After years as a supporting player, in work ranging from "Homicide: Life on the Streets" to "21 Grams," Melissa Leo is relishing her lead role in Courtney Hale's "Frozen River."

"I really liked being able to grab hold of the whole film," Leo said after the movie’s first screening Friday afternoon at the Racquet Club.

"I've gotten a lot of comments in the papers and media over the years, saying 'Why can’t we see more of her?' Courtney Hale had the balls to do it," she said.

Her work on the film also earned her the unofficial credit of "picture car driver." Much of the movie’s action involves Leo's character and a Mohawk woman (Missy Upham) driving a Dodge Sprit across the frozen St. Lawrence River, smuggling illegal aliens from Canada into the United States.

"Every single inch that that Spirit gets driven in that film, I drove," Leo said proudly, adding that when the crew had to move the car, they would often put it into a snowbank -- and she was the one who got it out.