Amy Adams exposed physically and emotionally for Sharp Objects
Oscar-nominated actress goes back to small screen to play reporter who returns to her hometown to investigate a double murder
In the new HBO miniseries Sharp Objects, Amy Adams tests the theory that grim subject matter with a deeply flawed protagonist can still make for compelling viewing.
Ostensibly a mystery thriller about a reporter who returns home to investigate the grisly murders of two young girls, the story is more about family relationships and the pain of never really being able to go home.
Not only is Camille, Adams' character, unable to function without sipping vodka out of a bottle, she has self-inflicted scars carved into her body. She was also just discharged from a psychiatric hospital.
It premieres on HBO (StarHub TV Ch 601) on July 9 at 9am with a repeat telecast at 10pm.
Jean-Marc Vallee, who also directed last year's award-winning drama Big Little Lies for HBO, takes the helm again.
At our interview at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills, Adams said she found the character compelling enough to return to TV - she last appeared in shows such as Dr Vegas and The Office more than a decade ago - after reading Gillian Flynn's 2006 book of the same name on which Sharp Objects is based.
Flynn's subsequent novels Dark Places and Gone Girl have spawned movie adaptations.
The 43-year-old Oscar-nominated US actress said: "I think that everyone else's opinion of her is what helped shape this sadness inside of her and this darkness. She struggles to find the truth of who she is, and it is not till the end that we see her exploring her own identity outside of somebody else's opinion."
'PRETTY MUCH NAKED'
The scars took four hours to put on - a solvent was applied to her body and then the scars were stuck on with adhesive.
"I had to stand there pretty much naked for four hours," Adams said.
"That really made me feel vulnerable, which helped stepping onto the set exposed in that way.
"But the first few times they got a bit sticky because they had not figured out how to get them not to stick to other things. And so I had a lot of mishaps with clothing and with seats."
Vallee, as a director, has a reputation for pushing his actors, but Adams did not mind that.
She said: "It is not so much even that he pushes, he just does not stop. You get so exhausted that you can't do anything but tell the truth. You drop all your ideas of what the scene is and you start to live in it. And it creates a surreal reality that when you are playing a character like Camille, it is very intense."
The violence in the story was difficult for her.
Adams said she tries to leave her characters behind on the set but does not always manage.
"I will just wake up and be filled with anxiety and not know where it is coming from. And I'm, 'Oh, this isn't my anxiety, this is my character's anxiety that I have not dealt with.'"
Things like making dinner or doing homework with her six-year-old daughter Aviana and actor-painter husband Darren Le Gallo help her "get back into my own skin".
"I like to get out of the house with her. I get a little stir crazy because she likes to play dolls. And for some reason, I do not know why, I have an aversion to playing dolls," she laughed.
"So I try to do activities like plant a garden or go for a hike or go to parks or museums. I try to engage. We take ballet at the same place at the same time so we will go there together."
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