I didn't really realize I was a woman director until I walked onto the set at Pinewood Studios when I did 'Mamma Mia!' and everybody was calling each other 'Governor' and 'Sir'... and then, looking at me, 'Well... good morning!'
It was also great shooting in London at Pinewood Studios because of all its history. So many of the 007 movies were filmed there, as well as classics by everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Jack Nicholson to Martin Scorcese. It's like working on hallowed ground. So, I felt a responsibility to make sure I did as good a job as I possibly could.
There's parts of it that I connect to - being a father and everything - but 'Mamma Mia!' allows me to go out there and be me and have fun. I've never really had the chance to do that with so much freedom.
The art helps, between the acting gigs. I feel that if I can sing in Mamma Mia! then goddammit, I can hang a few paintings, give people lots of cocktails, and have a good time.
It was extraordinary to experience 'Mamma Mia!' What an injection of good spirit and heart it was.
When you sit there, and you sing the chorus - and then you look at each other, and everybody has the hair standing up on their arms - then everybody knows you've stumbled onto something.
Studios were just run differently. There really was a head of a studio. There were people who loved their studios. Who worked for their studios and were loaned out to other people and everybody sort of got a piece. Well now there's a handful now.
As first time director, though, you're like a new officer coming up to be in charge of very serious veterans, and you're always going to have guys looking at each other for the first day until they realize you're not screwing around.
I think I wanted to do something that retained the improvised chaos of 'Mamma Mia' the theatre show which set it apart from all the slick packaged productions.
In a way, 'Mamma Mia!' was such a left-field thing for me.
You have to realize that for some of these people - definitely me when I was growing up - you treat every day like it's your last, because that's the reality of your situation. You never know when someone's going to go, because you're living in a war zone. It's almost like you're in a jungle, and you're just waiting for the predator to catch everybody one by one. So everybody cherishes each other. Instead of calling people the n-word, you're calling people "loved one." There is a level of appreciation for brothers and sisters in the hood.
I think good-looking people seldom make good television. And American television studios almost concede before they start: 'Well, it won't be good, but at least it'll be good-looking. We'll have nice-looking girls in tight shirts with F.B.I. badges and fit-looking guys with lots of hair gel vaulting over things.'
You know the stories of a woman saying to Churchill, 'Sir, you're drunk,' and he said to her, 'And you're ugly, but in the morning I'll be sober.' I was really excited to do that scene, but I did get slapped.
On my first day on the set of 'Boston Legal,' I thought the director was calling me 'Candice' instead of 'Constance.' But I didn't realize he was actually talking to Candice Bergen.
When 'Humsafar' did well, every single person associated with it shined. Its DoP [Director of Photography], Shehzad Kashmiri, went on to become a huge director. So, a good and successful project just blesses everybody.
OMG, I have my 'Mamma Mia!' playbill framed in my bedroom. It was magical! I totally cried... a lot! I remember collecting playbills my entire life, and then to be in one... I have no words.
Well, I was quite young when we first walked on the moon; I had just turned four, but I did watch it on TV. I think that just set the seed right then that that would be a really interesting thing to do.