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Amy Adams found more of a personal connection to her Nightbitch role than fans might expect.

During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly at the red carpet premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday, November 20, Adams, 50, reflected on the most relatable aspects of filming Nightbitch, particularly as a mother. (Adams shares 14-year-old daughter Aviana with Darren Le Gallo.)

“This idea of transformation and how your world around you can change,” Adams explained. “Your community changes [when you become a parent] and it takes a while to land on your feet and find your new community.”

In Nightbitch, which premieres December 6, Adams plays a stay-at-home mom who is caring for an energetic toddler. Based on Rachel Yoder’s novel of the same name, Adams’ character begins to turn into a dog at night. The film also stars Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, Jessica Harper and Archana Rajan.

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Adams worked alongside child actors Arleigh and Emmett Snowden, who played her son in the movie, and admitted to facing some unexpected challenges on set.

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“The painting scene was hard because Arleigh and Emmett, they were so spontaneous and they really got into it,” Adams told Us. “And what you see is only the smallest glimpse of the shenanigans they got up to.”

She continued: “So trying to stay stoic and act like I was disapproving while at the same time thinking it was sort of like the best thing I’ve ever filmed. That was a really special moment.”

While celebrating the movie’s premiere, director Marielle Heller spoke with Us about the message she hopes viewers will take away.

“[For mothers], there’s still such a taboo about talking about our bodies and what we actually go through — not just when we become mothers — but as we age,” she explained. “In the same way that you don’t want a young girl who’s getting her first period to feel like she’s going to bleed to death, you want women to understand what they’re going to go through in the course of becoming a mother.”

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Heller wanted the movie to feel relatable for mothers. “You can never fully tell someone, but maybe you can make it feel like less of a lonely experience if they can see that they’re not alone in all of those feelings that come up from that,” she added. “I think I [fall] victim to the sort of Instagram culture that made me think I was doing everything wrong. Moms really get the like, ‘Oh, you should do this, you should do that.’”

The filmmaker, a mom of two, acknowledged that her husband, comedian Jorma Taccone, “never experienced” the same type of scrutiny.

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“He just didn’t have people coming up and giving him their opinion about how he should be doing his parenting,” Heller continued. “So I hope that this movie makes people feel a little less lonesome in that experience and hopefully feel like I can give myself a little more grace and more of a break that we’re all doing the best we can.”

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Not only could Adams relate to the experience of motherhood showcased in Nightbitch, but some of the more animalistic moments in the film also came naturally to her.

“Probably eating the meatloaf, if I’m going to be honest,” she shared on Wednesday with Us and other reporters when asked about channeling her inner canine. “Eating the meatloaf with my hands, does that make me a bad person?”

With reporting by Mariel Turner