Oscar nominated for her role in Kinsey, Linney was also nominated for You Can Count On Me (2000), which broke her out from being lost in the big-budget fare typical of her early career (Congo, Dave, Primal Fear). In Kinsey she plays Kinsey's wife - his emotional anchor in very much the same way Jame Joyce's wife Nora was his bedrock, yet was very much cast in his shadow.

You were the first person cast. Did you help to bring Liam to the project, since you had worked with him before?

Liam and I were doing The Crucible on Broadway at the time I found out about Kinsey, so I was sort of hoping that he would sign-up. I knew that because I was working with Liam, Bill [Condon, director] would think about him. And he did.

It must have been useful to play husband and wife in the theatre directly before Kinsey...

Not too many people get to do that, to do a play with someone where you're playing husband and wife for such a long period of time and in a very intense play, and then be able to go into a film with them. It's like your ten steps ahead. Liam and I just work really well together. We don't discuss a whole lot of stuff, you know, we don't seem to have to talk a lot to each other, we just sort of fall into it.

Why do you think Kinsey, who worked in the 40s and 50s, is important now?

Well, I think people are looking at the pendulum sort of swinging back and forth, and as it's swinging, people are starting to look back and try to figure out why, and what happened. His research had such an impact and changed our culture so much that people forgot about the research that put it all in motion. The actual movement became so huge, it changed everybody's perspective in life. People forgot about the spark that caused it and they forgot about him as well. So, I think people are fascinated by men who are able to create change. I mean, it's just a remarkable that one man in the basement of Indiana who used to study gall wasps could have such an effect on American culture and change it forever. It's just amazing!

Would you consider that you're actually in the golden period of your career?

It's certainly a good time. The past few years have been really great.

It makes Congo seem a long time ago...

Thank you so much for bringing that up! I actually have fond feelings for Congo, so I feel like I have to defend it every time it comes up. It's been wonderful. The last few years with The Crucible, Sight Unseen, Kinsey and Mystic River, you know, it's been just great.

Why do you think you get all these roles?

Maybe it's because I will do a lot of things where I work for very little money. I mean a lot of people say there're no parts. There are parts, you just don't get paid for them.

Kinsey is released in UK cinemas on Friday 4th March 2005.