Jennifer Love Hewitt: Love's Story

Q: Tell me a book you've read lately that's a keeper.

A: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. Amazing, profound. I'm a spiritual person. Coming from Texas as I do, church was a big thing when I grew up. As I get older, I find that faith is a private thing for me. I know that I have someone watching over me all the time. I'm just not into going to a church with a bunch of people.

Q: Getting back to the subject of boys, how did you feel when your ex, Carson Daly, told the press he was upset when he learned of your breakup while watching TV?

A: There are two sides to every story. We separated because we had a long-distance relationship and it wasn't working, not because the E! channel said something about it. I've never had any bad feelings there, but Carson did things in the relationship that didn't make me feel good. But it's too much weight to carry around that stuff through your life. You have to wish people well, let them move on. I have respect and continue to want to have a lot of respect for Carson. I also refuse to believe that when you're with somebody for a long time, only one person gets hurt in a breakup. Nobody wants to be someone who broke someone else's heart.

Q: Another former boyfriend, Joseph Lawrence, said in Movieline that you're "a young girl" and that you "need to figure some stuff out."

A: I would like to tell him that I learned a lot and that I'm doing great [laughing]. I absolutely know the person he was talking about. I was 16, a little girl. A much different person. I would have said about him, too, "Yeah, this is a guy who had a lot to learn and had a lot of things to become." When I read that article, I was incredibly proud of the person he had become. He learned what he needed to learn.

Q: As a 21-year-old who's had some romantic disappointments, can you still have a light-hearted, fun date?

A: [Laughing] I can't do serious dates. I can't be with cool, entertainment-industry people and I cannot [doing a snooty accent] be terribly intellectual and talk about books. I have to be with somebody who's like, "Let's go mini-golfing, then eat pizza."

Q: What features attract you in a guy?

A: I love character lines, little wrinkles, little scars. I love eyes that you look into and find a dark, vast place of stories and knowledge. Steve McQueen and James Dean had eyes that said something. I love smiles that come from the heart, not something someone pulled from their back pocket.

Q: Have you been in romantic situations where things get rough when one career soars while the other stalls?

A: I've experienced that, but why stop loving someone just because they're becoming more successful?

Q: What about with girlfriends?

A: Jealousy's everywhere in Hollywood. I can look around and say, "There are eight million girls more beautiful and talented." The biggest demon in life is jealousy. You can't let it control you. When you're 80, you don't want to know how many movies you made. You want to look back and think, "I had a lot of great friends. I had amazing loves in my life."

Q: Who arouses your envy?

A: There are people around who I think are incredibly lucky, as I have been. I could say, "Jeez, Gwyneth, could you just take a break and go to Hawaii for four months so the rest of us could do a movie?" But honestly, I'd be sad if she went on vacation because she's my favorite actress and I see all her movies.

Q: Why do you think casting people haven't considered you for the tougher stuff that Gwyneth gets?

A: The entertainment industry is like high school. Everyone is in a clique. Everyone is typecast. I'm typecast as "the good girl," which many might see as just plain boring. But I'm comfortable being the good girl. Besides, the good girls are the ones you marry anyway, so we get our day in the end [laughing].

Q: But wouldn't you like to tackle your own American Beauty or Go or Election?

A: Those scripts don't appeal to me. A lot of them aren't even sent to me because people know that's not my thing. They just don't make sense to me. American Beauty, I might have done. American Pie, no, though I loved them both. When most people found out I was in Heartbreakers they said, "We'd never have pictured Jennifer Love Hewitt in that role."

Q: Most people probably wouldn't have pictured you playing the Devil, either, which you'll do in your next film, The Devil and Daniel Webster. How did you get that part?

A: [Laughing] Again, I was incredibly lucky. When Alec Baldwin called me and asked me I nearly had a heart attack. I said, "The Devil ? This is so not me." He said, "That's why I thought of you. It'll be sexy, new and fun." When he called a week later and told me that Anthony Hopkins was going to play Daniel, I nearly choked.

Q: Are you going to dress like a traditional Devil in it?

A: No. I'd like to play her as an angelic, sweet-faced girl, maybe even as a long, curly-haired blonde, and then have her be absolutely evil. My job is going to be making the switch in every scene from a sexy, sweet and mysterious person to someone who smashes souls.

Q: What projects are you developing for yourself?

A: One that matters very much to me is set at Kent State. The character I'd play is based on a real person who lived through it and now teaches at Kent. Another project is a broad comedy about a college girl who's a spy with the gadgets of James Bond and the talents of Austin Powers.

Q: Since you've talked pretty openly about a year of sometimes humbling self-discoveries, I wonder if you have any stories about embarrassing yourself in front of a celebrity.

A: Oh, yeah. Kate Hudson was on "Party of Five" almost five years ago and, for some reason, at the Almost Famous premiere, I thought she'd remember me. As I watched the movie I thought, "What an amazing actress. I hope I can act as well someday," and then at the premiere party when she was standing ordering a drink, she turned around, smiled and waved, and I thought she was waving at me, so I started gushing, "Hi! Oh my God, you were so good." But she started walking off toward my right and I realized she was talking to the person behind me. I was looking at the guy serving drinks and just continued my conversation with him so he wouldn't tell people that Kate Hudson had completely dissed me.

Q: Have you run into Kate since?

A: I sent everyone in Almost Famous flowers, including Cameron Crowe, to let them know how wonderful I thought it was. Then when I was at the VH1 Fashion Awards I suddenly felt someone grabbing my hand. It was Kate and she said, "Thank you so much for the flowers. It meant the world to me," and I said, "You're so welcome." When she touched my arm, I had to make sure this time she was actually talking to me.

Q: How secure do you feel with yourself right now?

A: I'm the most insecure person in the world, and I want to work on that. I'm trying to be someone I can look at in the mirror and say, "You're a great person." Without that, you just get lost.

Q: Have you been lost?

A: I've always felt that I needed other people to make me me, make me great or keep me company. For the first time in my life, I realize that all I need, I have.

Q: You and your mother still live together. How is that relationship going?

A: I'm trying to not need her as much, and she's trying to not need me as much. But we're still best friends because we just really like each other. I'm planning to surprise her by taking her for a whole "girl day" at a spa, and when I told a friend of mine about it she said, "Why don't you take a girlfriend?" I said, "I am." My mom travels with me everywhere. I don't like traveling alone.

Q: Is there anything you'd change about the last year?

A: Not really. I feel very comfortable these days. I feel good about me. And I have the most blessed life I can imagine.

________________________________________

Stephen Rebello wrote "Iceberg Blondes" for the December/ January issue of Movieline.

Pages: 1 2 3