A few years after debuting in Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer (at age 15), Kate Bosworth made a splash with surfing flick Blue Crush. More recently, she got down and gritty in real-life crime drama Wonderland before putting on a happy face for romantic comedy Win A Date With Tad Hamilton. Now changing tack once again, Bosworth plays 50s starlet Sandra Dee opposite Kevin Spacey in his Bobby Darin biopic Beyond The Sea.

You've appeared in a varied selection of films. How do you go about choosing your roles and why this one?

For me it's always been about whatever comes along. I'm sent a load of scripts and for some reason I connect with a piece of material at a certain time in my life. This was a little bit unique because I hadn't gotten the script and I was looking for something to do when Kevin [Spacey] called my agent and said he'd like to meet with me. So, you know, I'm a huge fan of Kevin Spacey's so I wasn't about to say, "I'm too busy!" Are you kidding? I was so excited. So I sat down with him and we ended up talking for, like, three hours and just really clicked.

Why did you connect with the role of Sandra Dee?

I think what was most interesting to me was that she had a very specific image but there's so much more to her. She has a lot of tragedy and darkness about her that I found interesting, because she hid it so well.

Of course you have something in common with her because you've both starred in surfing movies...

Yeah, isn't that funny? That to me is just... I feel like life is a big practical joke. And that's just one of them.

Like Dee, your love life is fodder for the press. Was that experience something you could bring to bear here?

No. I didn't really draw on myself very much for this role. It was just something that I really researched a lot and internalised. That was all capped off by the exteriors - the dresses and wigs and stuff. But I really just put myself into her and not the other way around.

Was it helpful or at times awkward to be starring alongside the director?

You know I never felt jarred by him being both my director and co-star. It was incredibly natural because he was so ready and ripe to do this film at this point in his life. I never felt like, "Oh, he's not thinking about playing the scene with me because he's thinking about directing it." He was 150% focussed on the acting and as soon as he'd say, "cut", he'd run around to the monitor and suddenly become the director. He assumed each role so gracefully and naturally - it was really amazing. As a director he had a certain sensitivity to the people around him that, as a seasoned actor, he's learned through experience.

Did you ever get the urge to jump up and sing and dance alongside him?

No! He put so much effort into that and I couldn't do it. The work I don't mind, but I happily leave all that to him. I don't have a background in singing and dancing, although I'm a huge fan of the old movie musicals. I loved them as a little girl growing up so it's no surprise to me that I've done a film like this.

Are you happy with the range of scripts that are now coming your way? It would seem there aren't too many meaty roles for actresses your age.

Mmm. I don't mind holding out for those meatier roles though. I don't mind having a really slow progression to what I want in life. I don't need to be a superstar now, I just like doing good work and if I have to wait for a role that is intriguing to me then I don't mind doing that. I get a wide range of scripts sent to me now, which is kind of cool - everything from comedies to dramas. Next I'm doing this movie called Awake, which is actually going to be shot in London.

What can you tell us about it?

It was written and is being directed by this young English guy [Joby Harold]. Jared Leto and Helen Mirren are going to do it too and it's sort of in the vein of Donnie Darko and Requiem For A Dream. It's difficult to talk about it without giving it away. Jared and I are the main people in it and it's this crazy love story that is a bit supernatural in a way. It's about this wealthy guy who needs a heart transplant and he's been waiting for one and there's this girl he's been with for a while and they're just completely in love and he gets the call for the operation, goes in, and madness ensues once he goes under. He doesn't get enough anaesthesia so he's literally awake during the entire surgery. I think it's going to be really good, because it's incredibly well written and there are some pretty good people getting behind it.