The Edge - Jane Campion interview

She’s very keen to do a part which is a true challenge and which isn’t like a handbag to one of the male stars, as most of the stuff that’s available for women in Hollywood is.

– Jane Campion on casting Nicole Kidman in the role of Isabel Archer

There’s something about New Zealand that just keeps bringing me back here … I wouldn't be surprised if I end up once more with a New Zealand subject. I think it’s just something to do with…like your very early roots are from this country, and in a way it’s part of the way that you’ve formed your imagination.

– Jane Campion on returning to New Zealand

..it's really a fantastic portrait of an extraordinary young woman … when we look at the subject today it really much more feels like an antipodean young lady; because I think in a way they have that enthusiasm and kind of confidence, and the sense of their own right in the world that you just don’t get in America or from English girls now.

– Jane Campion on adapting Henry James' novel, A Portrait of a Lady