Sissy Spacek's "normal, boring" life in the Virginia countryside is better preparation than one might think for an actress.
It gives her precious time to think.While driving the kids to soccer games or standing in line at the grocery store she has time to ponder whatever character she's doing next, well before leaving her family and farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains to head for work.
"I love having this thing in my mind, this character or personality I'm working on," she said. "I can be doing that for a long time, getting ready, while I'm doing all these normal, boring things."
Her latest project is "Beyond the Call," airing Sunday on Show-time.
Spacek, 46, plays a Connecticut woman drawn into the death row appeal of a former lover. She becomes convinced that her old flame was mentally unhinged by service in the Vietnam War and that the killing for which he is sentenced to die was a tragic accident.
As she becomes more involved in the case, her marriage and solid suburban life suffer.
"It's wrenching, but it hurts good," said Spacek, who has been nominated for five Academy Awards and won the best-actress Oscar in 1979 for "Coal Miner's Daughter."