It was the first time I worked with Matthew McConaughey [in the True Detective].They're fun guys [with Woody Harrelson]. They don't take life at all too seriously, but yet they take their work very seriously. And both of them are just so committed to character and the story.

Michelle Monaghan

Categorized in : Character Fun Guy

When I was growing up, my parents took in foster children. From a young age, I learned that there are a lot of children in need.

Michelle Monaghan

growing-up parent children

You dont grow up in a town of 700 thinking youre going to be an actress. I loved doing [school] plays, but it was just something to keep me busy.

Michelle Monaghan

growing-up school thinking

For me, something that's been always really important to me, that's also really served me well in hindsight, is doing different things, trying to cross different genres, and dipping my toes into comedy and drama and action here and there. Fortunately, as I've been working, the industry has also changed where you're able to dip your toes into different mediums, where it's not just independent film and studio film, but now you've got TV, and you're able to do all these different things. For me, it's just a matter of continually pushing myself and challenging myself.

Michelle Monaghan

independent challenges drama

"OK, well everyone makes a mistake, right?" But then when you think it probably happened again that's when you think: "Shame on you once and shame on me twice, or however that saying goes." But everyone's been down that road. It's not about the little things anymore, but the major things that tell you if you don't move on at that point then I'm a fool.

Michelle Monaghan

mistake moving thinking

I will say that is a quality I love about great directors, which is the ability to give you one word that can inspire you. I appreciate a director with a very good vocabulary. There are so many directors that I have worked with that can give you one word.

Michelle Monaghan

appreciate vocabulary giving

Woody [Harrelson] and I actually worked together years ago on North Country. So I felt completely at ease.

Michelle Monaghan

together country years

We have this misconception about women in the military, that they don't wear make-up, but in reality, they're very feminine women. You can be a tough woman, and still be a very nurturing and emotional parent. It's just not always black and white like that.

Michelle Monaghan

black-and-white military reality

I've never felt limited by my circumstances, no matter what they were. Even when I was living in Iowa, it wasn't like I had big dreams, but it wasn't that I felt I couldn't have any. I always felt very capable.

Michelle Monaghan

iowa matter dream

Everything looks more beautiful in retrospect.

Michelle Monaghan

retrospect beautiful looks

It was very fortuitous that the show [True Detective] actually spans seventeen years - so as I was getting older on the show, I was gaining weight. When I'm playing fifty, I'm ten pounds heavier! I don't know if they thought maybe I was method? But it actually worked to my benefit.

Michelle Monaghan

gaining-weight getting-older years

I was at the beginning stages of my pregnancy, and it never really feels real anyway, until you actually start showing and you start to feel the baby kick. Fortunately I didn't have any morning sickness or anything like that. And I really didn't want to be distracted from the work at hand, so I didn't tell anybody. It was really just towards the end of shooting where I was about five months, where I needed to tell a costume designer[ of the True Detective].

Michelle Monaghan

real morning baby

My parents have worked their asses off their whole entire lives, they still do, and I never felt like anything would be handed to me. I never felt sorry for myself. I felt like, "Wow, this is incredible. I'm able to do this for myself." I think once you have that sense of empowerment at a young age and you allow your children to have that empowerment, it will fuel them for a lifetime.

Michelle Monaghan

sorry children thinking

I found out a few months after we started [True Detective] that I was pregnant.

Michelle Monaghan

detectives months found

So, it was really important that I go do the necessary research. In doing the research, I spent time with a lot of medics and women down at Fort Bliss. I went through an intensive medical course there, with other medics. And then, I really sat down with all of the women that had been deployed, or were getting ready to deploy again. The common thread for them was family, and what a struggle it was for them to come home and face their children and flip a switch.

Michelle Monaghan

struggle home children

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.

Michelle Monaghan

choices knowing home

Religion is something that is very well intentioned, for all intents and purposes, for everyone around the world, but sometimes it can start to get warped.

Michelle Monaghan

around-the-world purpose sometimes

What's compelling about the story and what's very honest about the story is that it's very real and it's happening. There are 200,000 women in active duty, and over 40% of them are moms. This experience is shared by thousands of women, and no one is right or wrong.

Michelle Monaghan

mom real stories

I think the first thing is to recognize that there is an ebb and flow to your career. There are going to be moments that are really high, and then you're going to have moments where you step away for a little bit, and maybe that's just by choice or maybe you have a family.

Michelle Monaghan

ebb-and-flow careers thinking

[True Detective] is an intense show, even in terms of the dialogue - there's a little rhythm to it, in particular in his monologues. I think on those days, he [Woody Harrelson] really had to stay in the zone. Because there's a certain cadence in which that character speaks and talks about life, you know? But then there are other days that he was able to be a little more loose.

Michelle Monaghan

cadence character thinking

I find that in preparation for a drama you can do a lot of character work and develop the character and know what you want to achieve and project throughout the course of the film.

Michelle Monaghan

preparation character drama