Amy Ryan chats 'Win Win'

Since picking up an Oscar nomination as the negligent mother at the heart of Gone Baby Gone, Amy Ryan has seen her career surge on both the big and small screen. The New York-born actress played Holly Flax in The Office and had a recurring role in In Treatment, while Changeling and Green Zone kept her busy in movie land. Now she's starring with Paul Giamatti in Win Win, Tom McCarthy's indie drama about a New Jersey family who stumble on a wrestling prodigy (newcomer Alex Shaffer). DS spoke to Amy about collaborating with her old friend McCarthy, playing a good mother and blasting out Bon Jovi in secret...

Did your role in Win Win come about having worked with Tom McCarthy on The Wire?
"I actually knew Tom years before socially - we share a group of friends together and we were neighbours for a while. Tom just called me one day out of the blue and said, 'I'm writing a new film, I have a part for you.' I was very excited because Tom was a filmmaker I had on my wishlist of people I'd hoped to work with one day. We met at an ATM machine, he handed me the script. I knew I was going to say yes before I even read it. That was probably about six months before we started filming, so through that time as we were getting financing together, Tom would email me and ask, 'What do you think of this?' It was exciting to work with him from the beginning. I'd never been involved in that type of process before."

You're playing a very different kind of mother to the one in Gone Baby Gone...
"I remember saying to a friend of mine that I'm playing another mother and he said, 'No, you're going to play a good mother!' I said, 'You're right, they're very different!'"

What did you admire most about Jackie?
"She wasn't just a sounding board for the husband. Tom wrote a real three-dimensional woman. She's someone who speaks her mind and is in the moment, she doesn't back down from her thoughts or her passions. She means what she says and she says what she means. Also, their relationship I loved. Tom from the get-go was telling me and Paul that they have a great relationship, they're not going to break up, that's just not part of who they are. That gives you the permission to really fight and really laugh. They're solid people. Usually in stories there are big problems in the beginning or couples are pulling away, there's a lot of bitterness. It's fun to play happy people."

This is Alex's first movie role. Did yourself and Paul offer him guidance?
"We didn't help him in giving him advice, he was in great hands with Tom. We never spoke up about anything or offered up anything. Maybe we helped him by just including him. I have to say, Alex is quite extraordinary and I don't know if it's his athletic training and discipline; he wasn't intimidated by us. He enjoyed it and he worked very hard at it, learning about how you make film so he really didn't need us."

Jackie has a Bon Jovi tattoo. How do you feel about the band?
"When I was growing up I actually was into Bon Jovi! It was nice to look back on those times. Anthem rocking, it can be fun! It is the stuff you privately blare in your car when no-one else can hear you!"

Good for karaoke songs, as well!
"Exactly! He was very generous to give us his music for the film."

The film takes place in New Jersey and you're from neighbouring New York - is there a difference in how that part of America is portrayed on screen and how it is in real life?
"I think that's what this film does so brilliantly - most film or television here has suburbia or New Jersey as punchlines. This film doesn't do that. It doesn't make fun of these people. They're not garish. It's a part of America. It really in many ways could be set in any small town in America. Tom doesn't make fun of it. I think that's why we care about them. It's nice to portray that."

What's up next for you?
"I'm not sure yet. I'm just sorting through all that. I'm just going to hang out with my family for a while."

Win Win is released in the UK on Friday.