Michelle Williams was "obsessed" with preparing for 'Manchester By The Sea'

She said: "While I was preparing for this, I wasn’t doing anything else, so I had time to spare. I spent hours and hours. It was my obsession, my daydream.

"You know you spend so much time waiting in lines, getting something fixed or cooking a simple recipe, and she was what I thought about all of the time. I never treated it like a small part ...

"I like to spend as much time as possible before a project just easing myself in. I think research is helpful and it bears fruit, even in the most circuitous parts you take. I think it’s a way to work through anxiety. It’s also the only way I know how to construct a character."

And the blonde beauty is up for an Oscar at the annual awards ceremony next week but isn't putting too much weight on the results as she "really tries not to attach any feelings" onto success or failure.

She told The Sunday Times magazine: "I really try not to attach any feelings to a state of being, not success or failure. So when somebody says I’ve succeeded, I don’t hang onto it because I know that life is long and things are bumpy - and when somebody says I’ve failed, I don’t hang onto that either. I try to let things bounce off me, so I don’t become locked in one identity. I’m too afraid to let things go and be comfortable. It’s a fact of life. Everything goes up and down."