In an interview at the festival, Arquette reflected on her early days as a struggling actor, determined to forge her own path despite the fears and rejections that came her way. "When I was 18, you know, you graduate high school and everyone says, what are you going to do, what's your future, now it's yours, you know," she recalled. "And I didn't know if I wanted to be an actor or a midwife. And I knew there was a lot more risk in being an actor. No failure, right, and rejection. But I looked at that choice and I said to myself, more than being an actor or a midwife, I want to be brave."
Arquette gave herself a year to pursue acting, embracing the possibility of failure and rejection as a necessary part of her journey. "I'm going to choose trying to be an actor so that I can experience failure and I can experience rejection and I can continue to try and show up and push through," she said. "So I gave myself a year to be brave and a year to fail every day at being an actor."
That determination and resilience paid off, as Arquette began booking jobs and establishing herself as a formidable talent in the industry. But the road has not always been easy, and the actress acknowledges that she has had to continuously push herself to overcome her own fears and insecurities.
"I've struggled a bit with co-dependence in my life and trying to appease other people and make sure everyone else is okay," she admitted. "So I feel like it's an ongoing effort to kind of discover what I want and being okay."
Now, as a member of the Marrakech Film Festival jury, Arquette is bringing that same open-minded and fearless approach to her role as a judge. "I don't have a set criteria for a written film," she said. "I'm open to simple things that are moving, I'm open to really complicated things that are interesting. That's part of what's beautiful about film."
Arquette's journey serves as an inspiration to aspiring actors and artists who are grappling with their own fears and doubts. Her willingness to take risks and embrace the unknown has not only defined her career, but has also allowed her to tap into a deeper well of creativity and self-discovery.
"They always scare me," Arquette said of the risks she has taken throughout her career. "But I feel like I'm supposed to learn something from it. And maybe I just have conditioned myself to learn things the hard way. But I often do learn a lot pushing through things that scare me."