Mary Elizabeth Winstead quotes:

I come from a pretty scientific family. My sister is a neurologist and my brother is an engineer.

I think when I was 12, when, like, 'Titanic' and 'Romeo + Juliet' came out, my friends and I made our own Leonardo DiCaprio fan club. I definitely had a thing for him.

I think since I'm not particularly well-known as myself, it's funny all the different perceptions people have of me. Like, if someone's only seen me in 'Death Proof,' they think I'm sort of a ditzy girl who says stupid things and wears revealing outfits all the time.

I don't have any premonitions. I don't have any supernatural powers. I just have a typical woman's intuition, and I go with that.

I don't have phobias. I'm pretty laid back. Nothing really bothers me. I can handle things pretty well.

I think there need to be more female action heroines out there that are intelligent and not overly masculine and things like that so I'd love to find - and real too. Not necessarily the superhero perfect archetype of what an action hero is represented as a lot of times. I would love to find that kind of action heroine role to play.

Normally as an actress you're constantly worried that people think you don't look good enough. It's just like an unnecessary stress that's just frustrating.

I'm a really cautious person, so I don't let myself get into near-death experiences. I'm not into the idea of skydiving or anything.

I've been performing since I came out of the womb. I've been dancing and singing since I was a toddler. Acting seemed like a natural progression from that.

I have a lot of different traits to my personality, depending on who I'm around, and what the dynamic in the situation is.

Which is so important, I mean, that's what's so great about the books, is, you know, those two worlds are sort of, the slacker world of just comedy and laziness and then this crazy, over the top action, supernatural world, and you know, combined.

When you are playing someone who is dealing with issues on a really personal level, if you don't bring your own issues into the equation, it's not going to feel really personal to the people watching it.

I think thinking about becoming an adult, and having to face up to your problems and face up to your insecurities, is difficult for everybody.

Sometimes, with directors, you have to take what they say and translate it in your head, into something that makes sense to you, because you're speaking two different languages.

There's a little wire work, which is so much fun. You can fly, it's amazing. But I've had to mostly just sort of kung fu, you know, ground work. Footwork and stuff like that.

I've always been a huge fan of 'The Shining,' and 'Rosemary's Baby' is one of my favorite films of all time.

I can remember when 'Pulp Fiction' came out. I was, like, 10 years old. But I remember the impact that it had.

Obviously, we're all going to die at some point. Whether or not we are fated to die in some way I think is debatable. I just don't know which side to debate.

Any addict in recovery would say that life never becomes perfect. Your life is better, but that doesn't mean it's easier. Life, at least for a certain period of time, becomes harder and you have to work through that to get to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Usually a lot of moviemaking is boring.

You don't have to play masculine to be a strong woman.

I can't say I was much of a gamer growing up or that I am now, but I'm certainly part of that culture or it's part of, you know, the sort of time that I grew up in.

I am manageable. I, you know, it'll suffice I think. No, no, I feel pretty good. I trained for a long time and I got really cool, like I was doing jumps. It got like, I felt really good, but then when I got out on gravel and fake snow and - it just kind of all went downhill. But I think it's still okay.

I think there need to be more female action heroines out there that are intelligent and not overly masculine and things like that so Id love to find - and real too. Not necessarily the superhero perfect archetype of what an action hero is represented as a lot of times. I would love to find that kind of action heroine role to play.

I love anybody who's willing to stick to their own vision, their own voice, who's not easily swayed by money or by financers who are going to tell them what they should do.

Going forward, I would love to work with directors like Rian Johnson and Joss Whedon; people like that who are doing big films but do have really independent voices. That's kind of what I want to focus on, is always working with people with at least an independent point of view, even if it's not an independent film.

I think, like a lot of actors and people in the arts who are struggling to get where they want to be, you spend a lot of time sitting around grumbling about how you're not doing the kind of work you really want to do. But there's a lot of complacency in that, too.

I think for most actors, because we sort of have to tell ourselves this, we always say, 'Oh, it doesn't mean anything to win an Oscar!' It certainly isn't a goal that you want to set yourself up for, because then you're just setting yourself up for disaster. Because how many people actually win an Oscar?

I think a lot of fans immediately go, 'ugggh' when they hear that someone is doing a prequel or a remake, they sort of assume the worst sometimes.

I always wanted to perform in some capacity since I was a kid - I was a ballerina, then a singer before acting.

My first paying job was guest starring in 'Touched By An Angel' when I was 12. It was very exciting. I couldn't believe you got free food all day and people were so nice to you.

Anytime I'm given scripts where I'm sort of the fantasy girl, it's hard for me because that's not real and I don't think it's a great thing to put out there consistently.

But as an actor you do want to challenge yourself and step outside what you have done in the past and that what I like to do, I like to jump around and try different things and stretch myself.

For any addict, when you get sober, life becomes more challenging, in some ways, because all of your problems become very clear and you have to deal with your pain. You can't just drink and forget about it and pretend it doesn't exist. You have to actually face it, head on.

I actually came to New York when I was 12 and did ballet school for a little while. I was being groomed to be professional, and a lot of the professors and teachers there were drawn to me and thought that I could become a professional ballerina.

I always felt that my talent would trump everything.

I can remember when Pulp Fiction came out. I was, like, 10 years old. But I remember the impact that it had.

I do get starstruck working with Bruce because even though he is such a nice guy he's a real movie star. I grew up watching his movies it is just really hard to get used to just being around Bruce Willis. I mean, he's Bruce Willis!

I do want to direct, eventually. I don't know if it will be a short film or a music video or a feature, but I know that I want to at least try it and see.

I don't think people understand when you say you are making a micro-budget film that you are getting paid no money,

I feel like it's so, sort of representative of a generation. I mean everything that they talk about in the books are things that I get. Even like a lot of the Canadian references because I've worked in Canada a lot, so I totally know Sloan and I know, you know, all this stuff, and meeting Chris Murphy was really cool, and yeah, everything.

I feel like most horror films are made for teenagers about teenagers. I've done a couple of those horror films. There's nothing wrong with that but the older I get the more I starve for more adult material.

I found my way into the indie world a bit late in my career, but it was something that I was really passionate about doing.

I grew up in a big movie house, we watched movies all the time, so I had an awareness at a very young age that that was a job that you could have.

I guess I've just gotten to the point where I don't want to be bored by the characters that I play, and I don't want to feel like I'm having to make something more interesting or I'm having to force something that's not really there on the page.

I have a sister who is a dancer and dance teacher. We grew up dancing together. I wanted to become a ballerina when I was a kid, so she and I were always at ballet conservatories and going to school with our hair in buns.

I love playing characters that are strong, when there's physicality involved.

I mean every character you totally, you know, the full fiber of the personality is kept in the film, and all of those little moments, all those funny little tidbits are all in there.

I realized that the people weren't just characters but they were people and they were getting to do something that was so fun and I wanted to be a part of it.

I think just about everyone is doing something that's completely different from what you've seen them do before or a stretch in some way. Like Brandon Routh is so funny, he's awesome. And Chris Evans is hilarious. I mean, he's always funny but just in this character, it's like, I mean I could barely stop laughing on a single take, it was unbelievable. So I think everybody's going to be really, really happy with all the [exes?].

I think these are such different films that it's hard to compare, because with Quentin we were all just like, it was like a party every day, you know, it was like that film was just like silly, it was just really for fun, it was really, it wasn't, you know, to make a huge impact. I t was just we wanted to have fun and go to work every day and do a fun movie. And this is like huge, I mean, this is like huge studio film, there's a ton of action, it's like really hard work.

I want to be inspired by the characters that I play and excited by the projects that I do.

I was always a performing arts kid in general - but I felt like my ultimate goal was to be an actress and be in films.

I was kind of embarrassed by some of the films I had done. I was like, "Oh, they're going to think I don't have street cred."

I was that overachieving, annoying kid who was always trying to win some contest or win the role. I look back on it now and I'm like, "Chill, man." Calm down.

If you let too many cooks in the kitchen it could cloud your vision of what you want to do.

I'm a fan of films in general; I mean, I don't think I've ever considered myself specifically a horror fan even though I do enjoy horror films, find them really entertaining.

I'm a huge Paul Thomas Anderson fan.

In ballet, I felt that no matter how good I was, if I didn't have the right body type or if I didn't fit a certain mold there was nothing I could do.

It was my life, playing Juliet. From that moment on I was convinced I was going to be an actress. That was all I really wanted to do.

It's always been a lot of fun for me, just to be in films that people see and they connect to, big or small. The big ones tend to reach a wider audience, so it's exciting to feel like you've got fans in countries, all over the world, who are watching what you're doing. That's really great!

It's just about trying to find material where I'm doing more than just being a plot device. I want to actually get to do scenes that go to interesting places and are challenging to me.

It's like so great to be in Toronto and to see everything that's in the books and everything they reference and to be able to hang out in those places and go to those bookstores and those comic book stores and those music stores, and like have that, from the books onto the screen, is so cool and I'm glad to have been part of that.

It's surprising to a lot of people because ballerinas look so long, but it's more of a proportion thing. Their legs are long in proportion to their body but in reality they're very tiny.

I've never worn incredible clothes - I'm not used to playing someone so put together and fashionable.

Kensington Market is a must visit place in Toronto.

My first movie was a movie that had a bunch of people dying in it - the typical popcorn movie. That's where I got my start.

Once I've accepted a role, I'll let my parents and my sisters read it because they find it entertaining.

Particularly for women, I think more of us in the industry need to just do it. I think guys are more willing to put themselves out, that way, at least with the girls that I know. We say we want to direct, but then we don't actually do it.

So I get all the references and I totally get the humor and it's really fun. This - it's kind of a mash up of so many different genres and things that kind of, sort of are just part of youth culture right now. Music and action and video games, and it's kind of amazing to see it all piled into one film.

So, they have the same vibe of like that fun kind of spirit, but this one's a lot more serious. It's like, get it done, get it done right, you know? It's got to be perfect. We definitely do lots of takes on this.

Some of those things come out and you don't know where they came from - somebody's leaking totally false information. They follow you for years and you have to be like, "I don't know anything about that."

The more I work the happier I am.

The older I get, the more I'm drawn to the smaller films, but I still hope to keep bigger films in my repertoire. It's just maybe going to be a shift in focus, but I'll definitely still hopefully be kicking around in those.

There are obviously people who want to be very niche, but I think for the most part everybody is trying to reach a larger audience.

There's actually a time when I got cast in something and it was announced that someone else was cast. I hadn't been told yet if I had the role and I had a breakdown because I really wanted it and it was announced on this website that this other girl had gotten it. I was so sad and called my agents and said, "You guys didn't tell me this other person got the role!" They were like, "No, they haven't decided yet." Then two hours later I got the call that said I had the role.

To me it's so much like Spaced in that way. Um, which I love so much, so I think fans of that and fans of the comics are going to really see that up on the screen.

To those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in the privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves,

Um, yeah, it's one of the things that you kind of have to accept at the very beginning, like I'm not going to try and be super [deep?] factor and no, I can only do it this way, because that's just not how this film's going to work. Like it's got to be sort of a mesh of reality and complete unreality and you kind of have to accept that and go with it.

Well we've got to do a lot of kung fu choreography, which was really cool. Like I have, you know, like the big hammer that I use, kind of like a staff in a sense. So I get to use that like a really cool weapon. Kung fu style. And it's just really fun to get to learn that and execute it in a way that looks cool on screen. It just feels really rewarding.

When I was 10, my school did Romeo and Juliet. I was Juliet, and that was, like, the biggest deal ever. I was completely obsessed with the role.

You do sometimes have to work on things where you love the cast and you love the filmmaker, and the role might not be great but it's fun. I'm totally down to do those things, and will continue to do those things, as well, but it at least has to be peppered with roles that are really interesting and that are hard.

You're literally sized up with measuring tape as a 13- or 14-year-old girl. I wanted to opt out of that experience.

You have to believe that it is what you want to do with your life and you have to be dedicated to it.

I think my drive to work has gone up a bit since I've gotten older.