Q: What are the other films?

Amy: I did Ms. Pedigrew Lives for a Day with Frances McDormand where I play a 1930s cabaret singer, very ambitious girl who Frances McDormand's character sort of, we meet each other and have this fantastic day together. And then I did Charlie Wilson's Role which is being released. A couple little actors. I play a congressional administrative assistant to Tom Hanks's character, so she's sort of His Gal Friday.

Q: How fun was that?

Amy: It was so much fun. Just to be on that set and learn from these people and get to watch Philip Seymour Hoffman and Tom Hanks do these amazing scenes together, directed by Mike Nichols, it was for me like going to school.

Q: Did you work much with Julia Roberts?

Amy: We had a scene together. One very fun scene.

Q: Are you prepared for this movie to catapult you to a different level?

Amy: I haven't thought about it.

Q: You should start.

Amy: You know, what can you do about it? It's sort of like I honestly have had so many- - I've been nominated for an Oscar and still managed to live in relative anonymity and did Catch Me. Right now, I guess I'll have to deal with it all as it comes.

Q: Did Junebug's Oscar nomination open a lot of doors for you?

Amy: I don't know if it's the nomination or the attention that it brought to Junebug, but it also I think brought people's attention to my previous work. I got a long time without people making the connection to all my different films and all my different acting things so I think it's the firs time where I was really identified. I think it absolutely has brought amazing opportunities and introduced me to so many people and it was just a really wonderful experience.

Q: How does it feel to have a doll of yourself?

Amy: It's pretty surreal. My mom called yesterday morning and was like, "I keep looking at that box and that picture looks like I dressed you up for Halloween as a princess." Leave it to your mom to put it in perspective. "It's just so unreal."

Q: Is she still at the coffee shop?

Amy: No, she's not. She's not working at Starbucks anymore.

Q: How do you stay grounded at this point, ignoring the hype?

Amy: Yeah, I feel- - I'm so busy. I also just surround myself with people who are pretty honest with me. I'd like to believe they're honest with me. They're not afraid to tell me no and that's to me the most important thing or to let me know when I've stepped out of line and I have a really great support group. I think that's the key.

Q: Who's your favorite Disney princess?

Amy: I like Cinderella. She had a good work ethic, you know.

Q: Are you signed for a sequel?

Amy: I believe that's in the contract.

Q: Have they talked to you yet?

Amy: No, they haven't really pitched any ideas to me. I kind of don't want to speculate yet. I'd rather, unless they're really interested in me coming into a creative meeting which we'll see, but I would rather enjoy this process right now rather than think about that.

Q: Working with Alan Menken on the songs, and was there an additional song that got cut?

Amy: No, all of the songs that I worked on are in the film. I was terrified. I was so scared. I don't know, not scared, I think I just was so anxious, I really wanted to do a good job. I grew up listening to Alan Menken's music like A Part of Your World. I tormented the high school with that song for years, so I really wanted to live up to that standard so I did do a lot of training on my voice. I'd done musical theater prior but I'd been more of a dancer so I wasn't considered a solo singer. I did work very hard and they ended up, I was afraid they were going to be such toughies, but they ended up being so gracious with Jimmy and I. I think they were just so thrilled that we actually sang that they were really supportive and really allowed us to feel as though we could succeed in doing this. I mean, I knew Jimmy could. He's flawless.

Q: What was it like singing a duet with him?

Amy: It was great.

Q: Did you know he sang when you first met?

Amy: I didn't, no, and then I heard his voice and I was like oh, I was a puddle. Any girl would be. He's just dreamy.

Q: Do you have a favorite song?

Amy: Of my three songs? I think I like That's How You Know. That was the hardest one for me to sing.

Q: Do you have any musical aspirations outside of movies?

Amy: No, I won't be doing an album. I would love to do musicals. I'm realistic about where my voice sits and it doesn't sit in the pop world. I could try but it would not do well.

Q: How did you get the musical tone of the character right?

Amy: I did listen to a lot of Disney princesses because they wanted the first number to be reminiscent of a more Snow White feel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, softer, more lilting. And as she becomes more real, into the real world, we bring it up to a more current style with That's How You Know which is much more of a Broadway showstopper style of song. If you'll notice, the songs continue to progress throughout the film. It goes into So Close which is a lot more poppy and then we end up with Carrie Underwood's Ever Ever After which is a country rock ballad. So the music continues to evolve and I did pay a lot of attention to that and that was part of what I trained to do was try to sing in that sort of operetta style, then also doing a more Broadway style.

Q: Working with all the animals, how many were there and how many were CGI?

Amy: We had a whole room full of live rats and pigeons. Not all of them. You can't train them to scrub a toilet. I've tried. I would love if you could train animals to do the dirty work, but we did have live rats and pigeons and no cockroaches. I don't work with cockroaches.

Q: Any bad moments during those days?

Amy: The pigeons were testy. They would start picking at each other. I think a couple of them were trying to meet some gals, if you know what I mean. There were a couple that were like these guys and you'd have to put them away because he would fluff up. There was this one and he was just [imitates bird call], you know that loud noise that they make? So, he had to go. He was too frisky.