Michelle Williams Says Oscar Nomination for 'Brokeback Mountain' Left Her 'Frozen' Creatively

"What do you do next?" Williams said of receiving her first Oscar nomination at the age of 25

The success of Brokeback Mountain was overwhelming for Michelle Williams.

During an appearance on Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist, the actress, 42, recalled how landing her first Oscar nomination for her work in the 2005 drama left her "a little bit frozen for a moment, creatively" as to where to go in her career from there.

"It was really unnerving after that," said Williams, who was just 25 at the time of her Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role as Alma Beers Del Mar, the wife of the late Heath Ledger's character. "Like, what do you do? What do you do next?"

"I never really had attention on me before in that kind of a way, and I think that that attention can be sort of destabilizing," continued Williams, explaining that "before that, I didn't think anybody was really paying attention or really cared that much" about the work she was doing. "Now it feels like, 'Well, people are watching. What if I make a mistake?' That's really scary. What would happen to me?"

Related:Jake Gyllenhaal Recalls 'Really Deep and Fun' Experience Making Brokeback Mountain with Heath Ledger

Williams became a household name through her work on Dawson's Creek, which she starred in from 1998-2003. The teen soap lead to a number of big screen movies, like Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Dick and Prozac Nation.

But Brokeback Mountain — which starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Ledger, Williams' late partner with whom she shares daughter Matilda, 17 — catapulted Williams into a new category, cementing her as a dramatic actress draw. The film was nominated for eight Oscars and won three at the 2006 ceremony, including Best Director, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Gyllenhaal and Ledger were also nominated for their roles as Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar respectively.

Since Brokeback Mountain, Williams has been nominated for an Oscar four other times — in 2011 for Blue Valentine, 2012 for My Week with Marilyn, 2017 for Manchester By The Sea and at this year's ceremony for The Fabelmans.

Related:Michelle Williams Shares Oscars Moment That Showed Her It's 'a Place That Can Have a Purpose'

Opening up about starring in the Steven Spielberg-directed drama, which was also nominated for Best Picture, Williams told Sunday Sitdown with Willie Giest, "It was so hard to say goodbye to. Something that was really nice about the film (getting) all these great nominations was that we were brought back together, and so we could see each other again at these events and we could reunite and be the Fabelmans."

"We loved each other," she continued of the cast and crew, which also included Seth Rogen, Paul Dano and rising star Gabriel LaBelle. "Realizing that the Oscars was our last go-around was really sad to me that we weren't gonna be united by this project anymore."

Williams — who ultimately lost out on the Best Actress award to Michelle Yeoh — told PEOPLE last month of where she was when she found out about her fifth nomination, "I was at home. It was a school morning, so I was getting the kids ready to go and then got the news and took a little break lying down on the floor." She continued, "And then I got back up, and got everybody out."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

She added of the nomination and role, which saw her play Mitzi,a character based on Steven Spielberg's mother, "My gosh, it means so much to me. It means so much to me to have been asked to make this movie with Steven Spielberg, and to play his mother, who he loved very, very much. It's beyond a dream come true. It's really like the honor of a lifetime."

Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist is streaming now wherever podcasts are found.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.