Joan Allen doesn’t chase after movie roles for a paycheck; she’s more concerned about the art of the work. After graduating from Northern Illinois University in 1976, she became a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble and has won many stage awards,   including a Tony in 1989 for her debut Broadway performance in Burn This.

While many film fans may not recognize Allen’s name, mention The Contender, The Crucible or Nixon, the three films for which she received Best Actress Oscar nominations, and there’s an immediate face to the name. Sitting next to her today, I realize that face is absolutely lovely. Her light blonde hair glimmers with just a hint of strawberry and frames her beautiful complexion. The orange floral trimmed dress she’s wearing is as uplifting as her joyful personality.

Allen recently starred with Kevin Costner in The Upside of Anger. She is married to stage and film actor Peter Friedman and the couple have one daughter, Sadie.

In her new film YES, Allen once again turns in a commanding performance. This time she’s an Irish-American woman working in London as a molecular biologist who discovers her husband (Sam Neill) has been unfaithful. She begins a passionate romance with a Lebanese chef (Simon Abkarian) and the plot intertwines between the love story and the cultural and political differences in the world.

Writer/director Sally Potter wrote part of the dialogue in rhyme.

How much freedom did you have to interrupt the rhythms?

ALLEN: A fair amount actually. Some of it has its own rhythm, but within the structure of the rhyme there’s a lot of freedom. Sally wanted it to be emotionally true more than anything, and then the words would come out as emotional content.

It seemed very subliminal in the film.

ALLEN:  That was our objective, to make it accessible conversationally. Most people who see it and aren’t aware of the rhyming become aware about half way through and go, ‘oh, this is rhyme!’ and I love that that’s what it does. It would be horrible to turn people off thinking its all verse.

Were there many last many revisions on the set?

ALLEN: We had three weeks of rehearsal and Sally would tweak some things. She’d be counting the number of syllables in the rhymes, and that was really cool to watch her do that.

What drew you to the film?

ALLEN: When I saw Sally Potter’s name on the script I thought I’m probably going to do this no matter what, cause I love her work so much. Then I read the script and thought it was very rich and a great character to work on with Sally and it was. It was an incredible experience making it.

How was it to work with Simon Abkarian, and do you speak French?

ALLEN: It was a really wonderful, joyful experience. I don’t speak French, and I was embarrassed because Sally speaks French very well, and it was a global cast and crew. Simon and I worked wonderfully well on our relationship, and I think a lot of that was because we have both had extensive theater backgrounds. He has his own theater company in Paris, and I was part of the theater company for many years, and there’s that sense of -- the most important thing -- which is the story, and I think we both approached our work in a similar way, so interesting things happened.

You have some very sensuous moments in this film, and recently did a nude scene in Off the Map. Is your career taking on new dimensions?

ALLEN:  Working in the garden in the nude, that took some decisions. I didn’t decide to do that right away. They had a body double ready, but I started getting superstitious that if I didn’t do it, I would be cheating the character somehow. I said, ‘I think I won’t understand this film unless I do it,’ and the way Campbell Scott handled it, and the fact that it wasn’t a sex scene, made a big different to me. I characterize it as my National Geographic shot, cause she’s naked in the garden and mesmerized by a coyote. I think it’s innocent that sort of way.

Is image important to you?

ALLEN: This business is tough, and Sally familiarized me with a term the other day when talking about what is the hardest part of this business, financing. It’s difficult and she struggled, ultimately making it for a million dollars. She said it’s a very risk-averse atmosphere we live in. So as an actor I like to do different things and if no one is willing to take that chance on as their financial risk, then you get put into a place that maybe you don’t want to necessarily stay in. I did Nixon, Ice Storm and The Crucible within a year and a half and Pleasantville shortly thereafter, so those all happened very quickly, and to me at the time that they were vastly diffident characters. It’s only in retrospect after some journalists have pointed it out to me, that they have a strong moral center. I’ve done the best of those roles, am proud of all of those films, they were interesting characters, but I don’t want to do that anymore. The vein has collapsed for the junkie (she says with a pleasant smile); it’s not going to give anymore. So fortunately I had Campbell Scott come along who so wanted me to do that film and for many years was trying to get it financed.

You have Pushers Needed coming out this later this year; anything you're working on now and how do you occupy your off time?

ALLEN:  Nothing at the moment. I have an 11-year-old daughter (Sadie) and actually that’s great. Because I’m often away from her for 2 –3 months at a time. But then if I don’t work for 6 to 9 months, then I’m with her and that’s the upside of what I do.

Has she seen this film?

ALLEN: No. I don’t think I can explain the restaurant scene, yet. She loved Off the Map, it’s a nature shot really, and she saw it 2 or 3 times and cried at the end.

How do you feel about the tug-of-war between seasoned actresses and the new young ones?

ALLEN: I’ve done 25 films and 30 or so plays and worked with great people. I love my work but I don’t want to do movies back to back. It was Off the Map, The Notebook, Yes, Upside of Anger, and Bourne Supremacy within two years. I like stepping back and having time and living life, for me that matters a lot.

Would you be happy if you never acted again?

ALLEN: Possibly. I’d like to do more, but I wouldn’t be destroyed if I didn’t. I wouldn’t miss it.

What would you like to do next?

ALLEN:  I’d like to do more comedy. I had a great time on Upside of Anger. Many parts of it were great fun. I think it’s cool when there are actors who are coupling that are somewhat authentic, and there was a mini version of that with Kevin and I. We were of similar age, tying to have an adult relationships with all the baggage that goes along with it.

Do you have a Plan B?

ALLEN: I think I’d be a good cleaner, especially after Sally’s movie. I attract dirt a lot and I like the psychological part about dirt …

Somehow I don’t think Joan Allen will have to put her Plan B into action anytime soon.

(Photo: Joan Allen in Yes, a film released by Sony Pictures Classics.) 

Read Diana Saenger's reviews of classic films at http://classicfilm.about.com.