Are you impulsive when choosing scripts?
I react from the hip. I?m totally instinctive and impulsive about it. That?s just the way that I?ve always done it. I?m not very premeditated and I don?t have a whole plan, a whole kind of career agenda. I don?t think to myself, ?You know, okay, I?ll do a period movie this year and then next year I?ll do a movie with Johnny Depp and the next year I?ll do a film with Jim Carrey.?
I leave a lot to chance.

It?s whatever really excites me and inspires me. I just like to take risks like that. And more importantly, I don?t walk into a film thinking this is going to be a hit. It?s just the wrong thing to think because as soon as you start to do that, the kind of competition kicks in and I?m just not a competitive person. I really love my job and I want to do it as well as I possibly can, but I don?t want to be the best. And I very much enjoy watching other actresses play parts way better than I ever would have been able to. It?s a very, very inspiring and exciting thing to be able to do that.

How was working with Jim Carrey?
He?s a great guy. We have such a good relationship and you can?t act chemistry. You can?t make that happen, so I really just hoped to God that we were going to get on well, and thankfully we didn?t hate each other. So, it was just great. Yes, he?s kind of goofy and silly and pulls crazy faces. My God, he is a master impersonator. But he also has this kind of quiet side, too, and I?m used to sort of taking myself off into quiet corners and preparing myself for a particular scene probably much more than maybe Jim would be.

He had to do quite a lot of that in playing Joel just because Joel is the shy, more introverted guy. He did have to sort of keep himself from himself sometimes but I could see that and I love that. I love being able to accept another actor?s process, however different it might be to my own. But Jim and I, we actually had quite a similar process.

What do you try to give the other actor?
I always do exactly what you just said. I always try and give as much as I can, rather than get as much as I can. You?re very lucky if you work with an actor who is brilliant and very inspiring and gives you a lot. That?s why I try and do that myself, so sometimes if I?m doing off-camera dialogue - this would certainly happen with ?Eternal Sunshine? - if Jim was doing a scene where the cameras or camera was just on him, I would be off camera acting my ass off because otherwise he wouldn?t have anything to react to. So you have to commit to that and continue to be that character off camera.

The only time I?ve been accepting of an actor not doing that for me was when I was doing ?Quills.? There was a scene with Geoffrey Rush, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Caine and myself and it was one of very few scenes that we were all in together. We shot everything on Geoffrey, shot everything on Joaquin, shot everything on Michael, and it was round onto me. I?d been acting my heart out with everyone else for everyone else?s close ups and Michael turned around to me, Michael Caine, the great Michael Caine, Sir Michael Caine, turned around to me and said, ?Darling, do you mind, I?ve got to be somewhere a little bit later. Do you mind if I just take my costume off?? And I thought he just meant maybe his jacket or something like that. No, back to dressing room, wig off, full normal clothing on. And he walked back onto set and I was like, ?Oh, that?s what you meant.? But he still acted his heart out. How can you not forgive Michael Caine for something like that? He?s so charming and so funny.

?Eternal Sunshine? is about erasing memories. Is there a piece of pop culture would you like to erase?
No, I don't think so. I don?t really believe in the idea of that process. I just think that the good and the bad experiences that we all have in our lives are what forms us as human beings. There?s nothing that I would erase, no movie, no song, no nothing. ?Once more, you opened the door?? I?ve certainly heard that too many times, but no, you can?t erase those things. They?re all a part of our pasts. No, I?m very grateful for some of the things that I?ve been through, how horrible they might have felt at the time, they make you stronger.

What about erasing a particularly embarrassing moment?
One embarrassing moment that I wouldn?t mind deleting was I was in a tap dancing class when I was 14 and just laughing my head off with one of the guys who was in my class. I don't know what we were laughing about. We just kind of got ourselves into that hysterical thing that you can?t get out of. And I actually peed myself in the class so badly it was terrible.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
"Eternal Sunshine" Cast Interviews: Jim Carrey / Elijah Wood / Kirsten Dunst and Mark Ruffalo
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" Photo Gallery
Kate Winslet Movie News and Photo Galleries
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" Credits, Trailer and News