Joel Edgerton connected easily with his Train Dreams character

Joel Edgerton found it straightforward to relate to his character in Train Dreams.

The 51-year-old actor leads the cast of the film as Robert Grainier and explained that he didn't have to stretch himself too far as his alter ego is at a similar stage in life.

Joel told Collider: "Train Dreams was a different experience for me. I guess in terms of the analogy of a tool kit, I realised that for years, like with The Gift or Black Mass or The Great Gatsby, I was looking to play characters that weren't really like me energetically, or had a different rhythm, or a different view on the world.

"It was like a kid reaching into the dress-up box, and I think I like to wear masks. I liked to think that I was less interesting than a character I could play. My favourite actors were character actors and people who disappeared."

The Australian actor continued: "Train Dreams had come along at a time when the character really reflected who I was in my life at this moment, as a husband and as a father, and a person that's constantly wrestling with going away from my family for work, even though I'm not a logger, and that my greatest terrors and fears are all about the safety of my family.

"I realised just how personal a performance this could be for me in Train Dreams, that I didn't need to wear a mask, and I didn't need to play dress-up too much psychologically.

"I could be semi-autobiographical in my approach emotionally to the character and not reach so far from my imagination to imagine what it would be like to be this guy, because I was going through a lot of these experiences as we were shooting."

Train Dreams has been made on a smaller budget than most movies but Joel feels that the characters are key to the picture's appeal.

The Star Wars actor, who has earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for his work in the film, said: "I feel like little movies are like Rocky Balboa at the beginning of the first Rocky movie. You just want a shot. You want a shot at reaching an audience. You want a shot at nestling in with the bigger things.

"But I do believe that a movie like this succeeds because of the kind of human budget, the imperative is always that the characters and the human beings resonate with audiences.

"Because no matter how big the spectacle is, maybe the pressure is even higher to make sure that the human story within it has a significant kind of pull for audiences.

"So, in that sense, a small movie can be as big as a big movie. It can resonate as loudly. And I think Train Dreams is one of those things."