Claire Danes is very plain-pretty, which works really well in her favor as she stars in “Shopgirl,” opening this week. Based on the bestselling novella by Steve Martin, “Shopgirl” is directed by Anand Tucker (“Hilary and Jackie”) and co-stars Martin and Jason Schwartzman. In “Shopgirl,” Danes plays Mirabelle, a Vermont native living in Los Angeles who finds herself lost in love between two very different men.

Below, Danes talks about starring in the film adaptation with Martin.

Q: You have to pull off a difficult task of not having a skip in your step at the beginning, but then appear to find happiness as the movie progresses…

CLAIRE: That was all intentional, actually. I can say that and mean that! Anand was very careful to plot the moments. In the beginning, he really wanted to emphasize my stillness, which was scary because it’s hard to trust that that’s going to be enough, that the audience is going to remain engaged with her when she seems to be giving very little. I think it was going to be important to show [that] she starts to find joy by physically articulating it at some point.

Q: Have you ever met anyone like Ray that can’t seem to commit to truly loving someone?

CLAIRE: I’ve not met anyone like that. [laughs] Personally, no, but it’s easy to extrapolate. That’s my job. It’s to find the kernel of truth and just exaggerate and exaggerate to an appropriate scale. These aren’t alien creatures. These are all pretty acceptable and pretty common. But that’s what I think makes it ironically striking.

Q: How did you react when you got the role and was there any trepidation on your part?

CLAIRE: Well I was thrilled when I learned the opportunity arose. I had read the book and was really affected by it. I knew a lot of people who were so I’m not very special for having been moved by it. But I was and I couldn’t have been in more exquisite company. I loved “Hilary and Jackie” and so I felt comfortable that Anand would render the story to its subtlety and depth and smarts. Steve has really been a hero of mine forever. It was a total joy and I really felt capable. Sometimes I am more nervous than others about inhabiting characters because they sometimes seem a little unacceptable. But this one was more vivid because she was so well-written.

Q: How was it to star on-screen with Steve given that he wrote the book and the screenplay? How was that dynamic?

CLAIRE: Steve was incredibly generous. Immediately, he made it very clear that if Jason and I ever needed to rework a scene, we had license to. He was great that way so I never felt confined or pressured to do something that was not intuitive. I never had to do that because the material was incredibly thorough; there was enough there. Also, [it’s] because I’m methodical and I’d rather commit to something rather than rework it. So that was good because that made me feel much more relaxed than I could have. It became our story and Steve made it possible. He shared it. He’s been doing it for a long time. I think anybody who knows how to make a good movie knows that it’s a collaborative undertaking. To deny that is really dangerous. I was really impressed by that because he could’ve been possessive and territorial or stingy but he was the antithesis.

Q: Hollywood doesn’t make romance movies like this anymore and we were wondering why you think that is?

CLAIRE: It seems like the most successful, iconic love stories are not so easy or escapist. I think the ones that stay with us, that resonate, are full of conflicts, discord, and misunderstanding. That’s what makes drama happen, or even tension if it’s comedy. I think people who make movies have a lot of money invested in them and get frightened. If they challenge an audience, they’ll repel them. The opposite is really true but it takes confidence and courage to know that and commit to that

"Shopgirl" opens this Friday.