“Her mother, Laurie Simmons, is a contemporary artist, and my stepmothe...” — Gaby Hoffmann Quote

Her mother, Laurie Simmons, is a contemporary artist, and my stepmother, Cindy Sherman, is a photographer, so they've known each other forever. Lena and I were often at the same dinner parties when we were kids.

Anything that needs to be accessed is within me. Even if it's in a circumstance that seems outrageous, I can still just go back to the basic human experience and it's all there.

It's very odd that we have such an easy relationship to violence in this country, and we're still shocked by the female figure.

Our parents all experimented with raising us in a fairly loose, unorthodox way. A huge emphasis was placed on creativity, and our artistic efforts were never dismissed as childish. There was a sense that we - kids and grown-ups - all had the potential to make something of value. Our drawings were not simply destined for the refrigerator.

White people use their literature to maintain culture. That's why you find references to Milton and Spencer and Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky in contemporary novels.

I feel like 'Amelie' is very much an extension of me. She's a contemporary woman who sees the world through her imagination.

I had always had a deep interest in social science, history. So even when I was in high school, I was debating, and in college debating, and interested in contemporary events.

Whenever I read a contemporary literary novel that describes the world we're living in, I wait for the science fiction tools to come out. Because they have to - the material demands it.