twisted wife of a cult leader played by the late philip seymour hoffman. >> if we don't do that, we will lose every battle that we are engaged in. we will never dominate our environment the way we should unless we attack. >> her chilling performance seemed to obliterate her squeaky clean image and led to her darkest role to date. >> and i'm going to get really close with richie, the cop. in case we need to use him. if we need another move. >> in "american hustle" adams went deeper than she ever had. she disappeared into the seductive, scheming sidney. a stripper turned con artist with a bogus identity. >> there are times when she doesn't know where she comes from. as an audience member watching it, i can imagine that must be frustrating. is she kidding him? is she not? is she lying to him? is she not? i don't know that she always knows. i felt that in playing her. >> no one's really seen you in a part like this before. >> yeah. it was kind of gross to play. i don't think she's a character that operates very well in her