Amy Adams has revealed that her lines in The Fighter are not the most important part of her performance.
The actress is back on the big screen next month alongside Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale as director David O'Russell brings the story of boxer 'Irish' Mickey Ward to life.
And while Adams did have plenty of lines to learn she admits that she and the director were more interested in what she didn't say.
Speaking to Digital Spy the actress said: "It was definitely non-verbal. David O. Russell, the director, was more interested in what Charlene didn't say than what she did say.
"It would have been so easy for me to get caught up in the big personalities of all the characters around me, but David challenged me to undercut them and find power in the silence, in the stillness."
Adams picked up a Best Supporting Golden Globe nod for her performance, losing out to her co-star Melissa Leo, and she believes that this is a role that is different to anything that she has done before.
"I am known for playing characters with something of an innocence to them, so there's no real way to tell a director you can play a tough role. You go, 'I'm tough!' And then you sound like an idiot.
"Or you're polite and say, sweetly, 'Oh yes, I can play tough', and then you don't sound like you can play tough at all.
"Many of my previous roles had a certain energy which people call naivety, and which I think of as curiosity. But Charlene isn't curious - Charlene doesn't give a s**t. So the only way to do it was to do it."
The actress has already completed work on On The Road, which also stars Sam Riley, Garret Hedlund and Kristen Stewart, and she is currently filming The Muppets.
The Fighter is released 4th February.
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