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Jessica Biel Easy Virtue Press Conference

You have that walking down the staircase moment where all conversation stops. When you read that in the script, did you ponder how to make that real or is that every woman's dream?
Jessica Biel: [Laughing] "When it's written in the script it just says, 'And she pauses at the top of the stairs. Everybody stares in awe. And she walks down.' You never think it's going to be 10 seconds of a pause.

'Okay. Now I'm going to go.' I think that just really worked well in this movie because it was a little tongue and cheek. Those few moments are really where Mrs. Whittaker is, I mean, just dying inside that this woman is now in her home and taking over her golden boy. Is it every woman's dream? I don't know. Ladies, what do you think? I guess, yeah, if you're wearing that dress. I mean those dresses were amazing."

Did you change your workout regimen at all to have a body that more closely approximated the 1920's woman?

Jessica Biel: "Definitely, I did. I actually just kind of stopped doing what I normally do. I didn't really have any time. Working out in London I found out was very difficult. It wasn't easy like in L.A. or New York where you can just walk to the gym and do your thing. I literally felt like I couldn't get my routine together. So I just kind of let it go and I think we spent so much time being so cold; I mean we were literally freezing there working. It was so cold. We were wearing silk blouses and really thin slacks.

I think that's what helped keep us all in shape after I found out what a crumpet was and had them every day. They're good."

Director Stephan Elliott talked about how hungry you were to do this role. Why were you willing to go so above and beyond for this performance?

Jessica Biel: Biel: It was a big opportunity for me, I think. It was all on the page. This woman is so interesting and complicated and vulnerable and strong, all the things that you dream of in a character, or at least that I dream of. I don't get many of these opportunities. I don't think that anybody gets many of these opportunities unless you're – I don't know – whoever. I just wanted to take advantage of it. I knew that it could be something really special in the sense that we would make a great movie, and we did. I just wanted him to know that I appreciated the opportunity, that I wouldn't let him down, that I wouldn't let myself down and that I would just work as hard as I possibly could to create the best version of her that I could do. I think that's the way that I always work. It's just important for me to be that way."

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Easy Virtue hits theaters on May 22, 2009 and is rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief partial nudity, and smoking throughout.