Lynn Collins

Lynn: (on her and her co-stars' physical preparation for filming "X-Men Origins: Wolverine") They were all on super-buff diets, and I had pizza most of the time. They were so jealous of me. I didn't have to beef up in this movie. I just had to wear skimpy clothes.

Lynn: (on the difficulty of shooting "The Merchant of Venice") I understand how for the producers and the director and the rest of the crew working behind the scenes, it really was difficult for them. All I had to do was try not to eat too much pasta so my corsets would fit (laughing).

Lynn: (on working with Matthew Perry in "Numb") He has so much comedy background and I sort of have a very different, sort of drama/classical drama background. So he spends a lot of time teaching me comic gags and tricks.

Lynn: That's my strength as an actress, is to sort of adapt to what a director wants. It's usually when a director doesn't know what he wants where I end up not doing the best job I could do.

Lynn: (on working with the cast of "The Merchant of Venice") It was very difficult because, as a woman in a group of men, I had to stop relying on anything other than my intelligence and my talent. And that was a big lesson for me that actually pretty much changed my life.

Lynn: (on her role in "The Merchant of Venice") Portia is so challenging! I'm donned as a man half the time, and her monologues are brutal. But I like getting dirt under my fingernails. And, God, I've been getting guidance from Al Pacino. But I try not to hog him. He needs to be shared.

Lynn: I feel like I know my strengths and weaknesses as an actor and I feel like as soon as I take my eyes off this then I'm done. Once I start imitating people I'm not a good imitator. So I knew not to do that.

Lynn: (on her roles in the romantic-comedies "13 Going on 30" and "50 First Dates") I'm getting used to being the girl who gets screwed over.

Lynn: (on doing Shakespeare projects) When it comes down to it, I was trained to do this so it's something I had to work hard to learn to do. At the same time dealing with intense language is so gratifying to me. So if you love something you work hard at it.

Lynn: (on playing the role of Portia in "The Merchant of Venice" at the right point in her life) I think it happened sort of at the same time. My personal life and my professional paralleled each other. I've heard some actors say that that only happens once, maybe twice, in a career. And I think that's what this was for me.