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Roswell High's
mind-reading alien Katherine Heigl paid FHM a visit in her sauciest
photoshoot yet...
If our congenial
one-eyed friend Mr Television is telling the truth - and we've never had
reason to doubt his hypnotic, chanting pantomime - one thing is becoming
clear: the aliens of our galaxy are getting younger. This is a new
development: we'd always been told only the most senior of alien lifeforms
would invade Fortress Earth. Just as we'd defeated the centuries-old
tripods of War of the Worlds, the pensioner-like ripply forehead of
Davros, master of the Daleks, wheeled into view. Then - almost to
keep us on our toes - they metamorphosed from the ponderous middle-agers
of Blake's 7 to the busy intergalactic trollops waiting for Captain
Kirk to explain what "kissing" was.
And now, just as The
X Files sees plucky FBI G-men Mulder and Scully tackling adolescent
rednecks with superpowers and telepathic ten-year-olds, along comes hit
new Yank sci-fi series Roswell High. Here - in what must
surely be television's final step before "Alien Babies: The Animated
Series" - the aliens take the form of a group of American teenagers
at a small-town high school.
Of course, if our puny
human way of life is being threatened, it helps that our conquerors will
be as trouser-threateningly stunning as Katherine Heigl. We should
also be grateful that, like the feisty Isabel Evans who she plays, she
only has the power to look into other people's minds. "Not as
cool as bursting out of John Hurt's stomach, I admit," says the
21-year-old, "but you take what you can get in the alien world."
If you're not one of
the select few to have Sky, Roswell High might have passed you
by. In which case you'll perhaps know her better from her film
career - which is where FHM began its chat...
You
played Sarah Ryback in the 1995 clunker Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.
You'll have to spill the beans now - how weird is Steven Seagal?
Well, he was really
nice to me - though he did go everywhere surrounded by these five
bodyguards. And he never stuck to the script - I was constantly
having to improvise. Eventually, the director took me aside and
said, "Look - don't worry. If I have to, I'll edit it word for
word." I believe Steven's now a reincarnation of Buddha, or
something. No, we don't do lunch anymore...
FHM
readers may also remember you as a young temptress in My Father The
Hero...
Oh God - I look back
at that now, and it seems so gross. At just 14 years old, I had to
wear a thong bikini. And then they used that scene in the trailer so
my entire high school saw it! There are still men who come up to me
today and say, "You were really hot in that film!" I was
14, for God's sake!
Strewth
- you wouldn't think you're a shy and retiring wallflower from our
photoshoot...
You're right. I
used to be so modest - I'd make everyone leave the room if I was changing
for a film. But doing the photoshoot for FHM was the first
time I really felt like, "I have this body, and I'm going to work
it." I felt very in the moment, really sexy - as well as having
a lot of fun.
So FHM
marks a turning point for Katherine Heigl?
I did think, "Wow
- if I can feel this sexy here, why can't I be like this when I'm going to
premieres or awards ceremonies?" I spent my teenage years
wanting a more womanly body, with hips and bigger boobs. Then when I
got them, I missed my waifish days. After this, I thinking,
"Katherine, it's time to just shut up and get on with it."
I mean, recently someone asked me if I had a preferred side to be
photographed on. I never even considered it before. Then I
started thinking, "What are you trying to say? Do I have an
abnormal ear or something?"
You
did start life as a child model - what monstrosities were you forced to
parade around in?
Oh God - I recently
uncovered these pictures of me dressed in atrocious Cabbage Patch Kids
pyjamas. But underwear was the most humiliating, especially when
your friends see you in a lacy thong. God, I'm now actually cringing
at the thought.
Still,
it got you to the dizzy heights of where you are today. Does your
home town have a large sign saying, "Welcome to the home of Katherine
Heigl, that one off Roswell High!"
Are you kidding?
I think they'd rather kill someone than do anything like that. I
live in a town called New Canaan, which is just outside of Connecticut,
where they are far too snobby to even mention celebrities. Many
American towns are famous for things like, "See the World's Largest
Ball of String!" I think my town's would probably have to be
"Most Pretentious People".
Now
that you are getting recognised more, have you received any weird fan
mail?
Right after Under
Siege 2, when I was still in high school, a guy sent me bunches of
purple roses for weeks. He'd found out where I lived, and sent them
to my house - with a note attached: "Just trying to get your
attention." I wrote it off as being kind of creepy, but then I
went to Arizona for a book signing, and he followed me there. When
he revealed he was the man who'd been sending them, that was when my
mother decided it was getting a little too scary, and got his name down.
Did
you get yourself tooled up for protection? We all know every
American schoolkid is packing heat...
That is so
unfair! That's like saying all Europeans have bad teeth. But I
grew up in a fairly safe upper class town. A lot of my friends were
driving brand new Beemers to class, which isn't always the best way to
grow up.
FHM
often celebrates timeless bullying techniques such as the Smudgie in our
Reporter section. Did you encounter a richer form of intimidation?
I remember one
specific bullying method called dipping. A lot of the older guys
used to chew great wads of tobacco in their lips, and then spit the juice
into Snapple bottles. They fooled this new girl that it was her
Snapple, and she took a huge swig. She drank most of it before she
realised.
So you
didn't get involved in any teenage shenanigans yourself?
Not really - but as
there is categorically nothing to do in New Canaan, everyone got up to
something. The worst thing I did was to my high school boyfriend's
house. We toilet-papered the trees, and then we got these bags of
plastic forks, and stuck them in the ground. As it was winter, the
ground froze over by morning, and the forks were stuck; if you tried to
pull them out, they broke. We really went for it - so my boyfriend
woke up to find his entire front lawn covered in a tiny white forest of
forks. He threatened to call the police, actually - but he had no
proof.
So
that was the end of that relationship, then?
Oh yeah - he thought
he could get me to confess. But that wasn't going to happen.
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