Sally Hawkins agreed to do 'The Shape of Water' before reading the script

Actress Sally Hawkins, who is a frontrunner for this year's Oscar race in the 'Best Actress' category for the movie 'The Shape of Water', has revealed that she said yes to movie even before reading the script of the flick.

According to Contactmusic.com, the 41-year-old actress shared that she said yes to the movie as soon as she heard that Guillermo Del Toro was doing it.

She further added, "I didn't need to read the script to know that I wanted to do it. He's a genius in the true sense of the word."

The 'Maudie' star also noted that she was pleasantly surprised by the way Guillermo wrote the screenplay of the movie, when she read the script.

"It's monster-led but it's more 'Beauty and the Beast', as it were. It's a love story. But he's not really a beast. He's a beautiful creature that she falls in love with. He's part man, part fish. The film is extraordinary! I feel very lucky to have worked with Guillermo. It's quite an unusual part, and it's storytelling on an epic scale," noted Hawkins.

Hawkins, who learned sign language while doing the play 'Constellations', noted the she had to revisit speaking in sign language for her role.

"It's like learning a different language and you're never going to do it justice just sort of doing a crash course. You're still going to have the hangup of accent. Even if you are doing it for a year, it won't be enough. Just like that wouldn't be enough to speak French fluently. You'd still give yourself away with an accent," explained Hawkins.

But, Hawkins believes that this made the role even more interesting for her.

'The Shape of Water' focuses on Elisa, a mute isolated woman who works as a cleaning lady in a hidden, high-security government laboratory in 1962 Baltimore. Her life changes forever when she discovers the lab's classified secret -- a mysterious, scaled creature from South America that lives in a water tank.

As Elisa develops a unique bond with her new friend, she soon learns that its fate and very survival lies in the hands of a hostile government agent and a marine biologist.

The movie has been nominated for 7 Golden Globes this year, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Hawkins) and a Best Director nod for Guillermo Del Toro.