Laura Dern hasn't experienced this level of intense curiosity on a press junket since reporters were clamoring to know what it was like to work with the dinosaurs in 'Jurassaic Park.' But playing Florida's former Secretary of State Katherine Harris in 'Recount,' she finds herself at the center of a renewed debate about what happened to the election in 2000. Even during filming, whenever the cast and crew would retire for dinner, conversation usually turned to Harris. "She was definitely the one they loved to hate," says Dern. "Danny was like, 'Oh my God, I gotta do a whole other movie just of Katherine Harris!'"

From the first look of shock as she emerges from the elevator to face a phalanx of cameras, Dern captures Harris's deer-in-the-headlights experience — while simultaneously making you fear for the driver of the 4x4 headed her way. But the actress never met her doppelganger. Instead, Dern relied on Danny Strong's script and Harris's autobiography, along with news footage of the secretary from the recount. "It was like twenty different people showed up in one press conference," Dern says. "There was the person presenting, 'I'm on top of my game,' with this sort of armor that she'd created with her makeup and hair. But, then there was a person that seemed deeply terrified, and didn't really understand that people were going to be able to ask questions. She'd move from covering, to blank face, to emotional, to triumphant, to terrified in a second. I had never seen so many gestures and mannerisms. It was a field day for an actor.... I couldn't believe that was legal to have that much fun."

So did she end up feeling sympathy for Harris? "You can have understanding and empathy for a narcissist and not respect their narcissism," she says. "It's a complicated relationship that I had, exploring her."