Answer: I can relate to her in some way, not that I was ever so obsessed with my work and a control freak in my environment as Kate is, but before I had my family, I had nothing else in my life other than my work so my whole focus was on my career. Throughout the film, you see this woman's life change in many ways and the most important thing being that she lets down the wall, she's able to let people in, she's able to receive and give love to a man and also do the same with a young child.
Q: The restaurant is on Bleecker St. Do you go to that area?
A: We have a place in New York so I know that area. The area is a very hot restaurant area. It's hip, it's cool. People travel from uptown all the way downtown just to eat at these restaurants. But the restaurant "22 Bleecker St." is fictitious. There was a funny story. I was doing a scene, the restaurant was packed with extras and actors, and these tourists came off the street and asked for a reservation while the cameras were rolling. The director was like, "CUUUT! Who are those people?"
Q: You're beautiful as ever. What's your secret?
A: Thank you very much, firstly. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. It sounds like such a cliche, but it is. I think if you are happy within yourself, you exude a confidence and a beauty which I think is very attractive in women. I like myself, not to a great extent, but I do like myself so I think that exudes beauty and happiness. And I also have wonderful hair and makeup people who really help me out. I have to tell the truth, I'm sorry.
Q: You had to practice as a waitress in a real restaurant for this film?
A: It was a new experience for me. It took (the customers) a while to figure out who I was because they weren't looking at me reciting perfectly the specials for the evening, they were looking at the menus and completely dismissive of the person talking behind them. But then, about an hour later, I could feel people were looking and this guy says to me, "Has anyone told you that you look like that actress?" I said, "Yeah, I get that all the time."
Q: What was the pillow fight with Abigail Breslin like?
A: We do the scene and I'm just pretending to really hit her because I think I can't hit the heck out of this little kid because I'm going to get sued. But in the first take, she hit me so hard she nearly knocked my head off. And so I said, "Right, kid. War!" It was so much fun.
Q: Aaron Eckhart cut himself during the film. Did you have any accidents?
A: It's Aaron's own fault that he cut his own finger. We went in the first day of what I called cooking boot camp and I turn up like a fish out of water and I'm just wondering why there are so many knives and what do they all do and do you really need that many knives. Erin comes with his leather satchel and in it there are about 14 different knives that he's purchased and brought along to the first cooking lesson. And I'm standing there, like, "Can I get a spoon?"
I didn't cut myself, I didn't burn myself, and I was convinced that I would, but I must say the very first day of shooting inside the kitchen, with all that smoke and the fumes, I woke up the next morning and my eyes were like puffed out and it looked like I'd had two rounds with Mike Tyson the night before. So it was just my eyes and the heady smell of fish being cooked at seven in the morning. That did me in for a bit.
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