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HEATHER MATARAZZO

conducted on:
July 2001

by: Allie Bloch




 
 


PZO: Was life ever weird for you in the sense that you're an actress, but you still went to a regular high school?

Heather: It wasn’t weird, it was just different. I’ve always had a really strong awareness about myself and I’ve always stayed with people that would have positive influences upon my life. That’s about as normal as it got. Of course being a public figure and going to a public school is going to be a little awkward, it was pretty normal.


PZO: I understand that you had a band of your own (in high school). What bands or artists are your biggest musical influences?

Heather: God, it was quite a range from Ani DiFranco to Lisa Loeb to Janis Joplin to Jim Morrison to Ella Fitzgerald to Judy Garland to Frank Sinatra. For music, I always like to keep my mind open to it and allow it to influence my music and what I create and what I sing.


PZO: What's the worst and best part of being an actress?

Heather: There is no worst part. The best part for me is just making people feel and think. Making a change in the world in the most positive way. I love when people come up to me and talk to me and tell me how a film I have done has affected them and changed their life. It means the world to me. For me, there is no worst part.


PZO: What kind of roles do you see yourself pursuing in the future?
Heather: A variation. God, I’d love to play every kind of role. Like a character that Angelina Jolie did in ‘Girl, Interrupted’ to playing a boozed up, sex craved teenager. I wanna play everything, I wanna do everything. There isn’t one particular role I want to be stuck in. I want to play a lot of diverse roles, I don’t want to be one of those actors that stuck in a certain type of role. I don’t want to be the ‘pretty girl’ or the ‘weird, rebellious girl’. I wanna do everything and I will do everything.

PZO: What roles have you turned down maybe that you didn’t like?
Heather: For me it always comes down to if it’s a good script or not. If it’s a good character or could I relate to it or not. Also, how would I make it work. One thing I won’t do is get naked. There’s a lot of scripts out there that requires nudity. I’ve had scripts that were really well written, but with nudity. I’ve asked if they could take it out and they just say no you have to do. All I can say is no thanks. For me, I respect myself too much. I feel there’s too much gratuitous nudity out there.


PZO: Where are the weirdest places people have recognized you in?
Heather: Oh god, I’ve been recognized in bathrooms. That has to be the weirdest place because it’s a very awkward setting.


PZO: If you weren't acting, what would you be doing?

Heather: I really don’t know. Maybe psychology because I really love people. Maybe a social world or something that has to do with traveling.


PZO: Can you relate to the character Dawn in your movie "Welcome to the Dollhouse"?

Heather: I think everyone can. Everyone went through that awkward stage of adolescence and being in that weird middle ground of not knowing who you are or what you want to be. And having people not relate to you because they can’t even relate to themselves and so they pick on those people. I think everyone went through that point in their own life.

PZO: In your new movie, "The Princess Diaries", you co-star with many hot, new actors. How was it on set?
Heather: It was great. It was like a family atmosphere. Between Anne Hathaway and Robert Schwartzman (now Robert Carmine) and Mandy Moore it was a lot of fun. It was like going away to summer camp. And working with Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo, and Gary Marshall, it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. It was just a great experience.


PZO: Any funny moments on the set?

Heather: There were a lot of little things. We’re a klutzy much, so we’d fall and trip a lot. Also, when we’d mess up lines and things of that nature. Gary (Marshall, the director) kind of mumbles sometimes so we couldn’t always understand what he was saying. And we’d walk into these were directions and places. I remember this one time that I had a banana out is what they’d call it. It’s when you have to veer to the right, then veer back, and then walk off. And I didn’t understand what Gary was saying so I just walked off to a bush and I just stood there, on camera, waiting. Then Gary called me over and played it back for me and you see me just standing there next to the bush. Everyone had a good laugh out of that. Little things like that.

PZO: Who has been your favorite person to work with? Why?
Heather: Oh god, I don’t have a favorite. I can tell you, for instance, Mandy and I have become really, really close and I’m very, very happy to have worked with her. That I have acquired that friendship. The same with Kirsten Dunst. She’s really sweet, I love her. Julie Andrews, of course. All of the actors I have worked with I respect them and I hold them all equally in terms of working with them.

PZO: You have been in some big movies with big time actors. Did you feel any pressure from them? Or star stricken?
Heather: No. If I did then I wouldn’t be doing my job. I give them respect and admiration. In these types of situations I just look at them and see that they’re just normal people.

PZO: What do you consider the biggest turnoff?
Heather: People with no humor. People who can’t laugh at their own mistakes. I hate liars. I’m all about honesty.


PZO: What one store would you like to win a shopping spree for?
Heather: FAO Schwarz. I’m like the biggest kid out there. I like little dumb things like the game ‘Bop-It’. I love ‘Bop-It’, it’s so great. I’m like a little kid in a candy store when it comes to toys.


PZO: Who's your favorite Scream character and why?

Heather: I’d have to say Deputy Dewey. I just love that guy. He’s just quirky and funny and cute and he’s very, very smart. There’s this really cute, vulnerability about him. He’s not small-minded, he’s just simple minded. And that’s why I like him best.


PZO: Do you have any upcoming projects?

Heather: I have a new movie coming out called "Sorority Boys" [AKA "Dog Catcher" co-starring with Barry Watson] which is going to be hysterical and I can’t wait for it to come out because I’m so, so proud of it. Right now I’m just mellowing out. I’m reading some scripts and figuring out what I want to do. I took a little break to kind of relax and unwind. In September I will be starting to work on a couple of new things.






 
 
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