After jumping through hoop after litigious hoop in FX’s legal thriller
Damages,
Rose Byrne stars as one half of a unique couple in the new indie romantic comedy “Adam,” which opened on July 29 in NY and LA. Byrne talked to
TVGuidemagazine.com about her new film, her recent Emmy nod, and diving back into the shark-filled world of her deadly television series.
In your new film "Adam", you play Beth, a woman who enters into a romantic relationship with a man with Asperger’s Syndrome. What about her drew you to the role?She has huge empathy for people. She’s very spontaneous. I think she can see the humor in things. She has confidence. She’s actually in many ways quite different from me. She’s not timid or anything like that. She’s very front-foot. That’s the great thing about the character---she really does change throughout the film.
Do you think audiences will be able to connect to this story? We’ve been playing the film across the country with various screenings the past few weeks. So many people have come up and said they could relate to the story even though their partner didn’t necessarily have Asperger’s. … It’s a very specific story but it becomes universal, which is the best storytelling.
Would you say that you’re more like Beth or your character from Damages, Ellen? It’s funny, you know, with TV, you spend so much time in that role so you become not one and the same--- that sounds ridiculous--- but you just have an intimacy with your character on a TV show that I’ve never had before. You spend so much time in their skin. With Ellen, there’s a huge, kind of profound tragedy in her life, so Beth hasn’t gone through anything as bad as Ellen has in terms of a murdered fiancée and an attack on her life.
Congratulations, by the way, on the recent Emmy nomination. How did it feel to get that kind of recognition?Initially, it was really a surprise. There are so many incredible women on TV and I watch a lot of series myself, so I was very surprised. And I’m not going to sound like a boring, humble cliché but I really was…like I love
Big Love and
Mad Men and you know, all those great shows, so I was very surprised and so happy. My goodness, I was ecstatic.
Do you know anything about the new season of Damages?I don’t. We start up again in September. Hopefully, by late august, they’ll start filling me in on what’s happening…..They said things off hand at the end of last season, but really I’m sure it’s all brewing now inside their little writer’s den.
There are so many twists and turns in the show. Do you often feel surprised?Yeah, I do. I have huge arguments with the writers all the time. "What am I doing? Why are you telling me now? I only have five minutes till set?” That’s TV. You know,
Tate Donovan loves working like that. I think he finds freedom in the fact that you just have to make a choice really quickly about things they throw at you. I still get frustrated. I just prefer to have more time with the text, but you know, that’s just the way it goes.
What are you doing this summer? I’m doing a movie called “Get Him to the Greek” which is the sequel to “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” directed by a guy called
Nick Stoller. I have a role opposite
Russell Brand playing his girlfriend. It’s been really fun.