Amy Adams has taken an unexpected turn in her acting career, as she appears in the role of modest and infamously defrauded painter Margaret Keane in Tim Burton's forthcoming biographical drama 'Big Eyes'.

Amy Adams and Margaret Keane
Amy Adams meets the real Margaret Keane

It seems that Amy Adams has been displaying a string of hugely ambitious and massively extroverted characters in recent years: from dedicated cult leader Peggy Dodd in 'The Master' and drug-taking Beat Generationer Joan Vollmer in 'On The Road, to professional con-artist Sydney Prosser in 'American Hustle' and, of course, high-flying journalist Lois Lane in 'Man Of Steel'. Adams had been taking a serious interest in strong-willed female figures, and admits she was 'at a time where I wanted to play really confident characters'.

Watch the trailer for 'Big Eyes' here:


However, when Tim Burton's 'Big Eyes' came along, it seemed like female character in this story was a little more introverted than her usual roles, but the story appealed to her all the same. 'Margaret is complicated, like most human beings', Adams explains. 'She's definitely a little shyer, and she's very humble. That's one of the qualities about her that I think allowed her to be manipulated.' 

More: What can we expect from 'Big Eyes'?

The story is based on the 50s and 60s writer, who famously allowed her husband Walter Keane (played by Christoph Waltz in the movie) to take credit for her intriguing paintings of women and children with extra large eyes, after he claimed that they would become more successful if people thought a man was the artist. They did indeed subsequently become extremely wealthy, but Margaret soon found her voice and took to the courtroom to unveil the dramatic truth. 

Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz in 'Big Eyes'
Amy Adams brings Margaret Keane to life in 'Big Eyes'

Due to the nature of the story, and Margaret's own modesty, there was little in the way of biographical material available for Adams to research for her own on-screen portrayal, and so she decided to pay Margaret a visit at her San Francisco gallery. 'That was most beneficial, to see this woman and understand that yes, there is this humility, but there's this strength and this sense of humor', Adams reveals. 'I didn't want to pry, but I wanted to get an understanding of who she was and how this could have happened. What I came to was her gentle nature.'

More: Christoph Waltz set to play yet another unpleasant character

And it seems Margaret herself, who happens to make a brief cameo in the flick, couldn't have been more happy with who producers chose to play her. 'When I first saw her with the wig on it was a shock', she admits. 'It was like seeing myself 50 years ago! She was absolutely perfect.'

More: Amy Adams appeared in 'Man Of Steel' in 2013

'Big Eyes' is set to hit movie theaters on Christmas Day.