Archive: Amy Adams Gets the Junebug and Also Captures an Oscar Nomination
(from brink.com 8/16/06)
In "Junebug"--director Phil
Morrison's witty and poignant slice-of life ensemble piece about an
uncomfortable homecoming--George (Allesandro Nivola) returns to his parents'
home in North Carolina after three years in Chicago. He brings his
sophisticated bride Madeleine (Embetz David), and the only person to welcome
her to the family is his pregnant, gabby sister-in-law Ashley, who is always
cheery despite feeling unappreciated by her in-laws (Celia Weston, Scott
Wilson) and neglected by her husband Johnny (Ben McKenzie), George's younger
brother.
As played by the effervescent, red-haired
Amy Adams, Ashley comes across as the heart of both the family and the film
itself. It is a star-making performance that won her a Special Jury Prize at
the Sundance Film Festival and much-deserved Oscar nomination for Best
Supporting Actress.
Q:
Do you see a connection between Ashley and Brenda, Leonardo Di Caprio's adoring
fiancée, who you played in "Catch Me If You Can."
AA:
Definitely--it's the innocence they both have. But they are different people.
Ashley's specific so Philip couldn't just cast me because I'd played Brenda,
but had me audition to see if I was right for her. I got the script on Friday
and had to audition on Saturday I did a couple of scenes, including Ashley's
dramatic hospital scene with George. And then I came back and we read
everything. We worked a lot during auditions. I went by feel. I knew if I felt
like Ashley then I could capture her.
Q:
Had you ever known anyone like Ashley?
AA:
No, which is good because if I had, she would have started to bother me five
pages into the script. Oh, my gosh, this girl won't stop talking! Before I
started playing her, I didn't give her a lot of credit. Through playing her, I
learned to be more patient with people who aren't like me. Of course, I was
able to understand her better once I knew all my lines and we had time to
rehearse. Then I could bring more to her. I came at her from an innocent and
pure place. I didn't say, "Oh, in this scene I'll do this, and in this
scene I'll do that." I wanted to be open and free, because a big part of Ashley
is that emotion seems to flow freely through her. So it was important not to
bring too much information into the performance.
Q:
But didn't Phil Morrison have a "manifesto" for the film, detailing
everything about Ashley and the other characters?
AA:
Yes, but that wasn't off-putting because he didn't force us to think in a
particular way. Phil allowed us to believe whatever we wanted about our own
characters and the other characters as well because in life that's the way it
is. So if you asked all the actors questions about Ashley and the other
characters, everyone would give different responses. He also encouraged us to
improvise, although that may have been a way to manipulate us into eventually
doing what he wanted. But hey, if it works I'm all for it! Phil also made each
of us a folder of poetry for us to think about. It was helpful. Though I didn't
actually sit in a scene and think of a poem, it gave me a feel for what he was
thinking. I repeatedly read one inspirational poem called "Walking in the
Light."
Q:
Coming from Colorado, did you meet people while shooting in North Carolina that
put you in the right frame of mind to play a Southern gal?
AA:
Absolutely. They were very inviting. We spent a lot of time with Phil's family
and the family of our screenwriter Angus MacLachlan. There was even a barbecue.
Being invited into Phil and Angus's families was important to me because I believed
a sense of community is a lot of what Ashley is about. What Ashley seeks is a
close family.
Q:
When you saw the final version of "Junebug" were you surprised by how
big your character became?
AA:
When we were on the set, I was just playing her and not seeing the film through
the eyes of an outside observer. I didn't really understand the importance of
Ashley until I watched the film for the first time. Then I realized that she is
the tool Phil uses to invite the audience into the family. I hadn't approached
her that way, so I was surprised by how effective she is in that role. I was
surprised that she is so much bigger than the rest of the film—does that make
sense?—because everything else is hushed. I never felt "I'm going to steal
this scene"--I never intended that--but Ashley's loud and talkative in
what is otherwise a very quiet film. Ashley is very lonely so she reaches out
all the time.
DP:
Ashley greatly admires Madeleine. But if you watch the film, Ashley seems
perfect and Madeleine is badly flawed. Does Ashley have any flaws?
Amy Adams and Embetz David as Ashley and Madeleine
AA:
She was lovely to play, so I tried not to pick out of her flaws. But I think
she does. I guess you can say that anything done excessively can be a flaw. She
might be too patient, too tolerant, and too upbeat. Those might be good traits,
but in this society we don't honor them. But wouldn't it be a great world where
you could always be positive and forgive everyone quickly? I would love to live
in Ashley's world. I think there is a part of me like her, so maybe I could use
her spin in L.A. Maybe it would work if I approached everyone with a big smile
and said, "Hey, ya'll."
AA: I have an answer to that because I know there is something there between Ashley and George. But I think it's created by her. George was the town hero, the golden boy, and because he's been gone for so long, he is romanticized around the house where his parents and Johnny and Ashley live. It's easy for Ashley to romanticize about him. She looks up him. Angus wrote: "Ashley mistakes George's silence for wisdom." To me, that is really the key to her feelings about him. Even if there is an attraction between Ashley and George, I think a relationship between them would be doomed. Ultimately, Johnny and Ashley are right for each other, they really are. He's the person she is going to fight for.
DP: The relationship between Ashley and Johnny is complex because by the time we meet them, he has stopped being nice to her. He could come across as his being unforgivably abusive and uncaring toward her, so did Phil work with you to tone it down?
AA: He might have talked to Ben individually, but the three of us didn't get together to work this through. Phil was smart to give his individual actors information and then to let it play out without letting one actor know the information he told the other. If he told everyone too much, the scene wouldn't ring true.
DP:
Talk about Ashley's key line to Johnny--"God loves you just the way you
are, but too much to let you stay that way."
AA:
That wasn't in the script. Phil and I attended a Sunday service at the Green
St. Methodist Church in Winston-Salem, and the minister said that. Phil was all
squirrelly sitting next to me and afterward said we had to find a place for
that line. It was important for Ashley to say, I feel, because it lets the
audience know she is aware of what was going on, and that Johnny is being so
cold to her. It's subtle and not like she's speaking out in protest, but when
she says that to Johnny, it's clear that she sees the bad stuff happening
around her but has made the choice for patience rather than rebellion. Being
weak is really hard for her. She feels she has to be the strong one, and the
upbeat one, because that's her purpose in life, what God has given her to do,
and she is going to do it. She makes that decision every day.
DP:
Ashley is terribly lonely for the man she married, but rather than crying
herself to sleep, she masturbates. It's a sad, yet positive image—and very
surprising.
AA:
It took me surprise when I watched it, too. When Phil and I
spoke about the scene, we wanted it in the movie because it was a graphic look
at Ashley's loneliness. Prior to filming it, I was very practical. I wasn't
going to overreact and tell Phil to shut the set down because we were going to
shoot an intimate scene. I said, "Okay, let's just do it." For me it
was more, "How can I make it look real when I get in and out of
bed?," than worrying about the act. That's what I was thinking, and what I
did in bed—I didn't really do it-- was just technical. When I first watched the
scene at Sundance I was so uncomfortable because it was so personal and
exposing. I couldn't watch it. It was a good time for a bathroom break.
Amy Adams
Q:
How did you feelt about winning the Special Jury Prize at Sundance that started
the buzz about you?
AA:
Going there and winning the award were like two different
experiences. I had a great time, hung out with the cast, and saw the movie for
the first time, which was really nerve-wracking. Then I went home and they
called and asked me to come back. I asked why. They said I was invited to the
awards ceremony but no one would tell me why. So winning the award was surreal.
Because you do a movie like this, an independent film, for the experience. The
award was too much for me to accept right away. It took until the next day,
when everyone had cleared out of Park City, and I was walking along and thought
about what an honor it was to have won. I was overwhelmed. I'll be honest—I
cried.
Q:
You probably thought how far you'd come since "Cruel Intentions 2,"
which I assume was a sexy-dirty, rite-of-passage movie for a young actress.
AA:
I didn't think it was sexy-dirty, I thought it was funny, tongue-in-cheek. I
got the sense of humor. So it surprised me when it started playing on
late-night cable—that wasn't what I expected. That was my first job after I
landed in L.A. I got it about two months later. I have no regrets about it
because I wouldn't be here if I hadn't done that. This is what I think: I think
you should be open to whatever film comes to you, but it's important to grow
from each role and not revisit the early ones if you don't have to. It's
important to move forward, which I've done.
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