The Hollywood Reporter is predicting that Katherine Heigl’s Life As We Know It will win the box office this weekend. Naturally the critics are sh-tting on it. But still some seem to think that it can take down The Social Network, a film that’s being called the Citizen Kane of our time. I don’t agree with assessment, but I also think TSN is worthy of at least a 3 weekend streak, it is indeed that good.
F-ck do I know. It’s been a long time since I’ve understood why people see the movies they do.
As for Heigl – I wrote the other day about her being on the hard sell. Click here for a refresher. First the NY Times article, and now this interview below during which she, on live tv, addresses her public image, and how her asstalking has made her less popular. NY Magazine (thanks Jessi!) was impressed with her performance, how she handled the question. I wonder if it was calculated lob, something agreed to beforehand.
She does handle it quite well, she doesn’t get pissy, or defensive, or bitchy about being confronted with the fact that she was a pain in the ass.
But if you’ve ever worked a junket or a press line, you know these things are very, very rarely unrehearsed, in the sense that there are warnings and guidelines, edicts issued from their people, on what you can and cannot ask. They threaten you, and your outlet, with serious retribution. And they will hold you to it the next time there’s something to promote. They will refuse to let you have any time with the next big star, the next big movie. Somehow it gets paid back. In these respects, there really isn’t much room for spontaneity. So it’s hard for me to believe that this was completely unplanned, that they did not have prior knowledge of the question, and therefore no time to prepare.
She attributes it all to “tone”. That she made a mistake in her “tone”, that she needs to work on her delivery. Sure. That too. But the issue here was always about the Ungratefulness of her message. Judd Apatow put her in a movie that made her movie career, but in her mind that movie was sexiest. The Grey’s Anatomy writers didn’t deserve a nomination on her name because the material they gave her sucked. That’s not “tone”. That’s just attitude. And I don’t know that we can say that that’s been adjusted.
So I guess we’re halfway there then? Maybe not a full pass. But certainly some credit for effort and acknowledgement, though we’ve still a ways to go. As for the quality of the work, well, those of you who are fans of Stephanie Plum and Claire Fraser are probably still worried.
Photos attached of Heigl on Leno last night.
Photos from Wenn.com