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Katie Holmes talks about challenge of playing an emotionless character in 'The Giver'

"It was interesting to play someone who has no emotion," Holmes said at a recent New York press conference.

By Karen Butler
Katie Holmes arrives on the red carpet at the Costume Institute Benefit celebrating the opening of Charles James: Beyond Fashion and the new Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 5, 2014. UPI/John Angelillo
Katie Holmes arrives on the red carpet at the Costume Institute Benefit celebrating the opening of Charles James: Beyond Fashion and the new Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 5, 2014. UPI/John Angelillo | License Photo

NEW YORK, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Actress Katie Holmes admits it was a tremendous challenge to play a mother in a world where emotion is medically controlled in the film The Giver.

Directed by Phillip Noyce and co-starring Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges, Taylor Swift and Odeya Rush, The Giver is based on Lois Lowry's 1993 novel of the same name. Set in a society that has forsaken passion and freedom for order and peace, the film tells the story of what happens when teenager Jonas is selected to learn about life outside the community's boundaries. Holmes plays the stern woman who raised Jonas.

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"It was challenging and Phillip was reminding us not to touch each other, which I find to be something you just do naturally as a mother and as a human being," Holmes said at a recent New York press conference. "That was one of the things. But I just approached it as a mother whose child is leaving the nest. That's what kind of made the character real to me. It was interesting to play someone who has no emotion, yeah."

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So, has her real-life 8-year-old daughter Suri seen the film and, if so, what does the actress want her to learn from it?

"Thank you for asking," Holmes replied. "She's a little young, but very excited to be a part of this, and I think that so many people who have read the book are going to be so happy with this adaptation."

Suri is Holmes' only child with her ex-husband, actor Tom Cruise.

The Giver is in theaters now.

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