Felicity Jones has revealed she had to resist using alcohol to help her cope with the challenging role of playing a terminal cancer sufferer.
The Oscar-nominated actress stars in the upcoming film A Monster Calls, playing the mother of a boy who tries to cope with the trauma of her illness by befriending a tree monster, voiced by Liam Neeson.
At the film's gala screening in Toronto, Jones said she met women affected by cancer to help her prepare for the role and admitted it was often difficult to switch off after filming on set.
"It definitely stays with you when you've finished at the end of the day," she told the Press Association.
"It takes a bit of time to decompress when you come back and you have to resist the temptation to just have a drink or something. You have to let it percolate in your mind."
Jones, who was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her role in The Theory Of Everything, stars in A Monster Calls alongside Sigourney Weaver, who plays her mother.
The Aliens star said filming scenes near Manchester was "perfect" for the film because the location appeared "kind of a challenging place to live".
"It was a sort of half-scary place. It was always overcast," Weaver told the Press Association.
"It looked like kind of a challenging place to live in some ways, with the weather and everything. It was so dramatic and perfect for our story."
A Monster Calls is based on the best-selling novel by Patrick Ness. Scottish actor Lewis MacDougall plays the young boy in the film, which is directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, whose previous work includes The Impossible and The Orphanage.
A Monster Calls is due to be released in UK cinemas in January.