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| Shagwell
Turns Pro |
6 February 2002
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Hollywood hooker: Heather Graham looking remarkably
lovely (and clean) for an impoverished, desperate prostitute
from the slums of London circa 1888
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What with shagging Austin Powers, enjoying a bit on the side with
ex-boyfriend Ed Burns in Sidewalks Of New York, or having dangerous
liaisons with Johnny Depp in her latest film, From Hell, Heather
Graham certainly has been hard at it in Hollywood.
Graham talked to Paul Fischer, about Austin Powers 3, ex-boyfriends,
and her hellish new movie.
Heather Graham is all set to get down-and-groovy in the next Austin
Powers movie, but there is a condition.
"As long as they don't blow me up, I'm interested in showing up
again," says the 31-year old actress who played CIA Agent Felicity
Shagwell in Austin
Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
If Austin Powers In Goldmember, to film
this year for release next summer, sticks to pattern, Felicity
will be sidelined to make room for a new partner for Powers (Mike
Myers). "Hopefully I can go out in some flashy fun way," Graham
says. "I'm not going to perish. I'm not going back to it if it
means perishing."
Graham hasn't yet read the script but has heard Goldmember will
be set in the 1970s and Power's new love match will be a black
woman with a big afro.
| "It wasn't like
in today's society where someone might choose to be a prostitute
to make more money or they might work at Burger King." |
Ms Graham, prettily dressed in a lemon outfit, recalls spending
a restless night after reading the script for the new Jack The
Ripper movie From
Hell, in which she plays a prostitute.
"I was really terrified and I was in my house alone and I was
waking up throughout the night just like petrified that someone
would come in my room," says Graham, who stars as Mary Kelly,
the prostitute believed to be the infamous English serial killer's
final victim.
But once on the Prague set last year, cast and crew spent more
time laughing like hell, the 31-year-old actress recalls.
Despite the subject matter, the working atmosphere was kept light,
largely due to the film's co-directors, twin brothers Allen and
Albert Hughes.
"They showed us all the (prop) bodies and it was just that we
were so excited about it. 'Hey, look at this body. Wow, cool.'
It was all like a little adventure we were on. It didn't seem
so horrific," Graham said.
Although some of the butchery is graphically depicted, From Hell
is less a horror movie and more of a murder mystery and social
study of the terrible poverty of the 19th-century English underclass.
"There's definitely gore in there for those people who like horror
movies, but it's not like a sit on the edge of your seat 'Ah!
Ah!'" said Graham, who was also attracted to the project by the
prostitute's spirit and camaraderie.
"I think (my character is) actually really brave and strong
that (she) could survive in those conditions. The conditions were
so bad. It wasn't like as in today's society, someone might
choose to be a prostitute to make more money or they might work
at Burger King. Women then didn't have those choices."
Which is why, if she chose to live in another time, 1888 London
would not be her first choice. "I think the furthest back I'd
want to go is the seventies," she says laughingly. "It was a great
time for women then."
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Johnny Depp, playing an opium-addicted detective,
contemplates the void
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From Hell was shot on location in Prague, at the same time A
Knight's Tale was in production. It was there that she met
ex-boyfriend Heath Ledger.
"It was a great time, we all kind of clicked as a group trying
to get through our respective jobs in this strange country."
Graham, who has also had high-profile romances with actors James
Woods and Ed Burns, is single for now.
"I don't have a new boyfriend. I wish I could give you some interesting
gossip but no."
Graham will next be seen on screen opposite ex-boyfriend Burns
in Sidewalks of New York, the release
of which was put on hold after the September 11 attacks.
"It was kind of weird seeing that movie after Ed and I broke up,
but he was great to work with and he handed me a wonderful role."
She's relieved the film will finally see the light of day. "I
think it's a good film that deserves to be seen."
Read the review of
From Hell
Check coming soon for release dates
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