"GIRL WONDER"
By Elissa Blake. Transcribed by AnneG.
“What I like about Katie Holmes," says 20- year- old Ben, playing pool in a Sydney pub, "is the fact she seems a virgin but kinda curious about sex at the same time." He takes his shot at the pool table and he misses. "She's sexy because she's so innocent - looking and vulnerable," he continues, "and maybe, just maybe, in my fantasies, I could, be the first to have her," in your dreams buddy, in your dreams. But there you have it. Katie Holmes is the young girl men want to fuck for the first time. Her on -screen sex appeal lies in the slightly come-hith-er-but-don't-hurt-me gaze emanating from her moist hazel eyes. A woman so totally non-threatening and seemingly inexperienced that any boy next door could feel comfortable slipping under the sheets with her. With. It's an image that Holmes isn't entirely comfortable with. After all , at 21years old, she's all grown up now. ''I'm not saying I'm this mature young woman right now, but I think I'm a little…not as native as I was when I first started playing Joey, ''Holmes says of the Dawson's Creek role that has made her a star over the past three years. "I think I'm a little bit more grown than she is-or I'm trying to be." With that she breathes out a small laugh, unsure whether she should be naughty or nice. She's all ready naughty on Dawson's Creek with her on-again, of-again romance with doofus Dawson Leary played admirably (if annoyingly) by James Van Der Beek.
She's played the innocent yet curious girl in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, survived her first love scene in Disturbing Behaviour, hung out with drug users in Go, tried to kill her teacher in Teaching Mrs. Tingle, attempted to seduce Michael Douglas in the upcoming Wonder Boys and she's perfected the nasty rich girl in her next film with Cate Blanchette and Hilary Swank, The Gift.Each time the roles are moving more and more away from the sweet thing. A Plan a publicist has endorsed by knocking back any interview requests by teen magazines. "I play a 16- year- old every-day and because I'm getting older it's nice to go for a change once and a while and be an adult, "Holmes says. "It's not like I'm trying to get away from that but it's exiting and I usually look for material that challenges me and scares me and scares me and then I know I should do it - and a lot of times that's playing older ."Today Katie Holmes is hanging out in the house she bought in Wilmington ,North Carolina ,the town where Dawson's Creek is filmed for 10 months of the year. She lives alone. "It's kind of lonely but I'm so busy I only sleep here ,I'm out all the time," she say's. Sitting on a dining chair in her lounge room, It's only a hour or so before bedtime but Holmes is happy to talk. She's just finished chatting to her dad on the phone and now she's telling me about the "beautiful curtains my mum made for me-they're off-white ."Holmes is wearing a black T-shirt ,jeans and Nikes. Her long dark hair, once voted number one in the terrific tresses category at the Emmy’s is pinned up in a loose bun. She's surround by old newspapers in her lounge room which is decorated with flowers and candles. "I'm definitely a messy person, "she says laughing and looking around the room
"I know where everything is but I just can't organize. I don't make lists and find scripts on the laundry dry machine, and under my bed or in the bathroom ,kitchen . It's bad , I really need to take control. "This morning Holmes woke up to the sound of knocking because her alarm clock failed to go off. She still managed to wake up by 7am where she shot two scenes of Dawson's Creek .One with Kerr Smith , who plays jack(the recently-come-to -terms-with-his-sexuality gay character)and Meredith Monroe who plays Andy (the kooky girl with the unexplained mental health problem)and James Van Der Beek. "We were talking about how we weren't going to the traditional prom and we would have our own anti-prom instead because some people were discriminating against Jack and his sexuality, "say's Holmes who called 9:15pm.The second scene was with Nina Repeta, who plays Besie Joey's older sister. . Joey is currently torn between her long-term feelings for Dawson or her new "wow" feelings for Pacey, Dawson's best friend who doesn't mind a shag or two.
"When Dawson asked me to the prom, I really don't know what to do so I'm just asking her for some advice,” she say's not bothering to mention that the actor playing Pacey, Joshua Jackson, was once was her real life boyfriend. By 3pm, Holmes was back home having an afternoon nap."I didn't really sleep this weekend,I was out of town working,"she explains.(the work has her latest film The Gift, due to be released next year.)Born in suburban Toledo,Ohoi,Kate Noelle Holmes is the only well-known actor to come out of the small mid-west city since Jamie Farr lit up the small screen as Klinger in M.A.S.H .She grew up the youngest of five children-three older sisters,one older brother. Her mother was a home maker and her father, a lawyer. "It was a really great place to grow up. It was all about the football game and high school," She confessing she was "horrible" at sports but she is fond of the lakers -kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neil ("They're so huge") are her favourite players. She started acting at high school plays and won the role of Joey Potter on Dawsons Creek at 18, just after graduation. " I was a lot like her, small town, first love, all that," says Holmes. She's a girl of simple taste: she loves ET( first movie she ever saw), Whitney Houston (first concert), to kill a Mockining Bird( Favourite book), Meg Ryan( Favourite actress), Robert Redford( Favourite actor), jellie bellie and cookie dough( favourite foods), Woody Allen( Favourite director), Party Of Five(favourite TV show). She's really a bit of a nerd. "Well…..Yeah, I can't really deny it, I am who I am. I'm pretty normal," she says. " I'm not smooth type of girl. I run into things, I trip, I spill food. I say stupid things…I really don't have it all together." Last year , looking for a more challenging role to play, Holmes really did get it together for her next audition.
" Katie Holmes was very hot, "says Wonder Boys director Curtis Hanson remembering the day she arrived to audition. "She was hot from her TV series, you know, a teen sensation. And she flew to New York from where she was filming Dawsons Creek to meet me on the day when I was seeing actors every 15 minutes," says Hanson, who also directed LA Confidential. " She got in line with the rest and read for the part because she wanted to work with Robert Downey Jr and Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire.That's the kind of commitment that each of these actors had."Wondor Boys is the story of an English professor (Michael Douglas)who wrote a hugely succesful novel when he was very young. A wonder boy.Now he suffers from the opposite to writer's block,he can't stop writing and fears he will never finish his second book.In his spare time,he's having a affair with the university's chchancellor (Frances McDormand)and nurturing the talents of a weird but gifted student (Tobey Maguire).Holmes plays Hannah Green,a beautiful and talented student writer who rents a room in the professor's house.
After his wife leaves him, Holmes tries to seduce him."She's some one who's very well read and sophisticated and wise beyond his years,"Holmes say's."It was really amazing to work with Michael and play someone who is different to Joey. "Michael Douglas was immediately taken with Holmes."As pretty and attractive as she is, without any formal training,Katie is a natural,"Douglas say's on her performance in Wonder Boys."she has an ability to make dialogue sound like it came right out of her mouth,out of her persona."So what was Michael Douglas like to work with?"He was unbelievable and such a generous actor and a amazing person, "Holmes says. "It was nice to be around someone who has been in the business for such a long time and has so many successes.To see how he approached his material was very inspiring walked away having learned a lot about how to be a professional."Did you and Michael make jokes about how he likes younger women? Holmes laughs. "No I was to intimidated to make jokes! "He wasn't a party kind of guy then? "Well he wasn't hitting on me if that's what you're asking." Yes, actually, that was what I was asking that. She laugh's again and repeats how totally professional Michael Douglas was.
At all times Katie Holmes offers a quick summary of her film career so far. The Ice Storm 1997 "that was my first job so it was a surreal experience,you know.I just kind of went to mark and said my lines like did the adudition,I think I did'nt breathe the whole time I was there.It was like dream world." DISTURBING BEHAVIOUR,1998:"I had really great time doing it and it was really nice to play someone different than joey."Go,1999 "I thought the script was really funny and smart.I thought Doug Liman was really interesting and strong director and I had most of my scenes with Sarah Polley who I have a tremendous amount of respect for"
TEACHING MRS TINGLE 1999:"That was one of my best summers ever because I'm good friends with Kevin (Williamson) and we right away clicked and become really good friends which is a really wonderful thing and every day we laughed a lot, had lots of fun. I'm really glad I got to do that" WONDER BOYS, 1999 "That was one of the most challenging experiences and probably the hardest because I was travelling back and forth between Wilmington and Pittsburgh, sort of doing it simultaneous with the show. But it was one of the most amazing experiencing great friends. It was just an unbelievable time." The Gift, 2000:"It was kind of the same story, doing it simultaneously with the show. I'm excited that I got the opportunity to play a challenging character. It was scary minute because I was trying to survive with these really wonderful actors. I hope I turned out OK and again I learned so much and all of the nights with no sleep and travelling were worth it." In the meantime, boys around the world will continue to wonder what it's like to slip beneath those sheets with Katie Holmes.
