling, and I had started to wonder if I'd ever get another job again when I was asked to audition for '300.'
I look at someone like Kathryn Bigelow, and I have so much admiration. She's playing in the boy's sandpit, and winning.
For me, horror movies are a real escape.
There is something in the act of having tattoos done that I love. It can be quite addictive. I've got a few on my back because my friend is an artist, and a few on my arms. Every time I pass a tattoo parlour, I think, 'Maybe just a tiny one.'
Nothing I do is by design. It's always the result of a happy accident. I didn't have a career plan. It has just become the way it is. It's all good fun.
I've never directed before, so I need to make sure that people know that I can. The movie that I've written, 'The Sophisticates,' is a... small ensemble comedy and I hope it's charming and funny.
I'm 40 next year and I'm very well aware that where I am now, it becomes a bit of a wilderness for actresses.
I hate being looked at. Can't stand it. I know, I know - I picked the wrong career. I should have been a doctor. If you play certain parts you have this nice face painted on you, and then you have feel as if you have a responsibility to this idea of being beautiful. I hate that about our business.
