Heigl on the fun of playing a lawyer

BEVERLY HILLS, California — Halfway through the international presscon at the Beverly Hilton for Doubt starring Katherine Heigl, one of the nine CBS Studios International series showcased in the two-day event, I commented how “beautiful and ravishing” she was before I asked a question.

“Oh, ravishing!,” exclaimed Heigl, much to the amusement of the invited journalists from around the world. “Stop it!” she added, blushing. I assured her that I was serious, that I meant it, and then asked how she would like the idea of being “uglified” or “deglamorized” for a role.

“Deglamorized, yes,” Heigl said. “I know it would be really fun.”

In Doubt, executive-produced by Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, Heigl plays Sadie Ellis, a brilliant lawyer at a boutique firm who starts to fall for her charismatic client Billy Brennan (played by Steven Pasquale), an altruistic pediatric surgeon recently accused of murdering his girlfriend 24 years ago.

An Emmy Award winner and twice nominated for a Golden Globe, Heigl has starred in several TV shows including Grey’s Anatomy in which she played Dr. Isobel Stevens for six seasons. She’s married to singer-songwriter Josh Kelley and they have two daughters, with a third child expected anytime soon. The family lives at a ranch in Utah with nine dogs and four cats, nine horses, two donkeys, two pygmy goats, nine chickens and two miniature horses.

Here are excerpts from the presscon:

Fans like shows about lawyers. Those stories are fun to follow, there is a winner and a loser, they are decisive. What’s it like playing a lawyer? A lot of actors have played lawyers and it seems like it’s a go-to role for drama. What’s the particular fun or challenge of playing a lawyer?

“To be honest, I have never really watched any legal dramas. So, I forgot about the whole courtroom thing and that you have to, you know, sort of perform for the jury and I found it really fascinating. I was like, wait a minute, this is interesting because as an actor I get to actually act for this jury, you know, I have to act demure, act passionate or really get them on my side. And I was like, I bet the best lawyers are the ones who are comfortable kind of performing and grandstanding and like doing that whole thing because that’s a big part of it and I found that to be really fun because it’s a sort of weird — it’s like, I’m an actor pretending to be an actor in front of a jury. You know, it’s kind of weird. I like it — it’s interesting.”

There are and there have been a lot of legal shows. A lot of people played lawyers before, but this is different. It’s a little Ally McBeal meets The Practice. Can you talk about that aspect of a show?

“I think you’re right and I think that’s probably what I love most about it is that it has a lightness to it, a ‘funniness’ to it. That’s not a word. Sorry. A joyfulness, shall we say, and I think that the cast… it’s such a great ensemble cast and everybody has really got these fascinating storylines and these great characters that Tony (Phelan) and Joan (Rater) are really diving into developing for everybody. So it’s a very spread-out, well-rounded kind of show.”

You’ve excelled in comedy and you seem to be doing more drama of late. What was it that you were looking for in picking this, what was the mindset that made you sort of go for it?

“I wasn’t looking for something at the moment. I was to be totally honest kind of grieving State of Affairs and sad because I was so committed to that and I loved it so much and it was such an extraordinary experience. But I wasn’t like just gunning to do something else right away. And then I got a call and the script and I know Tony and Joan. I worked with them in the past for years and I love them and I know they are super talented.”

Can you talk a little bit more about what it’s like to work with Tony and Joan again, and could you see yourself getting into a producer’s role again given your past relationship with them?

“Yeah, I’m going to try to really push that angle. I would love to produce on this, but you know that’s a long shot. I’m sure they have plenty of producers on this show. I love Tony and Joan so much. They are an incredibly fun couple to be around and they are just decent, great talented people, but also really charming and fun. If you ever sit with Joan for 20 minutes, she will tell you the most fascinating, engaging, entertaining stories of your life. And Tony is equally amazing, and they are smart and talented and kind, which is incredibly important when you enter into any business with anybody.”

Do you start living in your character when you take a part or do you just leave it out, like you have a store and you close the door and leave for the day?

“I’ve always felt differently about television than film because in television, if we’re lucky, you know, I’m embracing this character for nine months a year, hopefully for the next seven years. I can’t divorce myself from her and I can’t divorce her from me for that length of time because then I would be, you know, slightly schizophrenic. So, I think that in television, a lot of me end up within her and a lot of her ends up in my day-to-day. In film, I can do that more easily because that’s, you know, a three-month gig generally and you can kind of immerse yourself in a totally different kind of person than you are and, yes, shut the door on that person when you go home at night, which is healthier.”

You’ve talked about State of Affairs. Was there anything that you learned that helped you with this project or just moving forward with your career?

“I think I learned that I love producing that I really loved that experience and reveled in it. And that was really my first opportunity to be a real producer and not just like a vanity title. And I learned a lot because obviously I did not nail it, but there were other people involved, too. It wasn’t all on me. But it was a great learning experience and I would love to do it again.”

What traits do you share with your character?

“I think I share her passion and commitment to her work, like her ambition. I can be very ambitious. And I share her need for levity and humor and laughter. And again, it’s always really fun for me to play because it’s literally how I start my day off with like, ‘Okay, where is the…who is going to make me laugh?’ I just want to laugh. And the fact that I get to do that on-camera and then get to do it off-camera because everybody is pretty hilarious. So that’s  probably my favorite part of Sadie and the thing I most relate to.”

You are so beautiful, so ravishing…

(Laughing)…”Oh, ravishing! Stop it.”

How would you like the idea of, you know, being “uglified” or de-glamorized for a role?

“Deglamorized, yes, I know it would be really fun and take a lot of the pressure off honestly because…I am so grateful for your kind comments, but it honestly took like two hours. You know, I don’t wake up like this. I don’t wake up close to this, like especially with the short hair kind of, anyway…And so I wouldn’t, you know, it’s a lot of pressure I think sometimes to keep it all together and then try to be beautiful and desirable on that level, especially as I age.”

Do you think that today television is giving more interesting roles to women and there is a new generation of female directors and writers?

“I do, actually I really do. I think it’s been, you know, it’s such a blessing in a way there are just so many more interesting, female-driven stories to tell and really strong, interesting female leads. Thank goodness, because I think the film world has dried right up. I just worked with a female director on the last episode who was incredible and who I worked with on Grey’s Anatomy for years and our current episode is a female director and it’s just awesome. It’s a different world. It wasn’t like that 10 years ago. I mean, yeah, there were female directors, but it just wasn’t the same.”

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