Q: I expect you to say no, but do you think George is a better match for Ashley than her husband Johnny?

AA: I have an answer to that because I know there is something there between Ashley and George. But I think it's created by her. George was the town hero, the golden boy, and because he's been gone for so long, he is romanticized around the house where his parents and Johnny and Ashley live. It's easy for Ashley to romanticize about him. She looks up him. Angus wrote: "Ashley mistakes George's silence for wisdom." To me, that is really the key to her feelings about him. Even if there is an attraction between Ashley and George, I think a relationship between them would be doomed. Ultimately, Johnny and Ashley are right for each other, they really are. He's the person she is going to fight for.

Q: The relationship between Ashley and Johnny is complex because by the time we meet them, he has stopped being nice to her. He could come across as his being unforgivably abusive and uncaring toward her, so did Phil work with you to tone it down?

AA: He might have talked to Ben individually, but the three of us didn't get together to work this through. Phil was smart to give his individual actors information and then to let it play out without letting one actor know the information he told the other. If he told everyone too much, the scene wouldn't ring true.

Q: Talk about Ashley's key line to Johnny--"God loves you just the way you are, but too much to let you stay that way."

AA: That wasn't in the script. Phil and I attended a Sunday service at the Green St. Methodist Church in Winston-Salem, and the minister said that. Phil was all squirrelly sitting next to me and afterward said we had to find a place for that line. It was important for Ashley to say, I feel, because it lets the audience know she is aware of what was going on, and that Johnny is being so cold to her. It's subtle and not like she's speaking out in protest, but when she says that to Johnny, it's clear that she sees the bad stuff happening around her but has made the choice for patience rather than rebellion. Being weak is really hard for her. She feels she has to be the strong one, and the upbeat one, because that's her purpose in life, what God has given her to do, and she is going to do it. She makes that decision every day.

Q: Ashley is terribly lonely for the man she married, but rather than crying herself to sleep, she masturbates. It's a sad, yet positive image—and very surprising.

AA: It took me surprise when I watched it, too. When Phil and I spoke about the scene, we wanted it in the movie because it was a graphic look at Ashley's loneliness. Prior to filming it, I was very practical. I wasn't going to overreact and tell Phil to shut the set down because we were going to shoot an intimate scene. I said, "Okay, let's just do it." For me it was more, "How can I make it look real when I get in and out of bed?," than worrying about the act. That's what I was thinking, and what I did in bed—I didn't really do it-- was just technical. When I first watched the scene at Sundance I was so uncomfortable because it was so personal and exposing. I couldn't watch it. It was a good time for a bathroom break.

Q: How did you feelt about winning the Special Jury Prize at Sundance that started the buzz about you?

AA: Going there and winning the award were like two different experiences. I had a great time, hung out with the cast, and saw the movie for the first time, which was really nerve-wracking. Then I went home and they called and asked me to come back. I asked why. They said I was invited to the awards ceremony but no one would tell me why. So winning the award was surreal. Because you do a movie like this, an independent film, for the experience. The award was too much for me to accept right away. It took until the next day, when everyone had cleared out of Park City, and I was walking along and thought about what an honor it was to have won. I was overwhelmed. I'll be honest—I cried.

Q: You probably thought how far you'd come since "Cruel Intentions 2," which I assume was a sexy-dirty, rite-of-passage movie for a young actress.

AA: I didn't think it was sexy-dirty, I thought it was funny, tongue-in-cheek. I got the sense of humor. So it surprised me when it started playing on late-night cable—that wasn't what I expected. That was my first job after I landed in L.A. I got it about two months later. I have no regrets about it because I wouldn't be here if I hadn't done that. This is what I think: I think you should be open to whatever film comes to you, but it's important to grow from each role and not revisit the early ones if you don't have to. It's important to move forward, which I've done.