James: "It's pretty disabling sometimes, the terror of not living up. My expectations are the worst."

James: "As an actor, you get a bit itchy to do something entirely different."

James: "It's hard to see yourself as a princess because it involves a huge leap of the imagination and sort of requires you to believe you can be that, which is a scary, weird thing."

James: "You are what you're portrayed as."

James: “I’m such a fast person.”

James: "There's nothing wrong with falling in love and sharing your life with someone."

James: "I think I feel most like a princess when I'm sort of bursting with happiness and love, so whether that would be, like, with my boyfriend or my family or at a really fun party - just when you're full of life."

James: "I want to do more theater, which allows you to take bigger risks and experiment."

James: "When people feel good, they look good."

James: "As cynical as I can be, there's always a part of me that believes in love and the fairy tale."

James: "I feel like we're so eager to reduce women to one thing, one narrative. Society sorts of demands sexuality from women and then it's weaponized against them. There's just so much in it that felt so important to look at and worth provoking a conversation about."

James: "God, I used to have really skinny-crap eyebrows. They were such an ugly disaster."

James: "I Googled myself, and I saw some nice things and some not-so-nice things. I've learned that that stuff isn't real, and it doesn't exist unless you look at it."

James: "For exams, I swotted so hard because I couldn't bear the thought of not coming first."

James: "I love singing so much. As a kid, that was what I wanted to do."

James: "I treated myself to a £700 Chloe bag after one of my first acting jobs. Then my friends pointed out that, for the same money, I could buy a flight to India. So I took it back."

James: "I love London, but I love traveling, and I don't think I'll be here forever. Possibly, I'd like to move to New York and do a play in New York."

James: "In anything, I always give my all. I'm not a good loser."

James: “When you recreate any character, you’re taking on another person’s life without necessarily having all the information, so I really have to put huge trust in the director. But I want to provoke a conversation, and I want to be part of these attempts at change. I realize a lot of it’s incredibly sensitive and difficult. And so, as an actor, to a certain extent, what you do is make yourself very open to talk to all of that.”

James: "For girls growing up, sometimes I think they get the wrong idea for what women should look like."

James: "I don't like seeing celebs looking too skinny, I love it when they look healthy and comfortable in their bodies and embrace their curves."

James: “Especially looking at the state of the world. The total loss of faith in the people leading us is pretty despairing and frightening.”

James: "I really want to play interesting roles, but you want to work, so it's a balancing game."

James: “There is no such thing as privacy now… we’re constantly sharing our lives – with an audience that doesn’t really care about you.”

James: “I love that about acting; you fit into a character, and you realize you’re not as different as you might have thought. You lean in to things in yourself, and discard parts of you that aren’t useful. We were exploring a particular moment in Pamela and Tommy’s life in the ’90s, this absolute lust for love. This open-hearted, falling into something.”

James: “I hate doing something and then just handing it over – you get very disenfranchised as an actor in that process.”

[On getting cast as Pamela Anderson]

James: "I was as surprised as anyone else when I was cast. But I was so hungry for an opportunity to do something different. When it came to Pamela, I've never worked harder on anything in my whole entire life. I did my best every second of every day and continued to in the edit. I was trying to make sure that we were doing right by her. I spent like five months not breaking out of the accent."

James: "Growing up, I was always prancing around and singing... and I just never really stopped."

[On people oversharing on social media]

James: "We’re handing them out, constantly sharing our lives – with an audience that doesn’t really care about you. And giving away information to corporations using it for profit. I know a time before that happened, but there are young girls who have no idea."

James: "I think everyone can feel like an outsider. I know I have. I've always felt like one."

James: "The greatest thing is that usually the auditions you think are bad are the ones you get."

James: "This was a trigger moment that unintentionally sparked a new time… I hope a lot has changed. But sometimes it doesn’t feel like it’s changed quite enough."

James: "It's weird when you get roles that coincide with your life."

James: "I think our sense as actors of what we've just done - whether or not it be in an audition - is usually really not connected to any truth. I'm always asking for more takes and more goes. I think I just need to shut up and listen."

James: "At drama school, we were taught to write down your dreams and carry them around in your wallet with you, and they'll come true, but I didn't do that."

James: "I never thought I would say this, but I'm desperate to do an action film."

James: "I'm dying to do a tiny indie and play something totally naturalistic without any sort of constraints on me. Something where I can shock everyone."

James: "Any kid in the world can draw from strengths within - we all have the potential with that."

James: "Ultimately, 'Cinderella' is the story of the underdog. You root for her in this fairytale; the girl who has nothing, deserves so much more, and gets it."

James: "With corsets, it's interesting when you put them on, realizing that's what women actually wore. They're just so constricting."

James: "I think it's probably best to work out in the morning to get it out of the way. My ultimate top tip is to drag yourself, even if you have to roll yourself out of your bed and in to a sit-up - it's really not that bad once you start."

James: "I love to start the morning with a mist spray, especially after a night out."

James: "It's so hard coming out of drama school to claim your right to be taken seriously and even get auditions."

James: "It took me a while to warm to the '20s costumes on 'Downton.' I love it when women accentuate their curves, and that era was all about hiding them. The shapes they wore then were in tune with female empowerment. Cutting off their hair and hiding their busts was a way of saying, 'We're equal to men!'"

James: "I don't have an exact moment when I decided I wanted to be an actress - it kind of was just really a part of my growing up."