Katherine Heigl

Talks Weddings!

by Lynn B

Remember those 1950’s movie sirens with red lipstick, perfectly coiffed hair and designer dresses? Gorgeous, blonde Katherine Heigl is a completely modern girl but she can do retro-Hollywood like nobody else. When we talked with her just before Christmas at the 4 Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, the actress was wearing an amazing Oscar de La Renta red silk dress, Jimmy Choo heels and was preparing for her Christmas wedding to hot singer Josh Kelley. We chatted about other weddings… the kind where you have to wear a hideous bridesmaid dress that can rarely be worn again.

Hey, she was Knocked Up, now she’s getting hitched! For her role in the romantic comedy 27 Dresses, Katherine’s character is constantly helping other gals get married. The actress discussed this selfless attitude, her growing career, her advice for single women, crying at weddings, news on “Grey’s Anatomy” and singing an Elton John song in the film in a fun bar scene.

AGW: This film comes out right before your wedding. Was that just a coincidence?

Katherine: It was very coincidental timing. I had been planning my wedding for a year and a half. Fox just decided to release this in January, so that’s not my fault. I thought it was interesting because both [her co-star] Malin [Ackerman] and I were planning weddings during the movie. Malin actually went off and got married, come back to work, and there was a ton of wedding talk. Definitely all the details, all the planning, and we hoped the day would turn out. It was just really funny to see Malin come back to work. She could not stop saying ‘My husband…’ over and over, it was awesome, and it was exciting.

AGW: I assume your wedding and the beach wedding in this film aren’t similar at all?

Katherine: Well, I’m having a smaller wedding, it’s a Christmas wedding, and so it’s a totally different vibe. What is kind of great about it is that I kind of got to have the best of both worlds. In fantasyland I got to have the beach wedding that was beautiful, fabulous, and wonderful. Hopefully my wedding will be just as nice.

AGW: Katherine you have been on quite a roll lately, with “Greys” and movies taking off, did you notice yourself enter another career level after the summer?

Katherine: I think that the nature of my career certainly changed drastically. It seemed to happen all at once, so it was hard to keep a perspective on it. I think it’s just been the most gratifying and gracious year of my life, personally and professionally. I can only hope that 2008 is just as wonderful, maybe in a different way, because I’m scared to hope that it would be just as awesome as this year.

AGW: What does a hit movie do differently than a hit TV show?

Katherine: Way more people actually see the television show than they do the movie, so there is suddenly a huge fan base. That is super exciting. It is always really nice that people actually watch your work and enjoy it. The movie [Knocked Up] took it to a different level in my career. People will actually take that chance on me. Then there is the constant press coverage, the constant paparazzi, and that kind of thing. That is very different now. No one used to care if I went to Ralphs [grocery store]. I still don’t care [we laugh].

AGW: Do you have a memory of having to wear a particularly bad bridesmaid dress and what was your favorite of the ones that you had to wear in the film?

Katherine: I haven’t yet had to wear a terrible bridesmaid dress. My sister, who got married in October, was very considerate about her bridesmaid dresses. My best friend, who got married like eight years ago, was also very considerate. No one was trying to make us look bad which was nice. My favorite of the bridesmaid dresses was the Gone With the Wind one. I felt very Scarlett O’Hara, which was fun for me. Then I don’t know, the one I didn’t like was lots, like 26 of them!

AGW: What was that experience at your sister’s wedding like?

Katherine: I was the maid of honor. That was the first time that I really had the role for real. I wished it had happened before [I made] the movie actually. I would have had a better perspective on why Jane [her character] was so insane. It’s a stressful role, because you want to make sure that you take care of everything that needs to be taken care of, so that the bride herself will have an amazing day. It’s also kind of a big honor because I adore my sister. The fact that she wanted me by her side that day was really important to me. But, it’s stressful. I wouldn’t do it twice in a day, let alone every other weekend.

AGW: That was a wild scene where Jane attends two weddings in one night and keeps going back and forth.

Katherine: What I love about film is that it is really exaggerated. I can’t imagine anyone ever really doing that because it’s close to impossible. There is no way she could have gotten back for both electric slides, at both weddings, it’s impossible. It was a really fun idea. I think it’s a great way to start it off, getting a very honest and real look at who Jane is. You know immediately what kind of girl she is from that moment on.

AGW: Jane is in love but just keeps her mouth shut. She’s very stoic and long-suffering. Can you relate to that?

Katherine: Well, obviously I always tell it like it is [she laughs, remembering her very outspoken moments in 2007].

AGW: But she’s so selfless and silent. That’s hard to accomplish.

Katherine: I think, in terms of not wanting to hurt people’s feelings, you kind of pick and choose your moments to be brutally honest. I have never been as selfless as Jane. I think most women have been in a position of being a real people pleaser, at one time or another, in their lives. I kind of got over that in my early twenties. It took Jane a lot longer and in a way more dramatic way. I think that if you couch how you feel too often then you are not really being true to yourself. You don’t know yourself or what you want.

AGW: Are you addicted to weddings at all like Jane is?

Katherine: I am not that kind of girl really. I’ve only been to a total of four weddings in my whole life. One was my friend’s, who I was a bridesmaid at, but that was so long ago I barely remember it. It was also a Mormon wedding so you don’t actually get to go to the ceremony. You are just there for the reception. An ex-boyfriend’s brother’s wedding, which I don’t really remember either. Then recently I went to Kate Walsh’s’ and my sister’s.

AGW: Do you get emotional at all?

Katherine: At Kate’s wedding I was so not going to cry, it didn’t even come into my brain. I had nothing on me, no tissues or anything, and I was looking at people with their tissues like ‘Oh, you guys are lame. It’s not that dramatic.’ As soon as the music started, I started crying, she hadn’t even walked out yet and I was crying. I was sharing a corner of tissue with Keisha Chambers, Justin [Chambers] wife, trying to stop the flow. Obviously I’m a little more sentimental than I originally thought. I do love a great wedding. That was a particularly awesome and fun wedding, with a gospel choir. My sister, I mean come on, it’s my sister. It was the most glorious day, she was glorious, and perfect. I cried pretty much constantly. I wanted to do this movie, not because it was wedding themed, but because I loved the character so much. It was such an awesome opportunity to get to do some comedy as well. Not to just be the foil, the girlfriend, or the daughter, the sister. To actually play a major part in the comedy is what I love to do.

AGW: You were out there dating for a while. Any advice for single women?

Katherine: I met my fiancé [now her husband] when I wasn’t looking. I know that is a cliché thing to say but I had sort of given up on the idea of marriage and family. I had a relationship that ended, I was really disappointed, and I had all these high hopes. I just went ‘[forget] it, I don’t need a man.’ I sort of had given up on the concept of it and figured I could do it on my own, if I wanted to have a family I could do it on my own. Then boom, I met this guy that I couldn’t imagine living without. I think the more you want it, the more you are looking for it, the more you repel it for whatever reason. I don’t know why. If you kind of create this vacuum, let life take its course, then you tend to free yourself up for the unexpected.

AGW: Like Jane hooking up with Kevin [James Marsden’s character] in the movie.

Katherine: I think, especially for Jane in 27 Dresses, Kevin was clearly the unexpected choice for her. That is what ended up working out when she was able to let go of her ideals or her idea, of what the perfect man would be. That was clearly not George [Ed Burns character].

AGW: I love the scene where you sing ‘Bennie and the Jets’. Were you and Jimmy Marsden having fun?

Katherine: It’s my favorite scene, it was the most fun to film, and one of those great fantasy fulfillment moments. There is no way in hell I would ever do such a thing, or get drunk enough to do such a thing. It was so fun to actually get to be that person for that day of filming. Jimmy [Marsden] is just stupid funny so it made it really easy to play off of him. The only problem is that he can actually sing. He has a really great voice, which I thought was a really unfair advantage. I asked him to please work to sing badly, so that I didn’t look like such an idiot. It was a really long day but it never got old. Take after take it was just the most fun to do.

AGW: Did you make up new lyrics when you were messing around with the song?

Katherine: No, they wrote them like that and I think James had a little bit to do with influencing how that would happen. For me I was like ‘These aren’t them are they? These are the lyrics.’ Somebody this morning brought in the actual lyrics and they make even less sense.

AGW: With apologies to Elton John.

Katherine: Yeah, I was like ‘We should call him, he has some hidden meanings in this that we don’t know’.

AGW: If you aren’t a wedding junkie, how did you identify with the Jane character?

Katherine: I identified with aspects of her. She was an extreme, but I’ve met and known women like her. They have taken a back seat to what everyone else wants. They don’t really go after their own happiness. What I loved about Jane was the progression of her character. She starts out just a doormat. There are very clear and honest reasons for that, like her mother dying when she was little, her relations with her sister, and you understand why she doesn’t go after George. She’s his assistant, she works for him, and it would be unprofessional. At the same time it’s easier than proclaiming your love for somebody and being turned down. She’s sort of chosen the path of least resistance for herself. It ends up hurting her. By the end of the movie there is that dramatic scene where she ruins her sister’s wedding. She is able to break the habit of it and find happiness for herself. She makes that a priority and I liked that part.

AGW: What do you think is the secret to a great relationship?

Katherine: I think laughter and communication. That is what really works for Josh [Kelley] and me.

AGW: Do you consider yourself a romantic person?

Katherine: I’m not terribly sentimental. I have my moments, but generally speaking I shy away from being too lovey dovey. I don’t know why, I must have issues that I probably need to address. I think Josh’s biggest complaint is that when he’s on tour, and we are talking on the phone, I’m like ‘Yeah, I love you too.’ I’m not going to be like ‘I miss you so much and I love you!’ I just can’t, it’s just not my thing, but I definitely try on special occasions or just spontaneously, to do something really special for him. That can be as simple as making dinner or tickling his back. I don’t make big grand gestures generally. Maybe I should.

AGW: It’s weird that, on “Grey’s Anatomy” your character Izzie is having a relationship with George and the guy you love in this film is named George.

Katherine: Yeah. It’s really funny because this whole season is going to be me and T.R. [Knight] and George and Izzie, so it’s kind of weird. I said ‘You know if it were T.R. playing this role I would say yeah, change the name. Since its not, we can work with it, and it’s totally fine.’ It’s just been a very whirlwind year of work. That’s been really exciting. I spent enough years napping a lot, doing nothing but watching ‘Survivor’, so I’ve kind of reserved energy. I’m good.

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