According to an L.A. Times article, Katherine Heigl,
whose movie 27 Dresses is scheduled to open January 18, is lazy, she smokes, she might be a caffeine addict and she’s outspoken — which rarely translates to a good thing for a woman in a man’s world. So why, exactly, do we like her? Oh, right: because she sounds sort of normal.
Even while riding her rising-star status as the new romantic-comedy darling, she hasn’t forgotten that she is actually a person first and a moneymaking commodity second. Imagine that. Of course, the entertainment industry has a way of requesting that its stars reverse the order of those priorities, but as of yet, Heigl seems to be in no hurry to change.
And why should she? The opening of 27 Dresses was actually pushed back one week by the studio in hopes of taking advantage of the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. That seems to indicate that the studio thinks it has a real moneymaker on its hands.
In 27 Dresses, Heigl plays a single woman who has been a bridesmaid 27 times but never the bride. She is asked to be the bridesmaid one more time for her sister’s wedding. The only problem is that her sister is marrying someone for whom Heigl’s character has feelings.
The response at preview screenings has been largely positive. And although the movie also stars James Mardsen and Edward Burns as Heigl’s possible love interests, there is no mistake that the movie is Heigl’s to win or lose. The sneak peaks make it appear that Heigl is winning.
Here’s a look at the trailer:
Heigl and the film are getting plenty of press and early reviews are positive. But that “outspoken” label keeps popping up. In case you are unaware, outspoken is code for opinionated. Opinionated, at least in terms of labeling women, is code for does-not-know-when-to-be-quiet. Does-not-know-when-to-be-quiet is code for an undesirable trait in a young Hollywood starlet. But in order for Heigl to care about that, she would of course have to care about that, and it seems that she doesn’t care about that. Not at age 29 and with one Emmy in hand for her role as Izzie Stevens on Grey’s Anatomy and an apparent drawing power even when she spends 90 percent of a movie (Knocked Up) being artificially pregnant, which of course is different than being artificially impregnated. Heh.
So what is this “outspoken” thing that articles keep coming back to? Well, it started at the 2007 Golden Globe Awards when she publicly spoke about her lack of amusement in response to costar Isaiah Washington’s comments regarding her other costar T.R. Knight’s sexuality. Then she made additional press in a Vanity Fair interview when she continued to openly lament about what she perceived to be sexist overtones in the film Knocked Up and how she struggled with some of those perceptions while filming the movie. (She did issue a clarifying statement regarding her view of how women were depicted in Knocked Up, and made it clear that she did enjoy making the movie very much.) In the same Vanity Fair interview, she also mentioned that she’s not thrilled with the direction her character has taken in Grey’s Anatomy.
Being outspoken or speaking one’s mind can come at a price in this town, and that price can be rather high if one speaks too loudly or tramples too many toes or appears to be biting the hand that feeds the star. So far there has been no public complaint from the makers of Grey’s or Knocked Up; they don’t seem to feel that Heigl has been nibbling on their fingers with her comments. I do find it amusing, though, that Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes has asked that Heigl walk the picket line on behalf of the writers on strike — and that Heigl does it because her boss is making her, but has also made it clear that she does not enjoy walking in circles carrying signs. Hey, come to think, of it maybe that’s the payback for the comments!
Anyway, from a woman’s perspective, 27 Dresses is more than just Heigl at work. It’s a trifecta of female energy! The film was written by Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada) and was directed by
Anne Fletcher (Step Up). Fletcher is probably better known for her choreography work, but another female director is always OK in my book. The film is due out in a couple of weeks, and frankly, I can’t wait to hear what Heigl thinks about it all. At least we’ll know that whatever it is, it’s truly her opinion and not the company line. Of course, that frankness might be fun for us, but the jury is still out on how much fun it is for the company.
