Her Amy Is True

As any minor erythrocephalologist with a Ph.D from a respectable college might tell you, it’s not easy being red.

Think about it. Throughout western history, gingers have been a persecuted minority. Look at the Sistine Chapel and you’ll see a blonde Eve before the Fall go red just after the business with the apple. She, Judas and all the various biblical villains, if villains they were, are invariably depicted thus.
In literature, meanwhile, the goal posts of beauty have been repeatedly moved to favour the blonde. ‘Flaxen-haired’, a term originally intended to denote a great flaming mop, has been so frequently mistranslated as blonde that it’s been accepted usage for almost 200 years.
But enough is enough. The pigmentally challenged are hitting back with their very own version of Facebook while pioneering actors like Julianne Moore have proved that redheads can play parts that are neither kooky or crazy. And now we have Amy Adams, too.
“I know!” she says. “The redhead thing. I was blonde most of my life and I had to dye my hair for a role. I couldn’t believe the difference when I went red. I just felt ‘wow, I’m home’. It’s great. You do something stupid when you’re blonde and you’re dumb. Do something stupid when you’re red and you’re a character.”
Born on a military base in Italy then relocated to Colorado, Amy Adams was the middle child in a noisy family of seven. An early student of make believe, she performed a little at the Minnesota dinner theatre where she was ‘discovered’ at the age of 20. She made her screen debut in the beauty pageant satire Drop Dead Goegeous in 1999 and has been working steadily ever since, popping up in everything from Buffy The Vampire Slayer to Catch Me If You Can opposite Leonardo Di Caprio.
Two years ago, her career really took off when her remarkable turn in Junebug earned her a swag-bag of awards and an Oscar nomination.
“You see I don’t really think of that as success,” she says. “I mean, I loved the role and was even able to watch a little bit of the movie without running out of the room every time I appeared on screen. But I’ve always been happy just doing the work. I’ve never thought of people recognising you on the street as any measure of success.”
She had better get used to it. As the star of Enchanted, the best Disney film in years, she’s about to become the icon of choice for little girls all over the planet. The clever, beautifully subversive plot sees a bunch of classic Disney cartoon characters come tumbling onto the streets of New York. Amy is Giselle, the princess-in-waiting. Susan Sarandon is the wicked queen on her trail. By the time our pretty-boy prince (James Marsden) comes to our heroine’s aid, she’s made herself at home singing to the rats and roaches of the Big Apple and bonding with Patrick Dempsey (also know as Dr Mc Dreamy from something called Grey’s Anatomy, apparently).
“I loved doing it,” says Amy. “And I’ve loved all the audience reaction so far. Who wouldn’t want to dress up? Well, that’s what I thought. It was difficult because they’re not as light as you think. I couldn’t run and I couldn’t fit through doorways. That must be how women got the reputation of being frail. Anyone would be lugging all that clothing around.”
Oh dear. It seems to have worked out for the best at any rate. The film is terrific and, unusually for a comedy role, there’s already a massive Oscar buzz around Amy’s performance.
“It’s funny because I’m not a comedienne,” she says. “I’m not a funny yuk-yuk person. I’m horrible at telling jokes. But I love playing people who are funny. I’m just hanging on to their coat-tails.”

Enchanted is released December 14