Jennifer Love Hewitt: Love's Story

Q: What do you say to yourself when people accuse you of landing roles based on your looks, not your talent?

A: When I get things, it's not because I show up at a casting office asking for it and people just go, "She's cute and perky--let's give her that." I'm one of the hardest-working people I know and I don't say that in a conceited way. I work until I cant work any longer in a day's time. I'll wake up at 3 a.m. and start writing a script idea just so I won't forget it the next morning when I get up at six to do 85 other things. I do, though, get things I don't think I've worked for and don't even understand.

Q: How did you deal with the lumps you took for playing Audrey Hepburn?

A: I will never, ever look at a piece of work I've done and say, "That's a great performance," and certainly I wouldn't ever think that of playing Audrey. But a couple of negative write-ups out of what could have been 200 bad ones is great.

Q: At about the same time The Audrey Hepburn Story aired, your TV show, "Time of Your Life," was put on hiatus and then canceled. What happened?

A: It was harder than people thought to look at my character, Sarah, without Bailey. It's like watching Juliet without Romeo. Doing that show was the greatest pressure I've ever felt in my life. I didn't realize how personally taxing it was until it was over. I was so sick so many times while filming. You work so hard on it, then all of a sudden it's gone and you think, "What was all of that for?" I sat down and made a list of what I got from it. One of the things was that I was one of the youngest people to ever produce my own show. That's an honor.

Q: Well, with all these difficult experiences under your belt, where do you want to go with your career now?

A: I want to do movies like the ones Julia Roberts does. She's incredibly respected, she works really hard, and she's powerful without being harsh. She's had tough times and she's brushed them right off. She's a good girl, but she's one of the sexiest good girls. I'd like to get there, but at 21, no one's going to call me about doing a My Best Friend's Wedding.

Q: What are people calling you for?

A: I feel like I'm in a weird place right now. Being 21 in Hollywood is like being 13 all over again. It's an awkward stage. Am I going to be the "horror girl"? Am I going to move into adult movies? I've been doing the same thing that the business has been doing--trying to figure out what's the next thing. There's more attention on me now because this is where I either slip up or go to the next stage. I feel watched and that makes me a little self-conscious.

Q: How did you get your role in Heartbreakers?

A: The project had been around for years. David Mirkin and John Davis, the coproducer, had gone through so many women. At one point, it was Anjelica Huston and Alicia Silverstone, another time Cher and Jennifer Aniston. When they got Sigourney Weaver, my name was suggested, because the character of the daughter is very rough-textured and getting an edgy person to play that part was only going to make it edgier, while a soft person would give the character something else. I read with Sigourney and we had real chemistry. The other actors in the film--Gene Hackman, Jason Lee, Ray Liotta--brought a lot of heart to it, too. Every day I'd walk on the set of Heartbreakers and think, "I'm on the wrong set. I'm supposed to be over there making a movie with a fisherman with a hook."

Q: How was the chemistry between you and Jason Lee, who plays the "mark" that you end up falling for?

A: We couldn't be more different. He's very much a guy and I'm very much a girl. If you saw us in a room, you wouldn't say, "Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jason Lee should be together." We don't run in the same circle of friends or anything like that. I'm not as free and wild as he is. I remember meeting him the first day and thinking, "He's going to think I'm such a dork," because he's really hip. Later, he told me, "I had no idea what to do with you the first day." Slowly, we became best friends on the movie. I still talk with him all the time.

Q: Do you think people might see you differently after this movie?

A: I hope they might say, "Wow, she's an adult." I mean, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer showed off the "figure" aspects of being an adult, but that was still a teen movie. With Heartbreakers I hope they'll feel I've grown in my craft and they'll see a sexier side to me.

Q: Is there a special someone out there you hope will see that "sexy side" and give you a call?

A: Relationships are so hard. Right now I'm having the most "me" time I've ever had. I'm really into sitting by myself and reading, taking a walk, getting a massage. Instead of going out with friends, I'm taking time to sit in the hot tub. I'm past the teenage years and am into the "Who am I going to be?" stage. I don't mean this in a self-absorbed way, but, right now, my life is not about boys.

Q: So, who does it look like you're going to be?

A: Someone who has a lifetime of great moments. I want to travel someplace wonderful and dance in the rain and get sick from it. I want to love and be loved like never before in my life. I want to be smarter, read lots of books, meet interesting people I can learn from.

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