I’ve always been impressed by Amy Adams because there aren’t many actresses who can star is cheery family films (Enchanted, The Muppets) and heavy dramas (Doubt, The Fighter) and be apt at both. For example, in September alone she stars in two very different films, the father-daughter comedy/drama Trouble with the Curve and the controversial drama The Master written and directed by visionary Paul Thomas Anderson.
In The Master, Adams plays Mary Sue Dodd, the wife of Philip Seymour Hoffman‘s Lancaster Dodd, a charismatic man who creates his own religious movement. Adams spoke to New York about shooting the film and why Dodd is the scariest character she’s ever played.
Despite the roughneck nature of her character in The Fighter, Adams admits that Dodd is a character who is far worse. She explains, “I do not want to run into her [Dodd] in a dark alleyway. Give me [my character] Charlene from The Fighter any day, we can have a beer, talk about it, we’ll have fun. This woman scares the shit out of me. Excuse my language.”
Shooting with renowned director Anderson was also a new experience for her, as Anderson required her to be on set during shooting even if she was not in the scenes being shot in order to be sure her “presence” was felt by the other actors. In fact, there were points where she wasn’t even sure if the camera was on her, so she had to stay in character. She says, “It was exhausting, but I love the effect. She’s almost blurry.”
