Brittany Murphy Studied Crack Addicts for New Role  12/20/06

Actress Brittany Murphy studied crack addicts for her new role as a strung-out prostitute in The Dead Girl.

The Just Married actress spent time watching video of drug abusers getting high and met with counselors to make sure she nailed her demanding new role as Krista.

She says, "I watched a lot of footage of people who used the drugs. I did meet with a drug counselor to see the chemical break down of what this does to the human body.

"I wanted to know exactly, chemically, what kind of drugs my character was taking.

"She was bipolar, so she self-medicated for that reason and had a lot of high highs and low lows. I spoke with a lot of recovered addicts as well."

Murphy admits playing Krista left her exhausted because she'd spend 12-hour sessions sobbing for harrowing scenes.

She adds, "I learned to just replenish the water in my body and I found that getting a good night's sleep, after my character has an emotionally draining day, was a good idea."