Propped over her breakfast at a West Hollywood cafe one morning in late October, Amy Adams was contemplating her dream role. The actress had just dropped off her 6-year-old daughter at school after returning from travelling to promote her two new films, the .
Her mother and husband at a nearby table, Adams was preparing for extended family to arrive in town momentarily.
鈥淚 need to play somebody who just goes around and gets spa treatments,鈥 Adams said, wistfully. 鈥淚 would have to do a lot of spa treatments, just for research. Weeks of research.鈥
Adams has certainly earned some downtime after turning in her two new complex lead performances. In Denis Villeneuve鈥檚 Arrival, which opens Friday, she plays a linguist haunted by an unexplained melancholy who must learn to communicate with aliens to prevent a global war.
In Tom Ford鈥檚 Nocturnal Animals, which opens a week later, she plays an aloof art gallerist obsessed with her ex-husband鈥檚 novel. Both movies screened at the 海角社区官网International Film Festival in September.
At 42, the five-time Oscar nominee鈥檚 career has been characterized by a mix of supporting roles, from a naive nun in Doubt to the wife of a cult leader in The Master to journalist/love interest Lois Lane in the latest round of Superman movies. Her two new performances, however, place Adams squarely in the lead position.
As Arrival鈥檚 Louise Banks, she reluctantly leads investigators, including a scientist played by Jeremy Renner. Much of the film鈥檚 10-week shoot took place on a bare soundstage in Montreal, with puppeteers behind a lighted screen serving as the aliens. For the entire production, Adams said, she had a stomach ache, a side effect of internalizing Louise鈥檚 anxiety.
鈥淪he鈥檚 not heroic in the traditional sense,鈥 Adams said of the character. 鈥淚 love that she gets to rely on her intellect and instinct as opposed to brawn and bravery.鈥
Adams said she prepared for the role by studying linguistics and working with her acting coach on the film鈥檚 psychological underpinnings, but she is ill-equipped to answer the deep questions the movie raises about science and the nature of time.
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny when people start challenging me about it,鈥 Adams said of the movie鈥檚 internal logic. 鈥淚f I were able to explain how the science of this film works, I would not be an actress.鈥
In Nocturnal Animals, Adams plays a woman who is equally unmoored, although the milieu 鈥 the Los Angeles fine-art scene 鈥 is far more familiar. Adams鈥 husband is artist Darren Le Gallo, and though his work resides more in the underground art scene than the rarefied one depicted in the film, she found some uncomfortable parts of the character to latch onto.
鈥淚 have definitely been invited into that world at times, the wealth and privilege of a very specific part of the Los Angeles art scene,鈥 Adams said. 鈥淚 found myself really judgmental of this character. Then I realized, 鈥榃ait, she doesn鈥檛 like what it feels like to be her. She is judging herself.鈥 So actually this is a great place to start.鈥
After becoming a mother, Adams dove into an intense period of work, one she said she鈥檚 slowing down a bit now.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure why that was my reaction to having a child,鈥 Adams said. 鈥淢aybe I was just like, 鈥業鈥檝e got to hoard now because I鈥檓 not sure what the future holds.鈥 As the provider I was like, 鈥業 need to work, work, work.鈥欌
She has also realized, she said, what kind of roles are a good fit. Reflecting on a years-ago audition for a part that required her to strip down to a bathing suit, Adams said she had an epiphany.
鈥淟et me tell you a secret: I don鈥檛 have a good bikini body,鈥 Adams said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not bad. It鈥檚 not like 鈥榰gh.鈥 It鈥檚 just not my calling. I was standing there in a bikini and I was like, 鈥業 am never going to get this job.鈥 It was down to me and another girl. She looked really good. I was never going to be that girl, and I realized, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 OK.鈥欌
In March, Adams will begin shooting the HBO series Sharp Objects, an adaptation of the Gillian Flynn novel in which she plays a newspaper journalist with psychiatric issues.
An inveterate karaoke fan (鈥淎lone鈥 by Heart is a go-to), she also has a hankering to do a musical and has discussed making a sequel to Enchanted, the Disney live-action movie in which she played a princess-adjacent character.
鈥淔ive years ago, it was like, 鈥極h, gosh, I don鈥檛 want to do any sequels鈥 and then I think with everything happening in the (U.S. presidential) election I realized, we need a film called Disenchanted,鈥 Adams said. 鈥淟et鈥檚 have some fun. Something joyful but also something that asks, 鈥榃hat does it mean to be happily ever after?鈥欌
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