‘Difficult’ women
It’s time we all gave Katherine Heigl a break, says Clem Bastow.
CAST EVEN a casual eye over the entertainment news circuit and you could be forgiven for thinking that Katherine Heigl was the only ‘‘difficult’’ person in Hollywood.
Yes, in a town filled with prima donnas, wildly unchecked egos, drug fiends and general lunacy, evidently Heigl’s transgressions are so immense that it’s still open season on the sometime rom-com queen, who this week finds herself front and centre in another screed about the evils of Katherine Heigl.
This edition in the long-running saga comes courtesy of Gawker, who in a piece titled ‘‘Reputed Difficult Person Katherine Heigl Doesn’t Think She’s Difficult’’, singled out her response to a reporter’s question at the summer press tour for her new NBC show, State Of Affairs.
In light of the bad vibes that seem to accompany her projects, said reporter enquired as to Heigl’s take on her rep as an onset pain. The actress responded, ‘‘I can’t really speak to that. I can only say that I certainly don’t see myself as being difficult. I would never intend to be difficult. I don’t think my mother sees herself as being difficult. We always … I think it’s important to everybody to conduct themselves professionally and respectfully and kindly. If I’ve ever disappointed somebody, it was never intentional.’’
She’s not mentioning her mother tangentially, either: the fact that Heigl’s mother, Nancy, is her ‘‘momager’’ is also a continued source of sniffy column inches about the star (despite the fact that there are plenty of momagers - and ‘‘dadagers’’ and ‘‘sistergers’’ - at work in the entertainment industry).
The level of vitriol continually lobbed her way since 2008 leaves me wondering if it might be time to call time on this peculiar industry pastime.
It reached a head when Vulture ran an excoriating series of features about Heigl’s faltering star power; first, in 2010, when they described her appeal (or lack thereof) with, ‘‘While to some she’s a ditzydelightful movie presence, to others she’s a headstrong, strike me as Heigl riding out the past few years sitting on her high horse and sneering at her industry peers.
Besides, she’s not the first actor to publicly ‘‘air her grievances’’, as
sniffily put it, about a project she’s soured on since the AD yelled ‘‘wrap’’; Jim Carrey last year withdrew his support for Kick-Ass 2, to widespread rounds of applause for keeping it real, when he decided the film was too violent. In other words, Heigl seems to get a lot of grief for behaviour that’s not that different to male stars who are frequently given second (and third, and ninth) chances to redeem themselves. It remains to be seen whether
will be a success, or the career renaissance that so many seem to think Heigl desperately needs. But it’s perhaps the fact that an actress who speaks her mind and demands a certain level of respect and remuneration is so often chastised for being ‘‘difficult’’.