'Sharp Objects' stars Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson talk of their new show, and family

Los Angeles — We recently met with the lovely, talented and award-winning actresses Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson in Beverly Hills for their new HBO TV eight-episode mini-series entitled “Sharp Objects.”

The Jean-Marc Vallee-helmed psychological thriller, which is based on Gillian Flynn’s debut novel of the same name, stars Amy as Camille Preaker, an emotionally troubled journalist who returns to her hometown to cover the murders of two pre-teen girls.

Patricia meanwhile plays Adora Crellin, the neurotic and hypochondriac socialite mother of Camille.

Both talk of their series, their roles, and their own relationships with their parents among others. Below are excerpts of our conversations with them:

Amy Adams

Amy Adams. Photo courtesy of Janet Susan R. Nepales/HFPA

On what it means to go back home:

I find, at least within my own dynamic and in my friends' and relatives', that going home often brings you back into the drama which invited you to leave. So you sometimes fall into the roles that you adopted, healthy or unhealthy as a child, and it's really hard to break out of those patterns, especially if they're dysfunctional. It's easy to get pulled back in.

On why mother and daughter relationship makes good drama:

Yeah, they do a number to one another. They definitely seem to have an allergic reaction to one another. But it's just such built-in drama that it's very easy for people to identify with because it's a relationship that whether present or absent, we all have a mother and a father and how we identify ourselves inside of those relationships and how they affect us for the rest of our life. It's natural built-in drama.

Someone had said to me — I was so worried about being a perfect parent — 'well, if you're perfect, then she'll be going to therapy because you were too perfect and she'll never live up to it.' So, you just let go of it. I think, especially a mother-daughter relationship because the same sex parent always has a very interesting effect on their offspring.

On whether her awards and nominations affect her decision to choose roles:

No, it's one of those things that, I tend to be the type of personality that puts a lot of pressure on myself. So instead of it creating freedom inside of myself, then I always feel like I have a responsibility to do my best. I would love to say like all the accolades give me more confidence, but in some way, it creates a pressure that I put on myself to try something new or do something different.

As I'm maturing, I'm letting go of that a little bit and enjoying what I get to do without that internal pressure. But I wouldn't be where I am today without the nominations. I have to say I think that it made a huge difference in my career because I got a late start. So it brought attention to roles that maybe people wouldn't have paid attention to previously.

On a role that she still want to do:

I'm constantly looking for that. I always think it's the thing that I'm doing next is the thing that I want to do. So I'm getting ready to work with Joe Wright on a “Woman in the Window”. I'm really looking forward to that. I think I've done a lot of really heavy stuff.

I want to do a comedy or a musical next, something where I can implement some lightness because I really do enjoy having that contrast. It's time to do something a little lighter after that because, I really love psychological examinations of characters, but I'm definitely ready to do that inside of something that is uplifting

On how she deals with her heavy roles when she goes home:

I have insomnia, so I wake up and sometimes there’s a residual effect of it. But it became really important to me at some point in my career to learn how to do that. So that's something I strive towards whether I come home and try to do something grounding. If I have time, I'll come home, I'll make dinner or I'll do homework, something that feels very normal and something that gets me back into my own skin.

No, I don't have any nightmares. Maybe it's because I watched so much “Law and Order” I'm immune to all the crime stories. It’s more insomnia to be honest, so I'll just wake up and be filled with anxiety and not know where it's coming from and I’m like, oh, actually this isn't my anxiety, this is my character's anxiety that I haven't dealt with.

On her relationship with her parents when she was a kid:

Honestly, the things I clashed about with my parents primarily, they weren't necessarily clashes. I kept a messy room so that was never popular.  My mom always wanted to challenge me outside of my comfort zone and I tended to be very fearful. I remember one time, she took me rock climbing and I started freaking out. She wouldn't let me down. She's like, nope, there's only one way, it's up. But I wasn't a disciplinary problem.

On how she spends time with her 8-year-old daughter, Aviana Olea Le Gallo:

We hang out. I like to get out of the house with her. Do you know what I mean? I get a little stir crazy because she likes to play dolls and for some reason, I don't know why I have an aversion to playing dolls. And she's like, you're so good at it.

So I try to do activities like plant a garden or go for a hike or go to parks or go to museums. I try to engage. She takes ballet. We take ballet at the same place at the same time. So we'll go there together.

Yes, I came back to ballet about seven or eight months ago. But I'm trying to take it easy because I keep hurting myself. So I have to take all these breaks.

Patricia Clarkson

Patricia Clarkson. Photo courtesy of Janet Susan R. Nepales/HFPA

On how it was being raised by her politician mother, Jackie Clarkson:

My mother is a true egalitarian. She loves the city of New Orleans. She never left during Katrina. She is the only politician who never left. She was on the city council and then became President of the city council for many, many years. She came through two mayors, one's in jail, but she loves him and she was there. She loved Ray Nagin before things went a little awry. She loves Mitch Landrieu, our current mayor who's quite stunning.

She imparted to me the power of community service as well as the importance of public education, and the importance of giving back. My mother's given back her whole life. I think she made $48,000 a year. She went seven days a week, 16 hours a day. She's about to be 83. She's still with us, thank God. She sold real estate before that to help pay for five college educations. I have true real adoration and love for my mother even though she drives me crazy.

On how she remains to have this joy for life despite portraying brutal characters:

That's the French in me. I've done a few interviews about this for HBO, and I've played some dark characters before. In a way, the fact that I had a rather good and decent and deeply loving childhood, in an odd way, it lets me go to the darker zones because it's so horrifying to me to.

For people to not have that, to be deprived of that. I have a very vivid imagination. I have very strong emotional life that I've had since I was a child. And the only outlet for me was acting. My sisters called me “the Banshee.”

On growing up with four sisters:

I don't think I would have wanted brothers because I really love my sisters. I have four older sisters. They're remarkable women.

My mother has raised five very, very strong women. We all have real jobs, true accomplishments and beautiful children.  The three middle sisters have children. I love my nieces and nephews more than life itself. I loved this all female household.

My father is still with us, thank God. He was in a house of six women and I don't think there was enough red wine. I think because I grew up in this incredibly estrogen-fueled house, I never questioned my strength, my ability as a woman. I don't remember ever thinking, I can't do this. Should I do this? What can I, how can I, I never thought that way. Never as a young girl.  I just knew I could do and be what I wanted.

I saw it in my sisters going off to school. One's a lawyer.  My oldest sister is an epidemiologist. I have a sister who's a school teacher. They all are very accomplished. We are very different women, but we love each other in a profound way. What is most beautiful about them is that there is not envy of my rather large life and the fame I have, and now money. This kind of jet set life.  They are my biggest fans and they remain that. They are truly beautiful and they're excited for me. They really are, and I'm thankful for them. Very thankful.

On women roles:

Yes, we need quantity of course, but it has to be quality. I think more studios, and small studios in particular, the great smaller financiers, people funding, five million dollar movies, ten million and under are more motivated, more intrigued and more anxious to make a film starring a woman, directed by a woman, produced by.

They're eager to have that, to be a part of that. It's not that people shunned it before. We just didn't realize how many films and how much was made, but you didn't look at like this HBO. I know it's by Jean-Marc Vallée, but it's all women--- women producers, women writers. They're coming off “Big Little Lies.”  This is the double header.  Woman, woman, woman, woman, women everywhere. It's gorgeous.”

On working with Amy Adams:

Working with Amy was a dream and no, we came together as actresses and she's a beautiful, really beautiful, stunning woman. First and foremost, she's a beautiful mother and wife. She has a lovely husband, a very hot husband. I'm like, hey, is your husband coming to visit? He's a gorgeous painter too.

But we got on well and that is important. The darkest places you go come from love first. You have to have mutual respect and love. That's the diving platform and then you jump. But you have to have respect and a mutual connection. Then you go forward. I really have great love, respect and admiration for Amy. — LA, GMA News