For her first major big screen outing I Love You, Beth Cooper, Hayden Panettiere (the romantic comedy’s stunning leading lady), was required to dust off her pom-poms to play another high school cheerleader. “I think I’m just going to start putting it in my contract that I refuse to wear a cheerleading outfit for the rest of my career,” the Save the cheerleader, save the world girl from the hit TV series Heroes says with laugh. “But, luckily, in this film, I only had to put it on once for a picture, but that was it.”
In this chat with Earl Dittman, Panettiere describes experiencing high school for the first time, sheds light on the future of her character on Heroes, and explains why everything you’ve heard about her probably isn’t true.
Surprisingly, Panettiere (whose romantic liaisons are regularly reported in the tabloids) confesses that the very problematic world of high school dating – depicted in I Love You, Beth Cooper – is much easier for single gals than trying to hook up in Hollywood. “Both of world are terrible,” she laments. “In Hollywood, you’re either single or you’re not, there is no in-between. There is no dating, no one allows you the ability to have fun and be young and hang out with people. They don’t give you the ability to just say, ‘Hey, I’m just enjoying someone for who they are. Just because it’s a guy, it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m dating them. And, every girl that I walk down the street with doesn’t mean that I’m dating them…well, not every girl,” she jokes.
What about the recent rumors that she was going steady with 32-year-old British TV presenter Steve Jones? “He lives in London, the distance is a bit too…I have a lot of good friends,” she answers coyly, quickly adding, “I’m single and mingling, I’m not dating anyone specifically.”
Okay, let’s get the shower scene in I Love You, Beth Cooper out of the way first. Since you didn’t use a body double for the nude scene, how important was it to get that scene in and get it done right?
“Well, I don’t know if it was very important? Maybe some high school boys would disagree. I don’t know? [Laughs] It’s the whole just getting at that it’s high school, that we’re young and that we’re reckless. It’s this goofing around, this playing, this seducing, this need for control, too, and just the fact that she has the control right now in this situation and where she is in her life then. Ultimately, though, she winds up looking to him and going, ‘These four years have been the best years of my life. My life is not going to amount to anything. I’m going to lead a completely ordinary life after high school. High school might not have been great for you, but for the rest of your life you’re going to do great. You’re going to do great, great things.’ So it’s a role reversal. She goes from being this picture of perfection and this idea of perfection, and he realizes that this girl who was everything that he might’ve wanted to be in high school, meaning popular, having fun and being reckless and getting to have that high school experience isn’t perfect, that she’s anything but perfect and that she doubts herself and is full of insecurities. He has the upper hand with just who he is in life.”
Were you reluctant to play a cheerleader in Beth Cooper since you shot to fame playing a cheerleader on Heroes?
“I wasn’t. I didn’t really have to do anything with that. I think the cheerleader is used a lot as a symbol. It’s very symbolic to high school; cheerleader, quarterback. I think that’s the way a lot of people use it. That’s why it was used in Heroes. That’s what her symbol was supposed to be, this sweet as American pie, all-American cheerleader which symbolizes young, symbolizes high school, symbolizes all those things. That’s why they made her that because that’s, in people’s minds, is where the popular is, where people thrive. The popular girl is supposed to be the head cheerleader.”
Was it difficult getting into Beth’s mindset since you are already successful and you know that you have a future?
“I like to say that it’s kind of a metaphor for me. I might not be going through the exact same thing and I might not have the same exact insecurities as her, but I still have my own insecurities and I’m still unsure about things and unsure about the future. So, even though I couldn’t relate, specifically, I could still relate to that feeling of being insecure and knowing that people act out and behave a certain way because of sometimes anger or sadness or just genuine insecurity about who they are and the fear of who they are. So it was relatable to me in that sense.”
Did you have any expectation about I Love You, Beth Cooper director Chris Columbus? What was it like working with the filmmaker of Home Alone and the first Harry Potter?
“He’s incredible. He’s just one of the nicest human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. He’s so talented and has no ego. It was just great to go in there with somebody who has so much experience the way he does and is so talented and good at what he does but still allows collaboration. I mean, no ego. So it was nothing less than wonderful and great. I hope that this is not our last film together.”
What was it like working with your costar Paul Rust? Did you give him any advice?
“Oh, I don’t think that Paul needs any advice. He’s really great. He’s really good at what he does. He’s a really talented guy and he’s just a blast. We all had a really great time on this film. It was a tough shoot. It wasn’t always the easiest. We were dealing with weather, the elements that weren’t on our side. It was freezing cold. We were in Vancouver and they had to hose down the set occasionally because of snow. So half of it looked like summer. The part that was on camera and the other part looked like a winter wonderland and we’re sitting there in our little dresses, going, ‘It’s not freezing cold.’ But we had a great time.”
Did any of the scenes in Beth Cooper take extra preparation, like the shower scene?
“Oh, yeah, that took some extra preparation, the shower scene. No, it didn’t. I’m always big into the stunts. I like the stunts. Stunts are like my sport. I can’t play baseball on a team. I can’t play basketball on a team. I can’t play any sports on a team. I’ll do stunts. It might work like that for some people, but it’s not something where it was like, ‘Oh, this was definitely the moment that I was looking forward to.’ You never know how anything is going to go and like I said before, I like to be surprised.”
There are some very sexy jokes in the movie, are you comfortable with them or not?
“I’m so uncomfortable with the sexual innuendos. [Laughs] No. I’m not uncomfortable with it. It’s funny. I have that sense of humor. I can have a very dry and sarcastic sense of humor and so sexual innuendos and jokes, I don’t find too hard to swallow.”
Did you enjoy going to high school in Beth Cooper since you were home-schooled? Did you live vicariously through your character?
“You know, I did. I totally did. I was home-schooled but I still grew up around those kids and I went to middle school with them and I went to elementary school with them. I actually started home schooling because I moved to South Africa for my freshman year, because I was filming something. It made things easier in certain ways, but I went to prom and I went to homecoming and we ran from the cops and I got punched in the face once and we had something called The Fort, which is what you want so badly when you’re high school, a place where all your friends can go and you’re in the middle of the woods and we were on cliff. We were on a cliff overlooking the Hudson River in the middle of the woods and my friends dug out campfires and we had tiki-torches. I had a really great time growing up. I had a great high school experience. Even though I didn’t actually go to school with them, which frankly I don’t know if you’re missing much, but I went to the games and I definitely had the experience.”
What is your film The Cove about?
“There’s this movie, it’s a documentary called The Cove and some of the footage is from our trip to Japan that has to do, obviously, with whaling. God. It was a painful experience. I can’t really watch it anymore although I have to often enough. We’re just chipping away at that as quickly as we can and doing as much as we can. We’re asking people to go to socialvibe.com and click on The Whaleman Foundation and sign our petition. We’re trying to get a million signatures for the IWC meeting in about a year.”
Are you allowed to go back to Japan?
“I had a meeting with the foreign minister who said that I was welcome back any time. So they’re a country of very, very kind, very nice, very nice respectful and respected and respectable people. I mean, they’re really a great culture. I don’t agree, obviously, with what they’re doing but I think as of now I think I’m welcome back in. I might be watched pretty closely.”
Were did that activism spirit within you come from? There aren’t that many whales where you grew up in Rockland County.
“No, there’s not. I just grew up a big fan of animals. It’s just the way that I was raised. I love animals. If I could work with animals for the rest of my life I’d be the happiest person. So it was kind of just put into my lap. It was like, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on. Let me show you footage. Let me educate you about it. Do you want to help us? Do you want to get involved?’ I said, ‘Absolutely. Tell me where to sign. Tell me what I can do to help.’ That’s kind of the way that it came about, and I believe in seeing things through to the end which is what I’m trying to do and which is what I’ll continue to try and do. I don’t want to spread myself too thin. I want to focus my energy on getting this solved, because it really is a big, big problem.”
Is the story that you will be cast in the Footloose remake just a internet rumour?
“Yeah.”
Did the original version of Footloose hold any special meaning for you?
“Well, yeah. It was a classic film that I’ve seen, but I mean I wasn’t of the same age when it came out, obviously. But it’s still a great film.”
What can you say about your other film, Carmel?
“Oh, yeah, that’s an independent film. Lauren Bacall is in it. I’ve worked with her twice, now. Who else is in it? Alfred Molina. He’s one of the nicest guys. He’s really great. It was really fun. It was just a little indie project that I did. The producers are from Carmel and we got to go up there and it was beautiful.
Can you see any parallels between Lauren Bacall’s career and yours?
“My career could take any track. I don’t know? I take joy in that. It’s nice not to know. I’m just excited to see what comes my way.”
Do you ever get stage fright working with actors this legendary? Do you ever have to pinch yourself or have you learned to deal with it?
“Well, there are definitely pinch me moments because they’re people that I’ve always wanted to work with, most of them. But I think it’s more step up your game moments where you get to work with someone who really brings the best out of you and you have to step up to their level and people who make you want to be better, force you to be better. That’s fun. That’s really fun as an actor when you get that.”
What can fans expect from Claire with the season premiere of Heroes?
“Well, Claire is in college, and she has a new roommate who we don’t really know about in the beginning and will find out more about her. There’s also this new group in town called The Carnival. They’re the opposite of The Company. The Company wanted their powers kept secret. Their whole being was to keep people from telling, to keep it all under wraps. The Carnival is the opposite. They want everyone to know. So that’s a very interesting thing coming up, not to mention that last year we ended up with Nathan being gone and he is Sylar. Sylar is he. So things don’t always go so smoothly when it comes to that.”
Have you gotten to see your Heroes costar, Zach Quinto, in Star Trek yet?
“Oh, yeah. He’s so good. So good.”
Did you get to touch Zach’s Spock ears?
“Well, he showed up on set with no eyebrows. I was like, ‘Hey, dude. What happened?’ We would tease him like this, like, ‘Hey, Spock.’ ‘Stop it.’ ‘Okay, Spock. Whatever you say, Spock.’ That’s what we’re there for. We really are the closest cast and we’re just like brothers and sisters who sit there and poke at each other’s buttons. We’re the ones who have to be there to take their egos and shove them on the ground and stomp on them a little. They do it to mine all the time, too. I’m the butt of everyone’s joke. I’m the little sister who gets it more often than not. It’s like, ‘Leave me alone.’ There are combinations of them who get together and it’s just like, ‘Ah, no. Leave me alone. I’m tired of being made fun of.’”
Is doing Heroes emotionally and physically grinding to do? It seems like can get hard at times.
“Absolutely. It’s hard work. It definitely is hard work but I love what I do. I really do. It’s such a family over there. We’re such a tight knit cast and crew and it’s such a big part of my life and it’s like home. It’s like working at home, working at the office is being on Heroes. It’s definitely emotionally taxing and physically taxing sometimes. It’s all worth it in the end. It’s all worth it at the end of the day and you make some great, great memories and I have so much fun doing it. I always find that the more difficult something is and the more turbulent the shooting process is the fonder the memories are afterwards. You look back and you remember those moments where you were in a pinch or something was grueling and you couldn’t get it, they’re much fonder memories to me.”
Why do you think Heroes has had to struggle with ratings and trying to keep fans?
“I don’t know. I think it had a very high – it set a very high mark for itself and I think it’s very scrutinized now because of the demand. It’s not an easy crowd to please all the time, but I still enjoy watching the show.”
How many more seasons of Heroes do you see in your future?
“We’re in the fourth season now, so I have no idea, we sign on for six years.”
After seeing you in Heroes for several seasons and now in I Love You, Beth Cooper, do you think that people have formed an idea of who they think you really are?
“Maybe. Yes, they do. I don’t know how you can think you know somebody if you’ve never even had a conversation with them. It’s a very odd concept, but absolutely. That’s another kind of metaphor. I am an image. I am what the public, frankly, wants to make me. That’s kind of who you are sometimes. It’s an idea. They don’t really know me. They don’t know who I am and they don’t know what I’m like, but they have an idea, this idea of who I am and what I’m like. It is the same thing as her. She’s this image of popularity and this perfect kind of head cheerleader girl. Yet when he gets to know her he realizes that that’s not her at all. She’s this very spunky, very full-of-life girl.”
So, what would you say is the biggest misconception about you?
“Is there something that’s not a misconception about me? [Laughs] Maybe that…who knows? Where do you start? No matter what you do, someone is always going to have a problem with it, always. That’s just how it works. So at the end of the day, the only person that you can please is yourself. But the idea that anyone would think that they know me or that anyone would say something bad about me, like, ‘Oh, I don’t like her…’ you don’t know that you don’t like me. You’ve never hung out with me. You’ve never had a conversation with me. You don’t know that you don’t like me. I don’t know that there’s anything specific, like, ‘Oh, I didn’t date so and so,’ but anyone who thinks that they know me is a misconception.”
What’s next for you? What are your dreams and goals?
“You know, I’ve never been somebody who has said, ‘This is where I want my career to go. This is the kind of film I want to do.’ I just love everything. I love what I do. I love creating characters, and I love doing it all. I’m just excited to see what my career will be.”
