Thanks to Elizabeth for sending this in! Apparently, this is the last issue of Sci-Fi TV, which is going to be suspending publication with the March 2000 issue.<\/p>\n
\nSci-Fi TV, March 2000<\/p>\n
Acting Alien: An Interview with Katherine Heigl
\nSci-Fi TV Magazine<\/p>\n‘She said, ‘The show was great this week!’ ” Heigl recalls. “She would get
\ninto it and discuss things about the show and ask me questions. It was
\nreally weird that my sister, who lives across the country, was watching me
\non Roswell. It was strange to realize that I was on TV every week. I had
\nalways done film. And, going into the show, I didn’t think it would feel
\nthat different from doing film. But it is. I’m getting calls from my sister,
\nmy friends. I go out and I’m recognized so much more, and that’s because
\nRoswell is on every week. Before that, I would be recognized occasionally by
\nsomeone who knew me from My Father the Hero or Under Siege 2 or maybe Bride
\nof Chucky. Now, when I go out to the mall, people will say, ‘Hey, aren’t you
\non that show Roswel?’ The whole thing is weird. Because I’m in their living
\nroom every week, people feel like they know me. I love it. It’s so nice to
\nknow people like the show and that I have a job for at least the next nine
\nmonths.”<\/p>\nRoswell, for those few who don’t know by now, centers on Isabel Evans
\n(Heigl), her brother Max (Jason Behr) and their friend Michael (Brendan
\nFehr), three aliens growing up in Roswell, New Mexico, as average human
\nteens. The three live in constant fear of being found out, something that
\ncould easily happen at any moment, particularly given that Max has revealed
\nboth his powers and the truth about himself to Liz (Shiri Appleby), the high
\nschool girl he adores, and that Lizs pals, Maria (Majandra Delfino) and Alex
\n(Colin Hanks), know the trio’s secret and tend to open their mouths at
\ninopportune moments.<\/p>\nIn a season that saw so anticipated a genre show as Harsh Realm flame out
\nafter three episodes, what is it about Roswell that appeals to audiences?
\nHeigl thinks she knows. “it’s a little bit more mature and sophisticated
\nthan just any regular teenage show,” she reasons. ‘We’re dealing with the
\nFugitive aspect, the alien aspect. Our lives are in danger. Because our
\nsituation is so delicate, anybody involved with us or around us is suddenly
\nin a dangerous situation, too. There’s that element to it, that suspense,
\nand there’s also the chase and the constant search for some sort of
\nknowledge or information, so that we can figure out what the heck we’re
\ndoing here on Earth. That makes it a little more interesting than just
\ndealing with the day-to-day high school stuff.”<\/p>\nThough many Roswell fans revel in the often heart-wrenching Max-Liz
\nrelationship, there’s something to be said for the edge that Isabel lends to
\nthe proceedings. She speaks her mind and displays what can perhaps best be
\ndescribed as a smug superiority complex. And, taking into account the fact
\nthat Isabel does indeed possess superior otherworldly powers, it’s hard to
\nbegrudge Isabel her imperiousness. “Initially, I thought, ‘is this just an
\ninsecurity of hers? Maybe that’s why she behaves this way.’ And then,” Heigl
\nnotes. “I thought, ‘No, it’s really not.’ Isabel knows that she’s unique.
\nShe knows that she has something over everybody else, and she’s confident in
\nthat and confident in herself and who she is. This secret–even though it’s
\ndangerous, even though she’s afraid of it-makes her aware of just how unique
\nshe is. She’s so above it all. It’s great, but in future episodes, you’ll
\nsee that toned down just a bit. It’s also a defense mechanism in some
\nrespects, and they don’t want to overdo it.<\/p>\n“Isabel is one of those great characters that I’ve always wanted to play.
\nShe has such complexity. She’s the girl who wants to be like everyone else.
\nShe wants to fit into the normal high school scene and be popular, have boy
\nfriends and wear cool clothes. At the same time, she has these extraordinary
\npowers, this big secret. She is special. So, she wants to fit in, but she’s
\nreally different, and she’s fighting between these two sides of herself.
\nObviously, the stakes are a little higher, because she could get killed if
\nher secret gets out.”<\/p>\nJust as Isabel struggles daily to find balance, Roswell’s writers and
\nproducers must strike the right balance on a weekly basis between kitschy
\nhumor and urgent drama, between SF and action. And given the built-in
\ncheesiness factor of setting a show in Roswell-what with its Crashdown Cafe,
\nalien trinket stores and 24-7 fascination with visitors from other
\ngalaxies-it’s no easy task. “It was a concern at first,” Heigl admits.
\n“Initially, the show was going to be called Roswell High, which I felt was
\neven more cheesy. That put the two together, the fact that it was a high
\nschool show and about this kooky town of Roswell. I’ve never even been to
\nRoswell, which is absurd, so I don’t know if the town itself is quite as
\nextreme as we make it in the series.<\/p>\n“At this point, the show’s tone is funny, quirky and endearing. I mean, the
\nCrashdown Cafe. Everybody’s always saying, ‘I’ll meet you at the
\nCrashdown.’The kids who live in the town [on the show] are so used to this
\nstuff. To them it’s just their world, their life. They don’t even think
\nabout it. They’re not saying, ‘Oh, isn’t it ridiculous that we have a UFO
\nmuseum center here.’ It’s their way of life. They’ve grown up with these
\ntales, in the town with the big secret.”<\/p>\nSome actors love ensemble work, since they don’t have to be on set every day
\nand don’t have to carry the weight of an entire production on their
\nshoulders. Other actors loathe relinquishing even a moment of screen time
\nor, to a less egocentric degree, simply don’t feel they get enough to do.
\n“Initially, I would have to say I agreed with the people who say they don’t
\nget enough to do,” the actress admits. “I was used to doing a lot in the
\nfilms I’ve done. I sometimes was the center of a film. When I started
\nRoswell, I had to humble myself a bit and realize that the show wouldn’t be
\ncarried by me, that it’s carried by everybody. And now I’m so, so grateful
\nthat it is an ensemble show.<\/p>\n“One, it makes it so much more interesting that they focus on all the
\ndifferent characters in different episodes. We each get our opportunity for
\na storyline. Two, I love this cast and the characters. Brendan and Majandra
\nare fantastic, and their characters really spice things up. Shiri and Jason
\nare great. Colin and Nick [Wechsler, as Kyle Valenti] are starting to get
\nmore to do. When you work the kind of hours we do, it’s nice to have an
\nepisode where you’re not in the whole thing and you get three days off
\nduring the week. In the beginning, I was like, ‘Hmm, why aren’t I in these
\nthree days?’ Now, I rejoice. I’m like, ‘I have three days off! Let’s go
\nsomewhere!’ I’m loving the ensemble aspect of it now.”<\/p>\nAnd with whom among her co-stars has Heigl become closest? “I’m mostly with
\nMajandra, Brendan and Jason,” she replies. “Majandra has become a really,
\nreally close friend. She’s one of those people you immediately know you’ll
\njust love. She’s funny and wise beyond her years. Jason and Brendan are
\nhilarious. Most of my scenes are with Jason and Brendan, so we’re always
\nhanging out anyway. They keep me laughing the entire day. My cheeks were
\nreally sore from laughing yesterday, because they were making fun of me.
\nIt’s a fun set. I’m really lucky. But talk to me in a year, I could hate
\neverybody.”<\/p>\nJust as Heigl is getting to know Behr, Appleby and her other co-stars more
\nand more each day, so too is Isabel getting to know the people around her,
\nparticularly such new figures in her life as Liz, Maria and Alex. And then
\nthere’s Michael to consider. He’s certainly not a fresh face in Isabel’s
\nlife, but there seems to be a huge window of opportunity for a romantic
\nrelationship to be explored. After all, being alien, he’s more like her and
\nsurely understands her better than any human possibly could. “In a sense,
\nIsabel feels that Liz and Maria could be her friends,” HeigI observes. “At
\nthe same time, they are a threat. They’re taking away her two boys and
\ninvading her world. So, Isabel is fighting her need for companionship and
\nher fear of having her bubble busted.<\/p>\n“There’s a romantic thread of some kind with Alex, but I think it will
\nbecome more of a friendship than anything else. Isabel really leans on him
\nas a friend, which is great because she needs a friend. But I don’t think
\nhe’s a love interest. I don’t know why they haven’t made Michael a love
\ninterest. I initially thought that’s where they were going with it, and they
\nhaven’t even touched it. I’m sort of grateful, because it is almost too
\nlogical a choice. I like it that they’re making things more complicated.
\nMichael’s almost like a brother to Isabel now, so it would be weird if they
\ndid anything.<\/p>\n“We’ve definitely not explored any love interest yet for Isabel, and I keep
\nnagging at the writers for one,” Heigl continues. “I’m feeling lonely, you
\nknow? Everybody else has somebody. I would like to see what Isabel would be
\nlike in that situation. She has always been afraid of intimacy, of letting
\nsomeone else in. As it is, the only two people she has ever really let into
\nher world are Max and Michael. I don’t even know that they know her as well
\nas they should because they’re men. I would also like to see her have a real
\nfriendship with a woman. It would be interesting to see where that could go.
\nI would also like to see her find some humor in herself.”<\/p>\nMost of the actors on the show cite the “Route 285” and “River Dog” episodes
\nas Roswell’s finest hours to date. And Heigl concurs, though she goes on to
\nmention several other installments. “I would say that ‘Route 285’ and ‘River
\nDog’ are my favorites so far, but I liked ‘Heat Wave’ too. It spiced things
\nup,” she notes. ” ‘285’ was really interesting. Shiri and I had some great
\nmoments, which I really liked getting to do. You saw everybody’s
\nvulnerability in that one. Jonathan Frakes directed ‘River Dog’ and he did
\nsuch a great job with it. ‘Monsters’ had a totally different feeling than
\nthe ones before it. We were introduced to this weird power Isabel has, which
\nis going into people’s dreams. That has been my most interesting power so
\nfar. That episode also showcased this potential relationship between Maria
\nand Isabel, and we’ll see where they go with that.<\/p>\n“I also like ‘The Balance.’ It’s very SF. We think Michael is dying, and I
\nlove what happens to everybody in this situation, how everybody reacts. I
\nfreak out, and it’s the one time Isabel really loses it. Up until then, even
\nin the most extreme situations, Isabel had kept her head about her. In this
\ninstance, there was one scene in particular where I really just lost it. I
\nloved that. [Co-executive producer-director] David Nutter and I talked about
\nthe scene. He initially thought that the character should remain strong,
\ncool, calm and collected. I said, ‘But she has been through so much. FBI
\nagents are chasing them. So many people know their secret. Max was just in a
\ncar accident [the week before]. I think it makes sense for Isabel to lose it
\nfor a minute.’ It’s just one scene. It’s not like she’s on the floor,
\ncatatonic or anything. We’ve also done an episode called ‘Toy House,’ which
\nis really cool. It’s about me, Max and our mother [Mary Ellen Trainor], and
\nour secret almost coming out. It’s really touching, and that’s why I love
\nthe show. We go into deep stuff as well as the really fun, supernatural SF
\nstuff.”<\/p>\nAnd where’s that episode in which other aliens-be they of the trio’s species
\nor not of their world-arrive in Roswell? Heigl laughs. “Soon,” she says
\ncoyly. “Soon. It’s coming. I haven’t read a script yet, but every script
\nI’ve been reading seems to be leading up to it. So, we’re getting there.”<\/p>\nRaised in Connecticut, she has been working professionally since she was
\nnine years old, first as a child model, then as an actress. TV commercials
\npaved the way to features, and Heigl counts among her credits That Night, My
\nFather the Hero, Under Siege 2, Prince Valiant, Bride of Chucky and Bug
\nBuster. Of the latter two vehicles, Heigl considers Chucky “a cool movie”
\nand reports that she “doesn’t remember much” about the low-budget Bug
\nBuster. Acting, she says, is the be-all and end-all for her. ‘There’s
\nsomething about the camera, something about playing somebody else, figuring
\nout who a character is, that I love,” she enthuses. “I love discovering new
\npeople and becoming them. I’ve always loved doing that, and acting is second
\nnature to me now because I’ve been doing it since I was little. It’s like a
\nforeign language. When you learn it young, you just know it. It becomes a
\npart of you. Acting is just a part of me.<\/p>\n“Sometimes I’ll sit on a set and complain because I’m bored and it’s taking
\nforever to get to a scene. I’ll think to myself, Why am I doing this if it’s
\nso boring all the time?’ Then, I’ll get in front of the camera to do a scene
\nand I’ll have two minutes of dialogue. And for those two minutes, I’m
\nsomeplace else, I’m someone else, and I totally forget about everything.
\nThat makes up for all the hours of working, all the tedium, and I think,
\n‘This is why I love acting. This is why I’m here.”‘<\/p>\nAnd, no doubt, Heigl could be around the Roswell set for years to come. That
\nwould mean lots of sitting around, plenty of tedium and, on the plus side,
\nhundreds, perhaps even thousands, of opportunities to flesh out Isabel.
\nHeigl weighed those pros and cons very carefully prior to agreeing to a
\npotentially long commitment to Roswell. “Before you even go into a room to
\naudition, you have to sign a seven-year contract. It’s a big deal,”
\nKatherine Heigl concludes. “I remember sitting there and thinking, ‘This is
\nwhat I’ve avoided all of these years, because I was so afraid of getting
\nstuck on a show and playing a character I would eventually get so bored
\nwith.’ But I just went ahead and auditioned for Roswell. Now I’ve got this
\ncharacter I continually get to develop and go different places with.
\nHopefully, that will continue. I want the character to grow and develop, and
\nthat’s always interesting. You can’t get bored with that.<\/p>\n“As far as five or six years of it, I don’t know. At this moment, I’m
\nlooking forward to our break. I think after some time away from the show,
\nI’ll miss Isabel, I’ll miss the rest of the cast. If I’ve got something to
\ndo during my hiatuses, like a film or theater, that’ll always keep Roswell
\nalive and fresh and that will always keep me alive and fresh, too.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thanks to Elizabeth for sending this in! Apparently, this is the last issue of Sci-Fi TV, which is going to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2379,3],"tags":[70,6],"coauthors":[2266],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-katherine-heigl","category-leading","tag-interview","tag-katherine-heigl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27936,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/27936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crashdown.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}