Ginnifer plays her total opposite

“What happened to your hair? You look so different!”

Thus exclaimed one journalist at our roundtable when she caught sight of star Ginnifer Goodwin as she sauntered in to our interview suite on the fourth floor of the luxurious Hotel Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica three Sundays ago. Ginnifer was paired with her co-star, TV’s funnyman John Krasinski, during our 20-minute interview with her.

“Everyone’s just used to see me in wigs. This is me in real life,” she replied, smiling. Fans of the actress, who shot to fame in the hit 2009 ensemble romantic-comedy He’s Just Not That Into You would be surprised to know that the pretty actress has been wearing wigs in all her movies after doing the said movie. In person, Ginnifer sports a boyish, pixie haircut similar to the one popularized by Audrey Hepburn.

When the chitchat about her hair and her wig was over, the topic on the table finally veered into Something Borrowed, the new romantic movie that also features Oscar-nominated actress Kate Hudson and handsome newcomer Colin Egglesfield.

Something Borrowed tells the story of Rachel, a single lawyer, who in a drunken state revealed on her 30th birthday that she was in love with her best friend’s fiancé. That revelation would open up all sorts of complications and would force Rachel to examine how she has lived her life so far. Based on the bestselling novel by Emily Giffin, the movie has a very charming plot that would surely appeal to audiences who enjoy those highly entertaining Star Cinema romantic comedies.

Ginnifer plays Rachel in the movie while Kate portrays her best friend Darcy. John portrays their third best friend, Ethan. Colin portrays Dex, the lucky (or unlucky guy, take your pick) caught between Rachel and Darcy.

“I was actually inspired to take the part because I judged Rachel very harshly,” Ginnifer offered when asked what attracted her to Rachel’s character. “I think she makes poor decisions at every turn and I would never open myself up even to the possibility of having feelings for a friend’s boyfriend or fiancé — or even their exes.”

“I am a girl’s girl and I am loyal to the end and it just would not happen,” she declared.

What eventually made her start caring about her character was when she finally realized that Rachel was actually the victim. “I think she has no self-worth,” she said. “Rachel has always been comfortable being the victim and relinquishing control because she doesn’t have to take responsibility for any of her actions and any of her feelings.”

“I do believe that, to a certain extent, all is fair in love and war but I have no sympathy for her. I still can’t say that I empathize. I mean, I do sympathize but I don’t empathize with her.”

John, however, had a different take on Rachel’s romantic dilemma: “When you actually set out to look for someone and you find someone, it is actually much better than stumbling into someone and having it happen to you.”

“To be an active participant in your own life is the best,” John wisely remarked.

But when asked what was one decision she regretted most in real life, Ginnifer had a quick but more drawn out answer: “I do not regret anything I’ve ever done. I only regret the things I didn’t do because I‘ve learned from every experience and they’ve all contributed to who I’ve become. I certainly blame the mistakes in my 20s on my youth and part of becoming an adult is recognizing that everything is a choice and we have to take responsibility for all our actions and the consequences.”

“I regret having in the past not asking for what I wanted and that’s the biggest difference for me,” she added. “I enjoy my 30s more than I did my 20s!”

Ginnifer may not be that famous elsewhere in the world yet, but she is one of the most well loved actors in Hollywood. She has this unassuming personality that easily wins her many admirers, including Oscar-winner Hilary Swank, who, as one of the producers of Something Borrowed made the decision in casting Ginnifer.

Hilary disclosed that when she read the script she didn’t have a perfect vision for the Rachel character until someone mentioned Ginnifer’s name and, according to Hilary, “I can only see her face in the role.”

“Ginnifer has that quality that women feel they can really connect to. Yeah, she’s gorgeous and she’s lovely. She’s eloquent and graceful and all those things but I just think that she’s the epitome of a girl’s girl,” Hilary observed.

The roles of Rachel and Darcy were the first to be cast. When Ginnifer was offered the part, Kate was already on board to play the part of Darcy. They have never been in a movie together before and Ginnifer made no reservation of how much she puts Kate in high regard.

“She really is an artist in this genre and I turn to her a lot for performance advice — advice on how to depict the journey in a way that was appropriate for this genre,” she said. “It was difficult because sometimes we all felt like we were in different movies because the storylines were so disparate and she was an incredible helping hand, full of support and she made the process fun.”

Kate, indeed, has such a refreshing presence about her. If Ginnifer’s entrance was greeted with unbelieving stares to her short hair Kate’s entrance was met by a chorus of oohs and aahs because she was carrying a huge baby bump that some of us were afraid she would give birth at any moment during the interview. We only calmed down when she told us she is not set to deliver until June or July.

The pretty blonde actress was radiant the morning of our interview and she still wasn’t wearing the engagement ring that she famously revealed before Matt Lauer a week later.

She was with Colin during our interview that was characterized more by lots of laughter and light banter. She chewed on a gum and munched on a plateful of tropical fruits, which she ate by hand, for the entire duration of our interview. Kate was great company.

One topic we managed to talk about and spend a lengthy time on was the several myths on what it really takes for attraction to hold between two individuals. She disagreed that only good-looking (the term used was “hot”) people can date good-looking people. “You have to be sexually attracted”, she remarked. “It’s half of the equation. You have to have that pull. That sexual sort of thing.”

And, like Ginnifer, the dissimilarity between her and her character, Darcy, was what drew her to the story and the part as well. “She has a completely effed-up version of who she thinks she was!” she exclaimed.

But the actress cannot deny that, like her character, she does get what she wants sometimes: “I am blonde. In the book she’s actually brunette.”

And how did that happen? “I just didn’t want to dye my hair,” she casually replied before breaking into another laughter again.

So Kate wears her real hair in the movie while Ginnifer dons her favorite wig. Everybody was happy.

Released by Pioneer Films, Something Borrowed opens in theaters on May 11.