Unforgettable – Interviews with Dawson, Heigl and Cheryl Ladd

This was by far the most fun I have ever had at a press junket!!!  Why?  Girl Power Baby!  It was a room full of women discussing real issues like mental health, unrealistic expectations on women to be perfect, women’s intuition, the unconditional love of a mother and so much more.

Kinda not the discussion you think would take place to promote a film opening, but it was right on time!

Directed by the incomparable Denise Di Novi and starring a stellar cast of women – Katherine Heigl, Rosario Dawson, Whitney Cummings and Cheryl Ladd, this film will literally have you screaming at the screen like you are in the comfort of your living room.

It’s sexy, thrilling and a rollercoaster ride of crazy!!!  Here are some excerpts from the junket!

 

Blogger:  This was like co-parenting gone wrong!!! I’ve never seen you (meaning Katherine Heigl) in a role like this and you nailed it. Especially, when you came out and you had that necklace on with your initials. I was like oh she’s wearing her own initials (meaning the character Heigl plays – Tessa). What a narcissistic bitch! (The room erupts with cheers, claps and laughter). I was like what the “F”? I was like something’s off with her.

 

Denise Di Novi (Director):  I am so thrilled that you noticed that! Listen, I have a 26 year-old and a 21 year-old. I have known a few women that were Tessa-ish in my life. For real…and I kept wanting to say could you not afford the two other letters for your kids? But, it stuck in my mind.

Rosario Dawson:

The one thing I like about this is that we could do backstory that wasn’t exposition. We did have reveals about education, but that information came out when the characters wanted to find out. Even the sex scene was an opportunity to do some storytelling and create some opportunities you couldn’t do anywhere else.

When you see little Isabella Kai walking in her mother’s shoes…we had a whole moment when she goes down the stairs. I remember Isabella asked if she could pick up the shoe when you’re (Tessa) being brought to the car. We were like ooh is this gonna be a little kid acting and she picked up the shoe, considered the shoe and there was just so much that happened with it. It really resonates and there are so many moments like that.

Denise Di Novi:  I think you kind of feel okay (I hope) that she’s ( Lily) gonna be with Julia, because Tessa is grooming her the way her mother groomed Tessa.

Blogger:  When she (Tessa) throws herself onto the knife…

Carla Renata (The Curvy Film Critic): That’s the only unselfish thing she (Tessa) did…

Katherine Heigl:  Tessa is like please don’t let my daughter see me like this. I can no longer raise her. I am no longer able to be this child’s mother.

Denise Di Novi:  That ending was so important. I was so nervous that the studio was going to force me to do your typical “Fatal Attraction” ending. It was really important to me that this was not a movie where one woman killed another woman. They get to that point and I really wanted that ending where Tessa kind of sacrifices herself. I don’t think Julia would ever kill Tessa. She (Julia) actually has compassion for her, so that ending and that sympathy you feel for both women in that moment was really important to me. It’s funny because somebody, a woman at a studio, another studio said that no man would’ve ever directed that ending.

Carla Renata (The Curvy Film Critic):  Let me ask you about the stunts. When you guys are flinging each other around the room like rag dolls…I wanna know how much prep time went into the stunt work for that and how long did it take to shoot?

Denise Di Novi:  …We had really great stunt women who got what I was trying to do. Because, I did NOT want what you see on tv all the time…a cat fight and I didn’t want women fighting like men. A lot of stunt women will say well give her right jab or a left hook…

Carla Renata (The Curvy Film Critic):  Women pull hair and we scratch.

(To Katherine Heigl about Tessa)

Baby, when you looked in that mirror and saw that your face was jacked up? First time you snapped is when you saw Julia, your husband and your child together. But, the second time you snapped is when you looked in that mirror and saw that your face was completely jacked up. And then there’s that scene where you are putting your make on. Most women when they put on make up are pulling their skin, but you are patting because you don’t want the makeup to bleed through the bruises…

David (Geoff Stults) enters the room and the women go wild!!! He’s called eye candy and then…

Carla Renata (The Curvy Film Critic):  I just wanna know when you’re lying on the floor and blood is coming out the back of your head? Why are you all like, “ I love you”…really??!! You got blood coming out the side of your head. You can’t think of something else to say??!!

Geoff Stults (David):  I was just trying to get laid again. (Room erupts with cheers and laughter). He then leaves for another interview

and Then we had an opportunity to play with Miss Cheryl Ladd who gave some  invaluable advice on acting and her character Luvvie…

Bloggers:  We loved you in the movie. It was soooo much fun! Mommie Dearest

Cheryl Ladd:  I could relate to Luvvie. Lovie thinks she is the greatest mother on the planet. She feels like if her daughter would just listen to her advice, she wouldn’t be in this predicament and her mother treated her that way and she’s teaching her granddaughter the same way. Everything’s covered. She has not idea that when she says things to her daughter like “You’re scraping your knife” it’s like throwing a brick in her face and she has no sense of it.

Cheryl Ladd: It was fun because I really sensed her. I really sensed her illness. Her way of looking at life and her way of keeping everything the way it’s suppose to be in order and lined up and do this and this is how your life will be great and she doesn’t she the destruction of all that around her…

Blogger:  I still watch Charlie’s Angels. Would you encourage women now to pursue acting as a career?

Cheryl Ladd:  Well, it’s not for everybody. It is a world, particularly when you’re beginning of NO and you’re not good enough and you’re not tall enough and blond enough and you’re not thin enough…you get a thousand no’s when you’re starting out and unless you have a real sense of who you are as a human being and what your goal is…it is a battering most people can’t take. It’s a really tough business. It was tough then and it’s even tougher now.

Carla Renata (The Curvy Film Critic): But, don’t you feel like if you hang in there long enough you’ number is bound to come up?

Cheryl Ladd: Not necessarily. I was in an acting class with some brilliant actors who never caught the right break. They worked occasionally because they were very good, but they never caught that golden ring and I just was one of the lucky ones. I mean I studied. I was a seven year overnight success. I was in acting class three night a week. I started with a band…that’s how I got to California. But, when I was 2,3,4,5, years old my mother said you knew who you were. You knew what you wanted to be from the time you were very little. Perfect example, I had an older sister. When she graduated from high school my mother asked her what she wanted. She said she wanted to get married and have a wonderful home. My mothers said what would you like Cheryl…I said luggage…