Quotes from Marielle Heller

Becoming a writer, and then a director, was taking my creative life in my own hands, and wanting to have stories that I wanted to put out into the world - and I have fallen in love with directing.

I think there used to be more respect toward young people in movies. John Hughes really respects his characters and they're given their emotional weight. He does so even with kids, but especially with teenagers.

I was really serious about being an actress. I was playing young female characters and not feeling very connected to them.

I did not go to film school.

I love movies where the explosions and fireworks are happening inside someone's heart and mind instead of outside.

I was connected to the theater, it was my first love, where my career was focused, on interesting ways to tell stories.

I haven't acted in 10 years. I always talk about being an actor, and yet I've been focusing on making movies for a long time.

I remember the first time somebody classified me as a feminist. I was in fourth grade. And I remember thinking, 'Oh, is that what I am?' At the time, I just cared about equality.

I feel some responsibility, being one of the few women directors who are being given opportunities. Sometimes, that makes me want to take on some big franchise because I want to show people that women can do it.

You live in an apartment in New York, and you think all the time about like, 'I don't even know who's living above me.' There are all these anonymous people in that window or that window or that window, and everybody has their own interesting life that I know nothing about.

I was in theater school playing Lady Macbeth and doing these great dramatic parts, and then I got out into the real world and was auditioning for commercials, and just not getting to do anything that felt remotely meaningful.

The beauty of film is that you can get closer than you can in theater, you know? I come from theater, and I remember feeling like I was almost cheating when I would put the camera so close to somebody's face when I was filming them.

I had a great family. Nobody ever told me that I should stop raising my hand in class or that I should become - as a girl, that I should somehow become less confident.

Nobody criticized the characters in 'The Godfather' for being bad examples of how to be men.

Being a good actor is incredibly difficult. But the amount of responsibility is so much less on your shoulders than directing.

I just think good actors are the main reason to make movies.

I like working in TV, but my real love is making movies.

Why do so many women drop out of the workforce at this age, in our late 30s, early 40s? Well, often it's because we're raising kids, so, let's be honest about that.

With all of the bad things that are happening in the world right now, I think we need a message of togetherness and true unity. I believe that starts with personal reflection and then we can find kindness toward each other.

Seeing yourself reflected on screen is a very important part of being human. It makes us feel less alone, it make us feel more connected to humanity.

I was so involved in my own life I wasn't even aware of what was happening in the outside world, but as I got older I was constantly reflecting back on my own teenagehood and feeling like I hadn't been represented.

I so related to John Hughes movies.

I'm not the type of person who can be a director for hire, I have to find my own way into it.

And he doesn't really - it's never awkward when you're talking to Tom Hanks. I've never seen him have an awkward conversation with anybody.