Sometimes a character waltzes into our lives and we wish she could stay there. Such is Ashely, the guileless, babbling heart of Phil Morrison's Southern slice of life, "Junebug," coming to theaters August 5. When Chicago gallery owner Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz) travels to rural North Carolina to woo a small-town artist, her new husband (Alessandro Nivola) suggests a trip to meet his family. Cultures clash and resentments emerge as city mouse confronts the city mice that raised him, but such negative reactions never occur to Ashley, the pregnant sister-in-law who's bursting with curiosity, enthusiasm and affection for her new sister. Played by Amy Adams ("Catch Me If You Can"), who won an award for the part at Sundance, Ashley makes us laugh and, at times, cringe, but she also makes us want to hug her. IFC News' Andrea Meyer had seven questions for the woman who brought Ashley to life.

IFCTV: What about Ashley do audiences so relate to?

AMY: A lot of people are like, "I know someone just like Ashley from my hometown." They see something about someone they remember from their lives before they moved to a big city. She also serves to invite the audience into the family the same way that she invited Madeleine. I've had women hug me, so I get the sense that they want to protect her. They want to keep her the way she is before the world comes and gets her. In a way they can see themselves in her, because everybody starts from a pure place. She's pure in the sense that she hasn't let anybody get to her yet.

IFCTV: When you were young, was there someone you wanted to be just like?

AMY: Scarlet O'Hara. I think that's what's drawn me to the South. I read a lot of romance novels, which is really sad but true.

IFCTV: What about now?

AMY: Judi Dench. There's something cheeky yet refined and dignified and worldly without being bitter. It's so far removed from my reality. She's my girl. She's awesome.

IFCTV: Are outsiders always fascinating?

AMY: Yes, even though sometimes we're scared of them. It's a natural curiosity to want to know more about what is different or not like us, although I fear that is fading with the surge of reality shows. Common is becoming the exceptional. Now we're seeking people just like us to validate our existence.

IFCTV: What do you think you were best known for prior to this film?

AMY: It depends on who you ask. A lot of people say "Catch Me if You Can," but then there are diehard "Buffy" fans, where nothing exists except my guest spot on "Buffy."

IFCTV: How has "Junebug" changed your life professionally?

AMY: We will see. I have had some great meetings, but it's yet to be decided. I have a small part in a film with Zach Braff and Amanda Peet. I think it will be interesting challenge to play the antagonist to Amanda Peet. She plays a career woman, who stopped working and had a baby, and she comes back to her hometown and I'm the girl who never left. I'm a crunchy earth mother yoga teacher at the wellness center, aggravatingly poking at her.

IFCTV: What are some movies you love?

AMY: I love Alfred Hitchcock. I'm sort of obsessed with him right now, and I love "The Shawshank Redemption." I think of movies that I can see 100 times. I love "Election" and "O Brother Where Art Thou?" and "Paulie," the one with the parrot. It's my guilty little pleasure. You have to go into it with an open mind, but thematically there are a lot of things I respond to in it. He's trying to find his home — and it makes me cry every time.

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