Top 14 Quotes & Sayings by Leslye Headland

The biggest misconception is that I only write about shitty people. Or that I'm trying to be shocking. I just think people are super weird, so I like to write characters that get addicted to things, lose their minds, hurt others, put themselves in bad situations. I'm just more interested in that.

I've really carelessly gotten out of relationships that were incredibly destructive instead of being honest.

Don't take anything personally. You're going to come up against a lot and the best thing is to ignore it and don't let the bastards get you down and keep moving forward because you are going to be treated differently.

I can't be the only person that's like, "Why am I in love with this guy just because he makes me feel bad?" I can't be the only person in the world who's had that feeling.

I want people to understand and recognize that when it comes to dating, you're not as crazy as you think you are. Everyone needs love. We need it like air or water. We just don't know how to get it.

I challenged myself to write/direct a romantic comedy. People trash talk the rom com, but it's one of the oldest cinematic genres, with stellar origins like Twentieth Century and Trouble in Paradise. I think as audiences lost their innocence, the genre lost its suspense. To create suspense, you need obstacles, so I gave my couple an obstacle that very few people ever overcome: their own behavior and their past.

I've been in love with my best friend and not been able to tell that person.

When it comes to dating, you're not as crazy as you think you are.

Watching my own past heartache and experience day after day - it was gut-wrenching, cathartic, beautiful, and painful. That and shooting the film in less than a month.

Without the benefit of Google, ask anybody to name more than five female filmmakers that have made more than three films. It's shockingly hard.

For [people] to be like "So what it's like dealing with female characters who are completely disgusting?" I don't think they are - does that make me weird? I made a very intentional choice to not care about that stuff, and go like "I don't care about it, I'm just gonna tell my truth and see what happens."

I like to think of characters in relation to other cinematic characters.

I've slept with men that are unavailable, I've fallen in love with people I don't know.

I focus on darker things or bad behavior or explicit dialogue because creatively I am more interested in my mistakes and why I made them than my good deeds and my achievements.