Mary Steenburgen was fully absorbed in Book Club dance scenes

Mary Steenburgen took her dance scenes in new movie Book Club very seriously.

The Oscar-winning actress takes on the part of Carol in Bill Holderman's romcom, which follows four friends who read Fifty Shades of Grey for their monthly book club, and subsequently begin to change how they view their personal relationships.

Book Club includes a sequence were Carol breaks out her tap dance skills, and Mary has now shared that the moment was one of her favourite parts of the film.

"I took tap dance when I was three or four years old then I never did it again until I was 29, when I did a movie called Melvin and Howard with Jonathan Demme," she told Vulture.com. "I would like to see if I can get better at it even in my age, so I have hired this really cool young guy to teach me how to tap. Part of it stayed in my body, waiting for me to do it again. There’s something about tap that my body just loves and understands."

Alongside Mary, Book Club features a cast of veteran stars, including Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Andy Garcia, Don Johnson, Craig T. Nelson and Richard Dreyfuss. And part of the reason why the 65-year-old was drawn to the project was the way in which the plot doesn't attempt to make the female characters act or appear younger than they are in reality.

"When people talk about us, I’ve noticed this whole phrase, and they don’t say it about men. They say 'women of a certain age.' They don’t say 'men of a certain age.' You never hear that," the star shared. "I think it’s supposed to be a compliment, but my feeling is, let’s use our ages. It tells the truth about our lives."

Book Club is now showing in cinemas.