Opinions
Katherine Heigl Speaks Out to Vanity Fair; We Call Shenanigans!
Posted by Josh Radde (josh@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 4, 2007
On my old podcast, VeerCAST, my co-hosts and I used to call out shenanigans on the obvious mistakes made by celebrities big and small. In hindsight, we should’ve called the entire show “ShenaniCAST” because we could’ve done that stuff all day.
Celebrities will just never stop saying stupid stuff.
Take for instance Grey’s Anatomy star Katherine Heigl in the upcoming Vanity Fair issue, leaked today, suggesting that her highly raved-about and critically acclaimed movie Knocked Up is “a little sexist.” Heigl, speaking with Fair editor Leslie Bennetts suggested that the film portrays women “as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys.” She also went on to say “I’m playing such a bitch; why is she being such a killjoy.”*
Well I’ll tell you why she was a killjoy —- she was an expecting mother and the man who “Knocked” her “Up” was an irresponsible young man with a pension for smoking marijuana and made a living off watching T & A. Yes, Heigl’s Alison Scott rode Seth Rogen’s Ben pretty hard at times, even after judging him on his lifestyle and the relationship he has with his roommates/co-workers. The other notable female in the film, Leslie Mann, rode husband Paul Rudd at times, not because she was a shrew, but because he never took anything seriously. That’s a legitimate thing to worry about, especially when you have kids. And how do I know this bit of knowledge, because that dialogue is in the f*cking move!
I also doubt that when Apatow and Heigl talked about the character he said, “Okay, that’s great how you’re doing it, but can you make Alison a shrewd, humorless bitch?” Apatow wrote this film about transitional periods in a man’s life—from carefree stoner to responsible dad. The relationships portrayed in Knocked Up are complex and we, as an audience, really want things to work out in the end. We want to experience conflict and a range of emotions before eventually working things out. For Heigl to say the female characters are “humorless” and the male characters are “fun-loving” just shows how she missed the entire point of the movie.
In Seth’s case, to be a good father he has to do some growing up. In Paul Rudd’s case, to be a better husband means compromising with his wife. We see Seth’s character get a job and become a caring person. We see Rudd wearing a birthday hat and carrying the princess cake like a douche. The women, meanwhile, remain strong and resilient in their quest to make their men better people, because I always perceived the female characters as strong and resilient. I hate to see that the lead actress doesn’t agree with the way her character was written, especially since the character was the moral center of the film. If she had beef with how Apatow portrayed women, why didn’t she bring it up to him or to her female comrade Leslie Mann (who just happens to be Apatow’s wife)?
I believe the answer also lies within the Vanity Fair article. Because of Knocked Up’s success, Katherine Heigl’s paycheck has sky-rocketed from $300,000 per picture to $6 million. I always thought Heigl was a good sport and I definitely still believe that her performance in Knocked Up brings a lighter side out that her Grey’s Anatomy character doesn’t do convincingly.** To see that her motivation for doing a movie she doesn’t agree with morally is money just lumps her in with every other overpaid and unethical celebrity in Hollywood.
* Heigl does an actor no-no in this quote. She refers to her character as both “she” and “I” and a self-respecting actor should never do that.
** A character which, by the way, is having an affair with a married man on this season of Grey’s Anatomy. In the article, Heigl says about her character—“I don’t really know Izzie very well right now.” She also admits that she might be “a little too black-and-white about it.” That’s probably because she doesn’t understand the difference between a “woman succumbing to her desires in a complex manner” and an “immoral slut.”
For those interested, below you will find a few shots from Katherine’s Vanity Fair shoot.
Read more articles by Josh Radde
5 Comments
December 4th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
What an idiot this girl is. Not only do I agree with your assessment, has she considered what a comment like this does to her when she tries to get other roles? What director will ever cast her in any sort of controversial role knowing that she will probably just wait until right before christmas and start blathering on about how immoral it is… What a jerk, a spoiled little hypocratic jerk.
And how bad is that first picture… Did she just wake up and throw on the first pair of oversized pleather pants and skin tight leapord tank she could find?
December 4th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
BSE — I like that first picture. Picked it out myself.
Anyway, back to the issue at hand. First off, I think that Vanity Fair could be taking this out of context. But then again, she probably did say that. And yeah, Josh’s assessment about the film is right on — ‘Knocked Up’ is a movie that if anything, shows male’s as the lesser gender. And I’m ok with that — because in general, we are the lesser gender.
What I would say is that I feel bad for Katherine. Here she is, having an interview and this comes spewing out of her mouth. Now her (potentially) off-handed comment is going to bring on a world of heat from the media (namely those of us who loved ‘Knocked Up’ and worship Judd Apatow). She made a mistake, and that happens. I still think she’s a good actress — but as John Voight said once, she needs to get a filter on “that brain-mouth thing.”
December 4th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Neil, quit being such a girl! Katherine Heigl is a whore for the entertainment industry. She’s just showing her diva nature. Big surprise.
Let’s face it, no one saw Knocked Up because of her (and how pathetic is it that the main poster and DVD cover art didn’t feature the TV star hot girl but rather the funky mug of the pretty much then-unknown Seth Rogan?). And I predict that 27 Dresses will at least do better than her other tour-de-force of acting in Zzyxx Road.
I think her Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Shonda Rimes is rubbing off on her, hating on men who like good looking women. Just wait until that show ends and the regular Hollywood producers start telling her to lose some weight and get those Kirsten Dunst teeth of hers fixed.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! She will slowly fall into obscurity along with all the other “blonde bombshells” that have come and gone. Her only hope is to find an indie film like Scarlet’s Lost in Translation to prove she is more than a pretty face. Until then, she will remain as (insert blonde here) in obscure comedies.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
I am biased because I haven’t liked her since she got diarrhea of the mouth during her acceptance speach at the Emmy’s. She went on about how deserved she is because of how hard she has worked. Im sure Lorraine Bracco, Rachel Griffiths,
Sandra Oh, Aida Turturro and Chandra Wilson were fine with losing because they didn’t have to put in any effort whatsoever to make their acting career happen.
Celebrities like anyone else have to take responsibility for what they say. They are walking billboards for the films, products and other things they endorse. She should be more cautious of what she says, or more selective of the roles she accepts.