A: Yeah. Even before I got caught up in the love story between the two men, my heart was with her.

Q: Why?
A: You know, a lot of things. Things I related to, things I didn't relate to that made me curious about them. But mostly, the reasons are totally mysterious. When something really moves you, it's hard to put into words. When you stare at a painting and you can't take your eyes off of it you don't know what it is inside you that's being spoken too, you just know you are moved beyond words, you are moved into somebody else's expression. That is what I felt when I read Alma.

Q: Before you even got on set, did you have an idea of how you wanted to portray her?
A: I knew a lot about her instinctively, but Ang knew things about her that I didn't. There was plenty to discover. I never want to reproduce myself.

Q: What did he know about her?
A: We talked a lot about her. I guess her bitterness and the way that she sours. I wasn't quite sure how time shaped her and it's hinted in Annie Proulx's story with little clues like using her misery voice and that the girls left Alma when they had the sense to and that she was nasty to be around. I wasn't sure about that but that was something Ang really wanted to explore — what kind of bile was building up inside of her.

Q: Alma keeps her anger pent up for so long.
A: It makes me nauseous to think about her. I think her insides rotted and turned black. She had this sorrow she never shook, much the way everybody in the film does. They all want something that they cannot have and I don't think she could see the bigger picture and the greater love story.

Q: Her attitude also emanates from the era she grew up in.
A: She thinks she knows how her life will turn out. The wedding is a big step in the right direction and then will come babies and then will come a move to a slightly bigger apartment and then will come grandbabies and then rocking chairs and none of that works out for her.

Q: Would you describe the experience of working with Ang Lee?
A: I think one of the things I am coming to realize is that he's such a blank slate that he allows you to be anything and everything and sort of the best possible version of yourself because he gives you nothing but time and nothing but patience to express yourself. He is very quiet, he's very careful and he never interjects himself. At first, he really hears you out and makes you work [the character] out because he doesn't help you out at first. He really makes you go there on your own and make all the connections, sort of yourself, and then he offers what he is thinking. He has an entire film playing out in his head and I think he just needs you to support the reasons he hired you in the first place.

Q: Let's talk about Heath, not as your fiancé and father of your daughter, but as an actor. You have such strong, difficult scenes together. What was he like to work with on the set?
A: He has an amazing ability to, in more than one place at a time, to be the actor who is in the scene with you, to be a kind of guardian angel creating a safe, stable environment to play in. To be a crew member, to be involved in day-to-day of what's going on, how people are feeling about each other, to ensure that everybody is having a good experience on set. He is able to contain a lot in his mind.