Jessica Biel, who lately has gained more notoriety for being “Mrs. Timberlake,” is proving that she’s still a viable and noteworthy actress. In her newest drama, “The Truth About Emanuel” Biel plays Laya, next door neighbor to Emanuel (Kaya Scoderlario), who bears a striking resemblance to Emanuel’s dead mother. The two women form an intense, secret bond that blurs between reality and fantasy.

Biel says she was attracted to the movie because of the script’s theme of grief, guilt, and shame. In an interview with the Miami Herald, she says, “the tone is hard to verbalize. It was just…weird but fascinating. It was a really small film, and we went in every day knowing we wanted to create something.”

Biel also spoke about staying versatile in Hollywood and not being “type-cast”: “It’s wonderful to get to do different things. I would just be bored only doing big action dramas or romantic comedies. It really is a blessing to do something in the middle. That’s the fun part of the job.”

Biel’s costar Kaya spoke out about starring opposite of Biel and her fear of working with a big name celebrity: “before I knew who had been cast, I was quite worried that they’d get a big celebrity who wouldn’t connect with me…the second I met Jessica, she was a real person, straight away,” Kaya tells Collider. “There were no airs of grace about her. She had such a difficult part to play, but she still took the time, in between takes, to reassure me and to give me some advice. It was the perfect relationship.”

“The Truth About Emanuel” opens in theaters January 10th.

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