Michelle Williams talks "Take This Waltz," acting

(CBS News) In the new film "Take This Waltz," three-time Oscar nominated actress Michelle Williams plays a happily married woman who falls in love with an artist who lives across her street.

Thursday on "CBS This Morning," Williams described the film as a coming-of-age story that's about an "unsung period" of life "when you're making a transition from being a girl into being a woman." She added, "(It's) this sort of on-the-cusp kind of thing when you're sort of trying to leave behind more sort of childish things, and it's really kind of a last step into an adult life."

Williams got her start in entertainment on the hit teen drama "Dawson's Creek" in the 1990s. She moved on to films, appearing in several highly-acclaimed films, including "Brokeback Mountain," "Blue Valentine" and "My Week with Marilyn."

What does a good director do for her? "Sometimes nothing," Williams said. "For me, it's creating a space. I mean, sometimes there's people who can come in and just say a few words that are what you needed and they give you the adjustment in the scene that you were struggling, that you were searching for. But a lot of it, I think, is creating a quiet, safe, calm environment where you feel you can jump."

The allure for acting, Williams said, has changed for her over the years. In the beginning of her career, she said she enjoyed the "disappearing act" involved in the work, and now it's more about discovery.

"I started when I was very young, when I was a young teenager," Williams said. "I think I liked the disappearing more then and now I like my life and I want to be a little more present. So that separation is a bit - isn't what I love anymore. It's more an exploration."

"Take This Waltz" hits select theaters on June 29.

For more with Williams on her early career and her thoughts on celebrity, watch the video in the player above.