The 30-year-old former Dawson's Creek star, who had five-year-old daughter Mathilda with the late Heath Ledger, said that she has been drawn to dark roles in recent years but the time has come to make a change.
She told The Arizona Republic, 'It wasn't anything premeditated at all. I guess it was just what my subconscious was interested in exploring for the last couple of years.
'I've heard enough now in the past few months from people I respect, from friends and strangers on the street, saying, like, 'Could you do something not as harrowing?' And actually, I think there's something to that - I'm interested myself in what else would excite me.'