picspam: modern day warrior queen (celeb:lena headey)
PHOTO SHOOTS
Lena Headey is definitely my MOST RECENT favourite person and after getting to know some things about her past and projects, I think she is just so cool that I couldn't resist the urge to keep adding on to this picspam until it reached the giant size it is at now.
"I'm ambitious, but I don't necessarily equate success with being a huge Hollywood star. The dream is to have both a long career and a normal life."
"I was 17 when I got my first job. I had not gone to drama school. I was lucky and just fell into it. I was asked to audition for a film when I was 17 and did that."
"You can't take anything for granted for a second otherwise you trip up. More than anything, I believe life is all about timing. I know certainly every situation in my life has been like "why now"? and it's a test or a beautiful moment. That's why life is so gorgeous."
"It's about feeling good. If you feel good at any size and you're healthy, that's great. The people I work with are like, 'Just have it, just eat it'. There's nobody telling me to be anything."
EVENTS
"Working in film lets me travel, which is one of my passions. I like to visit remote places and see real people."
"I miss my pals though. There's a culture that doesn't exist in LA, which is about walking down the pub and having an easy pint. You drive everywhere there. When it comes to cultural differences, they seem to be more easily shocked by a flippant comment. Double entendres are such an English thing and I drop those all the time, but when people act horrified by them I'm like, 'Come on, it wasn't that saucy'."
FILMS
"I think it’s about belief and freedom and what the whole world goes through every day. It’s fighting for your heart and just for justice, for what you believe is true. We all do that everyday."
"I think that the kind of element that’s the key to her is she’s rather male in psyche, in terms of pride. You know, whereas you’re used to seeing females cry, they cry and the emotion and the way we are, once or twice a month, and I think it was the kind of stoic, stillness of a man she has even when she wants to give in to it she doesn’t. I mean, she could do with therapy, probably (laughing)."
"It was. They’re such great guys, though. It’s just a big group and it was like having loads of brothers wearing nothing. So, you know, the first few days were kind of strange. Then you think actually it’s a role reversal. We get to wear the clothes for a change, which is not a bad thing in my book."
"This industry is so male heavy anyway and it’s such a male crowd. But, you know, when you get boys in shorts, it becomes quite girly, let me tell you (laughing). The questions about the thighs, the stomach, ‘Can you see the…’ It’s like a big girls night out."
"I just think there’s a stillness in her and a regality. She’s in this deeply male psychological society and she’s very male within that. There’s a kind of femininity in her dignity. There’s only one moment when she loses it at the end and it’s not a breakdown. So, I don’t know. I just think there’s a stillness and there’s a listener in her."
"I knew 300 was going to be a success and really enjoyed filming it, although having half-naked men on set certainly helped. They'd all been working out for six months prior to shooting and they looked amazing, strolling around in leather pants. But as the days wore on I started to think: "Oh, do put a jumper on, for goodness sake!" They would sit around flexing and comparing muscles saying: 'Oh, I must go and lift some weights', while I was virtually ignored."
"No, not at all. We all got on really well. It was kind of like having a lot of naked brothers who were on a crazy diet. I’d rub it in because I could eat what I wanted to and did!"
"I just think a sort of youth of imagination that turns you on came from it. Obviously you are born with imagination but it is easy to shut it down. For me though, when I see a scary movie or read a frightening book, when the lights come back up, my imagination is so vast that I scare myself quite stupid."
"A long time ago I was thrown from a horse and dragged through a forest. I did actually [have to conquer that fear of horses]. When that happened , I just got right back on because if I didn’t, I would have retained that fear."
"[Vanity doesn't come in to play] at all. I can honestly say that. The exciting thing is being able to totally change the way you look. I just did a short film with friends in New York and played the freakiest thing I have ever done. I loved it. I was this motel-dwelling strange entity who wore the most bizarre clothes I could ever imagine. It was great."
"I went out with a friend to a lesbian bar, and I flirted my (butt) off. It was such a great night. It was so freeing and such fun. I noticed that everyone there was so open and kind. There are no boundaries.”
"I genuinely really love Piper, I think she's bright, funny and smart. We definitely got on. I think that by being thrown together sort of made our friendship. She left [the set of The Cave] two weeks before me. That was the longest two weeks ever! I remember crying! I was like “oh no, don't leave me!"
"But when we got back from the shoot which was really wet and in Romania, we were on the phone to each other saying: 'Look I've got food, it's amazing!'"
"We were talking about Imagine Me & You and she said she was up for it, I said, “So am I!” And when we got it, we were like, 'There you go, we get to do something proper! Instead of running around in these things!'"
"Yeah, I think what strengthens it is that Piper doesn't sort of go, “Now I'm a big lesbian!” It's just that she's fallen in love. And I like that Luce is steady and makes no excuse for who she is, “that's who I am” kind of thing. I love that about it. When I was doing press in America I was asked if I thought Luce was repressed [pulls a silly face]! I really don't. She's just stuck, she can't do anything. She can't run in and shout “I love you!” I was actually really shocked at that comment, you know!"
"Yeah, [doing press with Piper] was great. I don't think they knew what to make of us. We've had journalists saying, 'Oh my God! How do you find playing a gay woman? Don't you think it may ruin your career?' Piper and I would look at each other [pulls a face]. There were secret laughs and secret evils."
"I mean I was in Band of Gold years ago playing a lesbian and I would get lots of girls coming up to me asking if they could take me out. I was like, 'Wow!'"
TELEVISION
"It’s kind of a hard part. It’s a single mom with her kid - and the fact that she’s holding in her hands this boy that she loves who also is the key to the survival of the world. It’s pretty big, so there’s a lot to go on there."
"I think it would be fair to say that I was never a crazy super-fan or anything like that," she says. "You have to remember I was a teenage girl when the movies came out and I was more interested in snogging boys. But I do recall seeing the first one and thinking it was terrifying, actually, the concept of being hunted daily."