The Unwilling Diva

Katherine Heigl has been assigned the diva box. Returning to theatres in Life As We Know It,she has a chance to rehabilitate herself and redefine her public persona with the popped- claws celebrity media.

An unsmiling Katherine Heigl,at work on a new movie in this Pittsburgh suburb in August,stepped out of a chauffeureblack SUV and strode onto the set. She briskly filmed her scene and decamped to her air-conditioned trailer. I admit that Im particular about the way I work, she said,stopping to stare at a stuffed rabbit on the floor.

True? Yes. But the morning could also be accurately described like this: Relaxing in her trailer between scenes,she apologised for the mess her daughter,Naleigh,had been playing with stuffed animals. Gracious and funny,she talked about her struggle to balance work with family. I guess everything in life requires some kind of compromising, she said.

So which is it? Cold diva or likable mom?

As she has learned the hard way,Hollywood and the news media arent big on nuance. Stars are supposed to come packaged with neat captions: bubbly Julia Roberts,charming George Clooney,quirky Johnny Depp. When they step outside those assigned boxes the machinery starts pushing them back.

Heigl 31,has been assigned the diva box. Returning to theatres in Life As We Know It,she has a chance to rehabilitate herself with an industry that is newly nervous about her drawing powerher last film,Killers,flopped badlyand redefine her public persona with the popped-claws celebrity media while winning back any Greys Anatomy fans who may have wandered.

She unwittingly created her image problem by being honest in interviews. When she told Vanity Fair that her 2007 movie Knocked Up was a little bit sexist wellduh the blowback was swift and severe,culminating with her co-star from that film,Seth Rogen,trashing her on Howard Sterns radio show.

It is difficult but not impossible to escape the kind of pigeonhole in which Heigl finds herself or,better yet,to shift the focus to the acting. But its usually harder for women in Hollywood to pull off the feat. It took a decade for Drew Barrymore to escape her party-girl image. Angelina Jolie has yet to move past being branded a home wrecker. Is Heigl willing to cram herself into a pretty-but-not-heard public persona, after all,what the celebrity media want from blond bombshells like her?

Ive been told Im too forthright with opinions, she said with a sigh. Well do they want a fierce woman or milquetoast? Should I be me,or should I pretend to be something I think people want? Pretending seems pretty ridiculous to me. She paused to think for a moment before adding,I didnt think that what I was so bad that I needed to hide it.

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When it comes to her work,she has proved herself a gifted actress someone whom movie studios see as finally being able to pick up the romantic comedy baton from Drew Barrymore and Julia Roberts. She won an Emmy Award for her work on Greys Anatomy and critics have cheered the natural way she has inhabited roles like the pathological bridesmaid in 27 Dresses,a 2008 comedy that was made for 30 million and sold more than 160 million at the global box office. She now earns an estimated 15 million per picture.

Life As We Know It,directed by Greg Berlanti TVs Everwood and co-starring Josh Duhamel Las Vegas,tries to showcase Heigls range,giving her plenty of slapstick moments along with dramatic scenes. Her character,Holly,is the Type-A owner of a successful bakery,who,after the death of her best friend,receives co-custody of her friends baby.

Life As We Know It is also her transition to active producing. Heigl spent the summer in Pittsburgh,producing and acting in One for the Money,an adaptation of the popular Janet Evanovich novel. If all goes well,she will then turn toward sharply dramatic work,starring as a Scottish heroine in an adaptation of Outlander,the novel by Diana Gabaldon.

People who know Heigl describe her as fun-loving and relaxed. She enjoys a good cocktail and a dirty joke,but she also knits and reads Martha Stewart Living. She likes to ride horses in Utah,where she lives with her husband,the singer-songwriter Josh Kelley.

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But Heigl also has the side to which Josephson referred: a serious,business-minded person who expects people to be prepared and not waste her time. Years of rejection on the LA auditioning circuit hardened her,friends and associates say,and she has also had to deal with family difficulties,including the death of her brother in a car accident.

The rushing to judge when it comes to Heigl,especially in the media and on the blogosphere needs to stop,said Paul Brooks,a producer of Life As We Know It. Having seen how she is portrayed in the media,I frankly thought,Oh,blimey,what am I in for, he said. I cannot emphasise enough how delighted I was to find that she is nothing like that. Shes nice and normal and a complete professional. But I guess that makes for a pretty boring story.