Author: Emma Loggins
Date: 2009-04-19

Interview:


Currently one of Hollywood's most sought-after actresses, Amy Adams first came to international attention after her role in 2005's Junebug as a good-natured southern belle afforded her a Best Supporting Actress nomination. Since then, her star has risen inexorably, featuring as a Disney princess in Enchanted, a flighty actress in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and Tom Hanks' secretary in Mike Nichols' prestige drama Charlie Wilson's War. She's also appeared in comedies Talladega Nights and Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny - a trick she will repeat in 2009 in the Ben Stiller sequel Night at the Museum 2.

For the moment, Adams, 34, takes on her most dramatic role to date, in Miramax Films' Doubt. She plays Sister James, the sweetly innocent nun who gets caught up in a scandal at a Brooklyn Catholic school in 1964, when she shares with her colleague, the dragon-like Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep), her concerns that a priest, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), has behaved inappropriately with a pupil. Her second film with Hoffman, following Charlie Wilson's War, Adams will reunite with Streep in 2009 on Nora Ephron's Julie & Julia. Below, she discusses working with such luminous actors, her meteoric rise to fame and how she still buys towels from Target.

How did you prepare for Doubt?

Amy Adams: How did I prepare? Panic! No, I'm kidding... we had three weeks of rehearsal. John didn't get on my case but he said, 'You should really talk about it more because you came in really prepared!' I was so like the girl who wanted to make a good impression on the first day of school. I knew all my lines and knew everything about the play. I knew other people's lines! I'm usually pretty prepared but I think I'm über-prepared. I spent weeks with this material. I knew there was going to be no hiding and I better bring something to the table. So I prepared.

Had you seen the play before?

Amy Adams: Yes. I felt a great responsibility to the play but at the same time, the script is different and opening it up, provides a different feeling. My character in the film and the play are similar, but because of the way the scenes are broken down, it's a different path. I had to really let the play go. I was like, 'Yes but in the play...'

How did you find wearing the habit?

Amy Adams: The bonnet got a little painful but I liked wearing the habit. You knew it was going to fit! There's no zippers. It's all fastenings with ties and buttons. It was many layers and it helped you feel...it forced a certain posture and walk. The shoes were so comfortable. I'm typically in high heels and these were orthopedic shoes.

Do you see your character as naive?

Amy Adams: I just didn't see her as naive. I saw her as somebody who grew up in this time, which was 1964, and chose to be a nun, pretty early on. And to the world she might appear naive but I think she's just trusting. I don't think that was an uncommon thing at that time. It was a time of great change, in the church. I think by the end, she's definitely an older person sitting with Sister Aloysius. I just see her not as naive...she is trusting and open. And I believe that when you watch the film, you bring your own personal experience into it. A lot of people go into the film and realize what it's about and automatically want to assume the priest is guilty. The same goes if you decide if Meryl's character is malicious. I've watched the film now several times and I intentionally went in with different opinions every time. You have to try this. You have to see the film and decide that he's guilty. It becomes a totally different film than if you decide he's innocent. It's an interesting thing.