WHEN YOU TAKE ON CERTAIN ROLES, DO THEY CHANGE YOU?

Portman: Oh definitely. I definitely see skinny people as sad now. It's so sad to be skinny!

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST THING YOU DID PHYSICALLY FOR A ROLE?

Nicole Kidman: I got a bad injury when I was doing "Moulin Rouge"; I tore some cartilage in my knee. But it was that dancing mentality where you keep dancing. It was like 3 a.m., and I was thinking, "I'm so tired and I probably shouldn't do another one in these heels, but yeah, okay, one more take, this will be it." And I just kind of fell and tore my knee up.

Bonham Carter: There is a point where you're responsible for yourself. Sometimes there are so many people around and it costs so much to keep a crew going. But there is a point when you should say, "This isn't going to happen." But it takes a lot of courage.

Kidman: Yeah, but when you're in a role, it's almost like a high. Once we started, there was no way I was going to stop.

Adams: I did. I was doing a shoot outside in Ireland.

Bonham Carter: What was the film?

Adams: It was called "Leap Year," and it was tons of weather. We were in this ridiculously strong wind all day long, and people were getting eye injuries, and then it started raining. I'm in a sweater and a pencil skirt and high heels, and I kept going, "This isn't good. I'm done." I wasn't like, "I'm going home," or I'm throwing a fit. It was like, "Guys, we're not going to get this shot. It's not going to happen."

IS THERE A ROLE THAT YOU DIDN'T GET THAT YOU WISH YOU HAD?

Bening: Oh sure. I was up for the Bertolucci movie "The Sheltering Sky." I was up for it for months, like sometimes happens, and Debra Winger is in the movie, and it's a beautiful movie.

Hilary Swank: I like to read things even when they're not offered to me. I just ask my agents to send me material.

Bonham Carter: Isn't that self-flagellation?

Swank: For me, finding really compelling, original work is few and far between, and instead of just waiting for something to come my way, I ask them to send me the material. I want to know the writers that are out there. I have a production company, so it's part of that. I don't want to ever rest on my laurels and sit back and see what comes my way. I want to fight for things that I believe in and that I want to be a part of. You know, there was a script I fell in love with back in August that was sent to me. It's a first-time director but a well-known writer, and I read the script and I said, "I want to meet you." And he was like, "OK, great." I went in and I didn't get it.

Bening: Who did?

Swank: Do you really want to know? It's Alex Kurtzman. He did all these big movies, "Star Trek" and "Transformers," and you wouldn't think this was his movie. I'm not a real big science fiction fan, but this script ("Welcome to People") is a beautiful story about a brother and a sister. (Silence.)