I love accents — I wish I could find an accent for every one of my characters. It makes it so much easier when I don’t have to hear my own voice. … Sometimes my own voice can pull me out of the scene on occasion. So when I do an accent, I feel a bigger separation, so I’m going to try to just only do accents from now on.

— Amy Adams on why she loves playing characters with accents

[Paul Thomas Anderson] didn’t bring up any specificity as far as it being a cult — or, ‘Go study this religion or read this.’ For me, the way that I work, I didn’t feel responsible for coming up with the history of this religion, belief system, cult, whatever. For me, I always go into the character. So most of my discussions with Paul had to do with my character — where she’s from. She was very highly educated, and it was a time when women didn’t have as many choices of what to do if they were very smart and very educated. It was just a different world. So I just came to the conclusion in doing my own research about that era, that this was a woman who found her power behind a man. And however she had to stay in power she was going to…

I loved that on the outside the appearance is one thing, and the inside is something completely different. Because I really believe that is life. So to get to create a person who looks one way and acts another — I just don’t know anybody who acts exactly like what they look like. I’m always surprised by people.

Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams on playing Peggy Dodd in The Master

Amy Adams in her debut film, the 1999 mockumentary Drop Dead Gorgeous. Go Muskies!

From her Fresh Air interview:

I’m much more comfortable speaking through my characters’ voices than my own…

I love talking, and I love communicating with people and hearing new ideas, but I do get very self-conscious about how I form my own thoughts. And I tend to be somebody who acts from a very instinctual place, and tries to live from a very instinctual place. So on occasion, when I have tried to intellectualize an emotional experience, it’s very hard for me. And so, when I’m able to just get lost in the life of my character, and the emotional truth and reality that they experience, I really enjoy that. And it helps me understand humanity a little bit more.