Heather Graham: The Heat on Heather

Q: You seem to be the girl to call when you need someone who's fearless, and won't shy away from doing something like putting a homing device in Fat Bastard's rectum, which you did in Austin Powers. Did you have reservations about that scene?

A: I wasn't offended by it. But I thought, I don't know what's funny about this. My personal sense of humor is quirky, but not like that.

Q: The director, Jay Roach, liked you enough to offer you the female lead in Meet the Parents, but you turned it down.

A: He did, and it turned out to be a great movie. I probably should have taken it, but I guess I felt I wanted to do more of a role, what can I say? I thought it would be another time where I'd be frustrated, working with these great actors in a really good movie and not having that much to do. With a role like that, you set up the jokes for everyone else.

Q: Your salary obviously went up when you starred in Austin Powers, but did you also get points?

A: I got a little something, but this is territory I'm just getting into. I didn't even have a lawyer until this year. It's bizarre, makes you feel like you're an adult.

Q: Weren't you instrumental in getting Chinese director Chen Kaige hired on Killing Me Softly?

A: On this film I had a little more power than I've had in the past. Ivan Reitman produced the movie, and I had worked for him before on Twins, in which I had a small part. He called me and said, "I developed this for you." I'm like, "Well, all right." So they let me approve the director, which has never happened before. And of course when Chen Kaige wanted to do it, it was like, Fucking yay. How cool.

Q: Isn't the film about rough love?

A: I meet this guy in the street and we have this groovy affair, without even knowing each other. Then we get married and he remains a mysterious person who doesn't communicate. I become paranoid. It's about the fear in a relationship.

Q: You just completed The Guru, which sounds like another Boogie Nights. Is it?

A: I talked to Paul Thomas Anderson last night, and he said, "Why are you doing that?" I'm like, "Shut up, you don't know the script." It's a comedy. There is none of the pain of Boogie Nights. It's about an Indian guy who wants to be John Travolta from Grease. So he starts dancing and then auditions for a film and ends up getting into porno. Though I'm conservative and engaged to someone else, I fall for him--but I have a double life.

Q: You've played the sexy girl in several films. Are you afraid of being seen as only that?

A: Sometimes I do worry, but what's the alternative, not take a role because I'm afraid I'll look sexy again? You can overprotect yourself sometimes. But, again, it all comes down to the quality of the film. I'd rather play the same role in five great movies than play five different roles in five shitty movies. Katharine Hepburn, a fantastic actress, was always smart, intelligent, strong-headed and stubborn. Jimmy Stewart was always the great all-American guy, Marilyn Monroe was always the sexy girl.

Q: Do you think you're beautiful?

A: Not at all. Look, I know that if I go to a bar, I could get a certain amount of attention. If I get really drunk, I might look in the mirror and say, Yeah, OK! But I don't wake up in the morning thinking that I'm beautiful. I'm actually insecure, but I'm working on being less self-effacing. I guess because when I grew up, I was a nerdy teenager at a formative time.

Q: Are you very competitive about roles? A: I used to be very competitive and jealous but now I think that's a waste of time.

Q: Are there actresses you measure yourself against?

A: I really admire Cate Blanchett. I like how she conducts her personal life, too. She's managed to not be a celebrity somehow. I like Julianne Moore, again because she's a really great actress and she's not trying to live up to peoples expectations of what a movie star is supposed to be.

Q: Let's go back to the beginning of your career. Your first big job was License to Drive, opposite Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, two kids who were really hot at the time. Were you ecstatic?

A: It was huge. Every kid on my block thought they were amazing. I couldn't believe I was working with them.

Q: Do you think your costars, who have since experienced some personal problems, were talented?

A: Yes. I was this naive kid from the suburbs and they were these cool Hollywood guys. What I recall thinking was, Wow, I am in a Hollywood movie. They were having fun. It must be confusing to have that success when you're that young. Especially when you don't have a strong family life to back you up.

Q: At the time, did you want to be part of that teen movie craze, even though most of those participants peaked and were over pretty quickly?

A: Yeah, I would have been part of that teen movie craze in a second. I was a huge fan of Molly Ringwald, those John Hughes movies, I thought they were great. When I was a teenager, I did aspire to be like Meryl Streep. It wasn't like I said, I want to be Molly Ringwald. But I would have taken anything.

Q: You were living in Agoura Hills, in a strict family.

A: They had a lot of say. I left home so I could do Drugstore Cowboy.

Q: You were living by yourself at 18?

A: I moved in with a girlfriend in an apartment we rented in West Hollywood, where I got to see a woman taking a shit on the street. That was a new one. I went to UCLA for a bit, on and off for two years, and I did work. It was a double life, and I thought, "Do I want to go to school?" knowing my family would like that. I didn't apply to any other colleges, but I had a great grade point average. I probably could have gone anywhere, but I wanted to be an actress.

Q: Drugstore Cowboy helped to launch the independent film movement. Did it feel different?

A: I could see I was entering a different world, being exposed to people who were very artistic. I remember James LeGros giving me these Tom Waits albums, and me thinking, God, people listen to music like this? I felt actually more at home, more accepted. But it was intimidating.

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