Amy Adams stars in the critically acclaimed sci-fi thriller Arrival. She plays a language expert who figures out how to communicate with aliens. It is one of actresses biggest roles in a career that ranged from superhero movies to supporting roles.
In an interview with The Guardian, Adams explained how her approach to acting has changed over the course of her career and why she thinks other actors should rise above their insecurities to make themselves better performers.
Amy Adams explains that she’s a really quiet person and known for playing timid roles.
“My husband and I are very quiet people. Whereas some people – Jennifer Lawrence, let’s say – she just has the kind of energy where she walks into a room and everybody notices. I don’t think that it’s a desire for attention, that’s just the nature of her being. I can disappear really, really quickly in a room.”
Early in her career, Adams thought her ability to be quiet and not outgoing hurt her acting career. But now she sees it as a talent.
“Before I almost felt like it was a deficit, because I thought to be an actress you had to make people pay attention to you, and that’s just not my energy. It took a long time to be OK with that because you would see people receive a lot of opportunities based on something intangible, and it’s frustrating. But during my 20s and early 30s, when I wasn’t really working, I realized, OK, I’ll just focus on my work, I don’t have a thing.” Later, she adds, “I think the more people are concerned with me, the less they can invest in my characters.”
Adams also credits becoming a mother as another reason why she changed her acting process. Adams explains, “I definitely feel more raw and more open to empathy, and that helps. But what’s really changed is how I process work. I used to have a dysfunctional relationship with my work, where I was bringing home all my insecurities and expectations, and if I felt a director didn’t love what I did, it would just plague me. That had to change.”
Adams also addressed the rumors that director David O. Russell was verbally rude to the actress on set of American Hustle.
“It’s interesting, that particular thing, and I don’t want to acknowledge or not acknowledge anything, because in no way do I feel victimized by my choices so it really was… [Russell] didn’t necessarily make me cry: I cried. The experience of playing that character struck me in a strange place, and that’s heightened by David’s energy, yeah. So I couldn’t bring that home… the character definitely, but I think in combination with the heightened environment. I remember looking at my husband and saying, ‘If I can’t figure this out, I can’t work any more, I’ll have to do something else. I don’t want to be that person, not for my daughter.’ So I figured it out.”
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