“Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. And when you stumble, keep faith. And when you’re knocked down, get right back up and never listen to anyone who says you can’t or shouldn’t go on.”
“Don’t be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. “Yes” is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes.”
[Do you agree that this is a career-changing role?]
That would be the idea. It felt like being seen for the first time, really. Fincher can do that. He looks and he sees and he doesn’t see what anyone wants him to see, or what anyone is trying to put forward. He X-rays someone, he goes beyond. I still find it slightly unfathomable that he should zone in on me for this part. I knew I had it in me. I knew there was greater range and depth and craziness than anyone has tapped before, or chosen to look for. But the fact that David Fincher—whose films I’ve seen all of—has seen beyond the carapace of these characters I’ve been offered in the past, seen there’s something wilder in there, was so extraordinary.