The Hollywood Masters: Amy Adams

How did this film come about and why on earth halfway through were you talking to your co-star Embeth Davidson saying I'm thinking of quitting acting? I had been working in in LA for a while. I did Catch Me If You Can. Nothing really came of it but the truth was I was just not happy kind of in the life that I was leading and sort of this pursuit of a career that I didn't think was going to be a good fit maybe and that's why so I was getting really close on things but I just figured well maybe I just don't have it and that's got to be okay with me and I'll just go back to theater and I booked this television show called Dr. Vegas and I did the pilot and they that's how I ended up with red hair because there was yeah there was another girl hired who actually is one of my really good friends now a very sexy blonde at the time and I went this it's not good because and we have a really tall blonde and a really short sort of pale blonde and they were like one of you has to go red and I was like I'm guessing I'm guessing it's me but anyway I mean I don't know I just couldn't find my home you know figuratively literally I was just sort of floundering and then Dr. Vegas changed my schedule and they sent me home from Las Vegas and I was really bummed because I was like oh I was gonna have a week off in Las Vegas but when I got home there was a script called Junebug on my doorstep and I went and auditioned for it and it was like that I just I loved Ashley I still love Ashley it's funny to carry I feel like you carry characters around with you and I still watch that and it feels like I feel egotistical like that sometimes when I cry and I'm not crying at my performance it's like I I feel her still that sounds crazy I still feel what she was feeling you said we think she's naive but then she isn't yeah and that she has this very positive view of the world are those things true for you um and the truth of who I am yeah I think so I think it's I think that's sort of who I want to be I think as you go through life you kind of that gets kind of chinked out of you a little bit I think watching my daughter has been really it can come back though yeah you know well it's it's interesting because it's like who who were we born as what's our core self and then who we're shaped to be um given our circumstances whatever those are but you know it's interesting because you can go through those phases when you lose that optimism sure then it comes back and yeah I'm just speaking personally you know yeah and it's great when it does you know it's true um yeah my loss of optimism didn't have anything to do with me not working it more had to do with like the guy swearing at me on the street in LA you know what I mean like you're like crossing against the light because you don't understand and he's like oh wow calling you names and you're like why are you so mean I'm just from Colorado I just moved here I don't know um so you just end up you know I'm sure you guys have been there you're like what they're the ones doing the swearing you're swearing now now Steven Spielberg expected that you'd break out after Catch Me If You Can um were you disappointed when you didn't yeah I was um in retrospect it's a good thing I didn't I definitely was not ready to um I wasn't confident enough in my work um in myself I still like didn't feel like I I belonged here you know whatever here Hollywood is do you now feel that you belong I'm not just okay with it yeah like I don't I don't know that anybody does because really it's not a destination like Hollywood's a city there's it's actually a city there's a zip code it's like um but it's it's this idea and and it's I guess it just depends on what you what works for you what you can buy into and I believe I belong in Los Angeles I have a really great family here but I still feel like the sort of the idea of Hollywood is something that feels um makes me feel very vulnerable I've just learned to accept it yeah uh why vulnerable um because you come I tend to try to be as honest a person as possible and so therefore I feel a little more open to scrutiny and criticism and you know as an actor I think it's it's important to have you know a very soft heart and a very thick skin so I just don't want my heart to harden and so you have to allow yourself to feel those things that criticism and disappointment and all of those things that can impact you just do you think it's harder for women in Hollywood just in general yes in general I don't think Hollywood is a special place where it's hard for women I think that uh you know we have a lot of privileges um we have a long way to go of course but you know when I look at what's happening in the world I'm not gonna cry because of some you know small injustice I feel here about about things definitely you know work to change it and try to be a good role model but I think I have it in perspective as far as sort of a world view of of how far we need to come as women and and the rights that we should be fighting for.