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Amy Adams: after six years, 10 movies, and a history of critical praise, Amy Adams has finally earned the title "overnight sensation." Selma Blair checks in the morning after
Interview, April, 2005 by Selma Blair
Until now, actress Amy Adams has been most recognizable as the naive, brace-faced fiancee of Leonardo DiCaprio's seductive con man in Catch Me If You Can (2002) as well as for various supporting roles in teen and romantic comedies. But this year it was she and a mere handful of others who made the Sundance Film Festival seem as though it hadn't lost its way. With her turn as a young pregnant wife in a small Southern town in the well-received Junebug--a performance that earned her a Special Jury Prize at the festival--the actress proved she's all grown-up and ready to break out once and for all.
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SELMA BLAIR: Dear Amy. Let me just start--I'm gonna talk for a minute because I want to tell you I feel like you're a girl who has not gotten her due. I know you have no bitterness about it, but I'm bitter for you. I think you are the greatest undiscovered discovery.
AMY ADAMS: You are so nice.
SB: And you are so incredibly talented. You blew me away, blew me, blew me, blew me--God, that sounds good, let's repeat that a few times! [both laugh] Anyway, you blew me away in Catch Me If You Can, so I cannot wait to see Junebug. When does it come out?
AA: I have no idea. I think it got picked up by Sony Pictures Classics, so they're going to be dealing with it. I'm just happy for everybody.
SB: It's amazing when a good story gets to be told with the right people involved. And congratulations on your award at Sundance. I looked online. You looked supercute at the awards ceremony. You're like a dark, complicated girl trapped in the physicality of a Breck girl. [Adams laughs]
AA: You know, I've dyed my hair red.
SB: That's going to change everything, Amy!
AA: I know. Cutting bangs is going to change my whole personality, I've decided. People will finally see the darker girl inside.
SB: So, what was your first project?
AA: Drop Dead Gorgeous [1999].
SB: And you've been blonde in every film except for maybe some recent projects. Are you blonde in Junebug?
AA: No, I have red hair. I mean, really it's orange. We went for a very specific orange shade. I'm kidding, actually--it just turned out orange, and I was like, "Oh, let's leave it."
SB: Tell me about the character you play.
AA: She's really innocent, the sweetest girl you'd ever meet. Like, you feel sorry for her because she's so nice.
SB: Is there a touch of your Catch Me If You Can character in Junebug?
AA: I guess there are similarities. She's got the young Southern innocence about her, but the girl in Junebug has been through a lot more. But, to me, they're both so different.
SB: How did Phil Morrison, the film's director, find you for this movie?
AA: He'd seen me in Catch Me, but my being around for the casting was basically a fluke. I was in the midst of shooting what I will now refer to as "That Television Show," [both laugh] and I was supposed to be in Las Vegas; but the studio sent me home because they weren't going to use me for a few days. I was angry about that, but as it turned out, I had the audition for Junebug that weekend.
SB: Your angels are watching over you. I do think it's kind of like "Slow and steady wins the race," and everything is lining up for you now. You're too good to become an overnight sensation, even though you've been called one.
AA: Well, it's funny because even now I'll read stuff about me, and it'll say "newcomer" or "relative newcomer," and I'm like, "Six years later!" [laughs] I don't think people understand how much work goes into being a newcomer.
SB: I'm still a newcomer starlet, and I'm 50!
So, how long have you been in L.A.?
AA: Six years.
SB: And is it true that you were performing in dinner theater?
AA: Yeah. I was working on Brigadoon at this dinner theater in Minnesota when I got the part in Drop Dead Gorgeous.
SB: Do you love Brigadoon?
There's a knock at the door, and an Interview editor enters carrying a coffee for Blair.
SB: [to the editor] Oh, no, you're bringing me coffee! I feel like such a big deal. Thank you! [Adams laughs] Amy, someone just brought me coffee.
AA: They brought you coffee?
SM: [laughs] I quit coffee for a while, but apparently I'm back on it.
AA: You fool!
SB: I know. Anyway, what's something about you that someone who doesn't know you would be really surprised by?
AA: Where do I start?
SB: I know--it's all a facade, right?
AA: It's weird. Even in high school I was so frustrated because I felt like people expected me to be one way based on looking a certain way. Like, looking wholesome.
SB: Were people afraid to swear or to light a cigarette in front of you because they thought you'd judge them or something?
AA: No, it wasn't that. I was just not fitting in with the cheerleaders. And I was doing ballet, so I was always gone from school. But I didn't fit in with the theater people either because I was in the real theater. I think people thought I was a snob. But I'd say people would think my personality is exactly the opposite of my face, if that makes any sense--even though at the same time I'm a really optimistic, upbeat person, and I'm for the most part happy. There's just a lot of yin and yang.
