A Quote by Michelle Monaghan

I knew that this was something that was going to be an intense experience, just from the way I typically approach my work. I did not take the fact that I was going to portray a soldier lightly. It was so very important to me that I came across as believable and honest and truthful. I wanted to be able to convey the psychology behind the choice of leaving home for an extended period of time, knowing that you may never come back while still being a devoted parent.
I'll never experience the hardships that I experienced while going to Iraq and being in combat. And that kind of prepared me for life in itself because I knew that if I was able to overcome the military and do three tours and come out alive and stronger for it, then there's nothing in life that's ever going to challenge me and be able to break me.
There were a lot of things in it that were important at the time to me. Cutter's Way movie was very relevant. And I wanted Cutter to succeed as a vet, as a guy coming back from 'Nam, because there were so many guys like that. And there were so many other movies at the time, like Apocalypse Now, Coming Home, and The Deer Hunter, that it was really important that the movie be believable, that I come across a pissed-off vet who'd been there and comes home angry.
I knew what I didn't want, and I knew whatever it was going to be it had to be believable and it had to come from me and I had to drive it. The way I write is very honest and when I think of the music that I listened to growing up, I loved it because I believed it.
When you go into mama-bear mode and have no choice but to just go with the flow, that's kind of when I realized...it put life into perspective. Just seeing my little girls and knowing I was going to experience life all over again - I'd be able to take them to the same things that my mom did - it was beautiful. When you become a mom, you gain this vulnerability that is so beautiful. Just the fact that I'm vulnerable but I'm never ashamed is so cool.
What I love about my work is the variety and not knowing what's coming next, and being able to embrace something for a period of time and know something new is going to follow.
For policemen to be honest about the fact that they may be fearful when they come into a certain situation, not understanding what's going to happen. The only way things will change and things will get better is if people are able to be honest without feeling like they're going to be offended, or they're going to offend someone else.
I think what saved me is me being honest. I think I somewhow had the courage to do something and say something that I knew would possibly end my career. Instead of making business more important I made my soul and my life more important. And I think by being truthful, and being honest, that saved me.
You never quite know what you're going to come back to and figure out how to make it work. You never quite know where that desire to finish something, or return to something in a fresh way, is going to come from. Every time I finished a film and went back and looked at it, I had changed as a person.
I try to set an intent every morning and take time to think about whatever I hope to achieve that day. I've learned that there's never going to be enough time to do anything. It's never going to be a perfect day, and I'm at a point in my life where my children are more important than work. Work is still important to me though, and I love what I do.
It's important that we came here, just to touch base here in this great country... When I was about 16 I came with my dad for a couple of weeks and had a great time and I've wanted to come back, it's been way too long. So, I'm very happy to be here and I want to come back longer with the rest of my family.
I never thought innovation as such was very important. Not when you have to think about it... If you're going to come up with a new direction or a really new way to do something, you'll do it by just playing your stuff and letting it ride. The real innovators did their innovating by just being themselves.
I feel lucky that I was able to sign a contract for an extended period of time with a no-trade clause. I don't take that lightly. I also understand that there are gonna be ebbs and flows, and peaks and valleys.
Growing up the way I did, it was tough being one of only a few black people in the town and in school. What my upbringing got me is never feeling completely safe emotionally. Never knowing when something racial was going to pop off based on how I look. So that's something I've carried with me personally and is reflected in my work.
My biggest thing is telling a truthful story, something that is rooted in something and is very honest. If I read a script and you want me to take off my top, and it doesn't serve a purpose, then I'm not going to do it.
I've gotten to go to far-off places in the world, have very unique, isolated, intense experiences for four or five months at a time, and then, kind of like a dream, those things disappear. You may see those people again, but it's never, ever going to be as intense as it was for that time period.
I deliberately went to boarding school. It was my choice. My mum was abroad and I wanted to wean myself off being dependent. It was a very important time for me to be able to create my own individual, independent life; just as a way of growing up.
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