KATHERINE HEIGL ONLINE

Zyzzyx Rd.

When did the casting process take place for the film and how did Katherine get involved with the project?

You have to sell a film with names that will be recognized out of the United States. So you get lists of names and when I saw Katherine Heigl's name I remembered her from Prince Valliant, because when I saw her in Prince Valliant she was fabulous as this warrior queen or princess and I thought "who is she?!". I forced myself to remember her name for future reference.

When her name came up on a casting list, frankly I just said "get Katherine Heigl". Nobody knew who she was except one manager friend of mine, and he said "you're getting Katie?!"... (he had worked with her before) and he said "this is going to be great... You and Katie Heigl, this is going to be great, I can't wait to see this!". He knew the chemistry would be there.

What was it like working with Katherine? How did you find her as a person?

Katherine and her mother and her sister were on the set a lot together. When Katherine was not working, she was in her trailer with her sister. She is very professional. She comes out, does her thing, and then goes back and prepares for her next scene.

Her mother Nancy and I struck up a friendship because we both have daughters, so we talked quite a bit. I like her mother a lot. Her mother had been a guardian to her in the business when she was a child actor, so her mother is very familiar with the business and shooting. She is a very pleasant lady. We had many conversations about Katherine - about professional stuff and about personal stuff.

I think Katherine is very solid, very rooted, she has a very solid family…she's real. She's not affected. There's no pretense, she's not all hung up on herself, she does not have a huge ego, she's very solid, she's a professional. She's good stuff. Katherine spent the first week in her Lolita outfit which was very skimpy lingerie, so for a third of the movie, she was running around a very scary desert with cactus, Joshua trees, black widows, tarantulas and rattlesnakes. When she is given a job to do, she fearlessly gets it done! She is courageous and she really is a great sport.

Would you like to work with her again in the future?

Oh in a heartbeat, sure… Katherine is a doll!

Continued...