It took years and a lot of diligence on my part. But I've formed my own thing, and now I get people who are surprised to find out he's my dad. I dreamed that would happen, and it has: I'm no longer introduced to people as Brian Williams' daughter.
Worst advice? I either don't remember it or I've been very lucky in terms of getting good advice.
I always ask, 'Is this movie essential? Does this movie need to exist? Does it need to exist right now?' And the answer to that is almost always no.
The idea of doing something that I've never done before, that presents a new challenge, that forces me to stretch in some way - that's kind of a perfect project for me, and especially something that has greater social, conversational ramifications. I mean what more could you want?
I cannot wait until the day I can go back to school... I've already picked my program: anthropology at Columbia. I will not get in, but a girl can dream.
I do not want to ask people to go consume something unless I think it is important in some way.
We're just a big media family. My mom is always sending us articles throughout the day. My husband now works at Facebook... so it's just a very high-paced media culture, our texts. It's links and photos, and all hours of the day, because my dad, my brother, and I are night owls, and my mom and my husband wake up early.
I am in the fortunate-enough position where I can be picky.
As an actor, I love the feeling of being on set and the camaraderie of working on something together.
When I was little, I used to watch Disney movies all the time, and it drove me crazy that Cinderella's tights wouldn't gather at her ankle when her foot bent, so I kept trying to make sure that I didn't get those little creases on my ankle because Cinderella didn't have them.
I will never actually be able to know what it's like to go through life in someone else's body.
To try and to pretend that there's no difference between where we come from is so dumb.
With 'Girls,' Marnie was a slow burn; she shifted over time. With 'Get Out,' I was suddenly faced with the pressure that, like, I need an audience to know Rose deeply within 15 minutes, within a couple scenes. And that's not something I've ever done before.
I would never tell someone else how to use their platform, because I think I'm much more comfortable allowing the work that I do to speak for itself.
In most cases, no one asks what I think, and so for me to be ready to volunteer it unprompted, I have to feel very ready to accept whatever is coming next.
Trying to imagine what it's like to be someone else is never a substitute for actually living that way, for acknowledging the respect that we need to have for each other's experiences.
Showing 'Get Out' to a room full of strangers and having them react lets them be introspective and see the way certain images affect other people.
I know what I'm like when I don't have a project coming up, and that's the mode I'm almost more comfortable in. That's when I get really scrappy and creative.
I was in character all the time when I was little.
There's no trajectory to follow. Even if you were to say, 'OK, I'm going to model my ascent based on this other person's,' luck and timing play such a big part that it's really futile.
