<P> Adams took another "fierce woman" part in Paul Thomas Anderson's psychological drama The Master (2012). She played Peggy Dodd, the ruthless and manipulative wife of the leader of a cult (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman). It marked her third and final collaboration with Hoffman, whom she deeply admired, before his death two years later . The organization depicted in the film was deemed by journalists to be based on Scientology; Adams considered the comparison to be misleading but was glad for the attention the film brought to it . Although not a method actor, Adams believed that the intense role had left her on edge in her personal life . Drawing comparisons to Lady Macbeth's character, the critic Justin Chang wrote that Adams' "pertness has rarely seemed so malevolent", and Donald Clarke of The Irish Times commended her for playing the part with "discrete menace". John Patterson of The Guardian noted that a scene in which she chastises Hoffman's character while furiously masturbating him was one of the most significant sequences in the film . Adams was nominated for her fourth Academy Award, and also received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for her supporting part . </P> <P> Clint Eastwood's sports drama Trouble with the Curve, in which she played the estranged daughter of a baseball scout (Eastwood), was Adams' second film release of 2012 . She admired Eastwood's "warm and generous" personality and was pleased with the collaboration . She prepared for the part by learning to catch, pitch, and swing from a baseball coach . The film received mixed reviews, and Roger Ebert took note of how Adams had made a standard role seem valuable . She also played the brief part of a drug addict in On the Road, an ensemble drama based on Jack Kerouac's novel of the same name . </P> <P> After losing out on the role of Lois Lane in two previous films about Superman, Adams secured the part in Zack Snyder's 2013 reboot, Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill as the titular superhero . She played Lane with a mixture of toughness and vulnerability, but Peter Bradshaw thought that the character was "sketchily conceived" and criticized her lack of chemistry with Cavill . Even so, the film earned over $660 million to become one of her biggest box - office hits . Adams next featured in Her, a drama from the writer - director Spike Jonze about a lonely man (Joaquin Phoenix) who falls in love with an operating system (voiced by Scarlett Johansson); Adams played his close friend . She had unsuccessfully auditioned for Jonze's 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are and was hired for Her after Jonze looked back at those tapes . Adams was drawn to the idea of portraying a platonic male - female friendship, which she believed was rare in film . </P> <P> Further success came to Adams when she reteamed with David O. Russell in the crime film American Hustle, co-starring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, and Jennifer Lawrence . Inspired by the 1970s Abscam scandal, the film featured Adams in the rare glamorous part of a seductive con artist, though she played it so that "everything felt justified and it didn't feel like she was just a sexy sociopath". She collaborated closely with Bale to build their characters and made off - screen suggestions to Russell, including for a scene in which she is aggressively kissed on the lips by her lover's wife (played by Lawrence). The experience was grueling for Adams, who later admitted that Russell had been too hard on her and had made her cry frequently; she said that she regretted bringing such a negative experience home to her daughter . American Hustle was acclaimed by critics; Manohla Dargis of The New York Times believed that Adams "goes deeper here than she's ever been allowed to" and wrote that she had successfully "turn (ed) an unpredictable character into a thrillingly wild one". She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical and received her fifth Oscar nomination (her first for Best Actress). Her and American Hustle were deemed by critics to be among the best films of 2013, and they were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture . </P>

Who played lois lane in the man of steel