Judd, Adams Return To Southern Roots

Several years ago, actress Joey Lauren Adams decided to write a screenplay. Now the movie she wrote and directed, "Come Early Morning," which stars Ashley Judd, is receiving great reviews.

It's sort of a homecoming for the two Southern actresses — especially Judd, who has been away from the public eye for some time. Judd said she knew she wanted to be part of this movie as soon as she read the script.

"The writing was so beautiful, and it was deceptively simple," she told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "You know, there was nothing pretentious or overwrought about it, but it was so evocative and rich. And I thought, this is a great piece of material and I want to be involved with it."

Adams, a successful actress who recently appeared in "The Break-Up," said she wanted to write and direct because she felt she was often typecast.

"I don't think I was fully satisfied acting," she said. "You know, the girlfriend role or the best friend role, and that wasn't enough for me."

She said her manager sent her to audition for a role about an ex-model turned Navy Seal and she thought, "I'm just not right." Adams said working on "Come Early Morning" kept her busy on days she didn't have an audition.

"I wanted to see a female character I related to and a movie about the South that was honest and true to my experience," she said.

The movie is about a woman coming in to her own. Judd's character Lucy drinks a lot and has issues with intimacy. She is at an emotional crossroads.

"We see her in the movie repeating the same behavior over and over and over again, but expecting different results, and being frustrated with the world and grandparents and dad and boys she meets out in the bar." Judd said. "She can't feel better, but she's doing the same thing over and over again."

Lucy's struggle with her sense of self-worth is one that is familiar to many women. Even Judd went to a treatment center for depression. She said the most important thing anyone struggling should realize is that he or she cannot change other people, but can take responsibility for themselves.

"Another really key part for me is that I start to find the God of my understanding," Judd said. "It's not my grandmother's, it's not my dad's. It's a relationship with higher power, if you will, that makes some sense to me."

Adams said she hopes people who see the film come away with the message that everyone can find the God within themselves.

"You know, instead of trying to look ... to other people to fill you up ... finding, you know, the God within yourself, because I believe he's there," she said. "Everyone's searching other places — in men and family and drugs and drinking and food. It's like the wizard of Oz. You have slippers on the whole time you find out at the end."

In addition to making movies, Judd also does humanitarian work. She said being a spokeswoman for Youth AIDS International has become her real job.

"It started out as my intention when I was in college," she said. "I was always a rabble-rouser and walking out of classes and stirring things up, which I enjoyed a lot. And now I've been given the great opportunity to visit worldwide, very effective, very hopeful grassroots prevention programs in developing countries. We serve the most poor and the most vulnerable."

Judd said a documentary about the fight against AIDS will air on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, on the Learning Channel.