June 2000 issue

Katherine Heigl, the va-va-voom blonde member of a teenagers-from-space trio on the WB series Roswell, is the kind of woman who makes alien colonization of Earth seem like a damn fine idea. Of course, it helps that when she shows up for lunch at a San Fernando Valley cantina, she has accessorized her curvaceous 5'8" frame with formfitting white jeans and a sleeveless pink sweater instead of tentacles and antenae. Katherine's actual home planet is a green, clean place called New Canaan, Connecticut, where she was a child model before turning to acting in her teens, starring in movies with fellow suspected aliens Gerard Depardieu (My Father the Hero) and Steven Seagal (Under Siege 2). More recently she was the umpteenth person to attempt to kill off a certain satanic doll in the 1998 horror hit Bride of Chucky. Today the 21-year-old beauty absently munches on a tostado salad while the discussion bounces from alien conspiracies to dating plumbers to the dangers of asking God for bigger boobs. It's enough to make us hope for close encounters of the fourth, fifth, and sixth kind.

Do you believe in aliens?
I don't think there could possibly be only us here in the whole universe. Human beings are great. Most of them. And Earth is amazing. But it's much more fun to think that there are other worlds and beings, whether we ever contact them or not.

Who are the aliens among us?
Hmmm. Well, I seriously wonder about Dennis Rodman. I mean, you have to, right? He's a little sketchy. And possibly Carmen Electra too.

Do you think the government is really hiding some alien evidence at Roswell, New Mexico?
Yeah, because I don't know how a rumor like that could perpetuate for so long. My father gave me this book, the official government records on Roswell, and they're trying to blame all the UFO sightings on weather balloons and a dummy found out in the dessert, blah, blah. That sounds really fishy.

As one of the alien teens on Roswell, you aren't supposed to get it on with humans. What'll happen?
Nobody really knows! And I'm shocked the cast hasn't come up with some theories, because we have the most vuglar set ever. Most of the time I'm cringing, because I'm sort of a priss.

What goes on?
Mostly it's just well-timed farting. But that's gotten to the point where nobody cares anymore. Everybody just rolls their eyes. And, oh, this is terrible. I shouldn't be saying this.

Oh, c'mon.
[laughs] OK. Majandra Delfino, who plays Maria on the show, will jokingly do what she calls the...fanning-the-pussy dance. See, I hate that word. At first I'd just cover my ears and walk away. Now I can say it freely. But not often.

Before our brains short-circuit, can you demonstrate?
[shimmies a little in her seat, then makes flapping hand gestures just below the waist] It's mostly just waving, but it's all done...in the vicinity. That's my stupid East Coast cheerleader version of it. She's Latin, so she can do it really well. I do mine more like Marcia Brady.

Roswell revolves around trying to keep your identities secret. When was the last time you couldn't keep a secret?
Probably when I sat down and told Maxim about the fanning-the-pussy dance. Are you kidding? I can never keep a secret!

In that case, tell us about the sordid side of growing up in suburban Connecticut.
Actually, I was a good girl in high school. There wasn't a lot to do for fun. There were kids who hung out at the Mobil station on weekend nights, and that was about it. We weren't out partying and drinking late into the night. Maybe we'd throw water balloons at passing cars.

You never did anything crazy back then?
Well, I went skinny-dipping with a boyfriend when I was about 16. We were just fooling around, and then we decided to go skinny-dipping. Actually, I think that was the first time I ever really saw a man naked. It was at night. Then the light hit just right and I was like, "Whoa! OK! Let's pretend that didn't happen." I was not prepared.

By then you had starred in My Father the Hero. Did Gerard Depardieu teach you to say anything dirty in French?
No, but I had a friend in high school who was French and she did. It was that "Voulez-vous couchez avec moi, ce soir?" thing. Then I realized that was from a disco song. I went, "Everybody knows this- you didn't teach me anything original!"

Did Seagal teach you martial arts moves for Under Siege 2?
When you're an aikido master, like he was, you have these followers, and they taught me. I only learned one move, for when I flipped a guy down a hall. I was really excited about it, but for some reason I completely forgot how to do it the next day.

You were also in Bride of Chucky. Were you allowed on the set when the dolls were doing the nasty?
[laughs] People either love that scene or hate that scene. I can't decide. That's where my romanticism kicks in and I go, "This is just digusting." I don't know why I have such grand ideals in my head about men and romance and all that stuff.

What attracts you to a guy? The first thing I look at is the way he dresses, which is really shallow. There are lots of different styles. There's the L.A. style, which is pretty much all black. Then there's my favorite style, which is very East Coast: a guy in a nice pair of khakis, a T-shirt, and baseball cap. That's like [sighs], "Give me your number!"

So you don't mind making the first move?
I'm really bad at it, which is probably why I'm not dating anybody right now. Normally I just wait for something to happen, and then nothing ever happens. If I go to a bar, that's not the kind of environment where I want to meet somebody. And nobody talks at auditions. Everybody just stares at the wall and goes over their lines and looks insane, like people on the subway talking to themselves. I've been thinking that I should take a kayaking class or a rock-climbing class, and maybe I'll meet some guys that way.

Do guys act flustered around you? At a loss for words?
That'd be nice. There's this one guy I keep seeing at premieres and things like that, and he always comes up to me: "Hey! Are you back in town again? How's it goin'?" And I have no idea who he is. Apparently I should know him. And I'm dumb enough to keep giving him my phone number because I get embarrassed. Then he calls my machine and says, "Heym Kat, this is me!" Who says that? "It's me"? Pretty weird. I've got to figure out a way to gently say, "Look, I'm sorry, but I don't know you." It's hard for me to just be blatantly mean. I don't want to be a bitch.

What was your worst date?
Oh, I cringe when I think about it. When I first moved here, my trainer at the gym asked me out. And this guy had seen me really sweating too, which is always a bad thing. But that wasn't the problem. We went to this steakhouse, and he spent the entire time talking about his acting aspirations and showing me his portfolio. He knew I was in the business and just wanted to see what I could do for him. I was completely mortified and stopped going to that gym.

Maybe you should just date a regular guy.
Well, I'd love to find a really great plumber. But that's just not gonna happen.

How do you feel about older guys?
I actually prefer older men. Guys are kind of retarded until they're about 30. I've been interested in a man who was 35, but he didn't act 35, you know? Like, I don't think I could really be interested in a 35-year-old Wall Street type. But I do relate to older men better, because it's easier to connect with someone who's a little older and wiser.

Where would you go on a date with this older, regular guy?
We don't have to go to the Four Seasons or anything fancy like that. My favorite kind of date is something really casual, like burgers and milk shakes at a cool diner, just talking and getting to know each other. Of course, those dates can really suck if you have nothing to talk about.

What leaves you breathless?
One of those kisses that is so much more than just having somebody's tongue in your mouth. It catches you by surprise, and it's so perfect at that exact moment that it makes you forget everything around you. And then it's over, and later you're in your bed at home, and all of a sudden you remember it and it leaves you breathless.

Speaking of kissing, describe your lips.
I high school a girl said that my lips looked like somebody had taken a spoonful of strawberry yogurt and pressed it up against my face. So that's what I've been going with ever since.

What are your thoughts on the possibility of a female-prescribed version of Viagra?
Never felt like I needed it, but for those who feel they do, by all means! We should all feel horny all the time. [laughs]

You've got a movie coming up called 100 girls. Good title.
It's a cute movie. I just wish I wasn't wearing only jeans and a bra in this one scene.

Why?
Because I'm leaning over this guy and shaking him, and I didn't realize exactly what they do when you're moving around a lot. If they were fake it'd probably look better.

Don't you think natural is good?
Most guys think whether they're real or fake doesn't really matter, as long as they're big. When I was 13, I was flat as a board and totally unhappy about it. I would write in my diary every day, Oh, if I could just have a B cup by summer! I actually prayed for big boobs. So I developed at about 14, and then I was 15, 16, 17, and they kept going.

Now that you mention it...
Yeah, obviously prayer works.