 |
I STARTED SCREWING UP MY LINES
Imagine: youre sitting in a restaurant, deliberating over the menu - and just when youve settled on the coq au vin, who should come and take
your order but a beautiful, Oscar-winning actress?
People were saying to me you know, you look so much like Catherine Zeta-Jones, laughs the actress, recalling the preparation for her
latest film, in which she spent time as a waitress in a posh eatery. And I said, Yeah, you know what? I get that all the time!.
Unfortunately, the poise she appears to exhibit on screen didnt translate to a busy dining room. Id never been a waitress before
that, she remembers, grimacing. I started screwing up my lines,forgetting what sauce it was and there was one dessert that was this big
concoction in this bowl of chocolate. And I said, Just have it. Its delicious. Order it, its great.
Luckily, Catherine is not actually playing a waitress in romantic comedy-drama No Reservations, rather a perfectionist chef called Kate,
who works at one of The Big Apples trendiest establishments.
The perilous balance between life and work is something Catherine is more than familiar with, now that the 37-year-old has two children with
husband Michael Douglas.
Whats changed for me considerably since Ive had my family is that the logistics have gone completely crazy, reveals the star. I try to
schedule my work in between times when they can either come with me or I know that Michaels definitely not working and hes with them.
One reason little Carys and Dylan will be happy Mum chose this particular movie is because it should mean tastier dinners. The actress
confesses that prior to filming she could barely cook an egg, but to ensure she looked professional chopping cilantro and preparing prawns,
the actress endured a culinary boot camp.
The idea of being a chef, for me, was pretty terrifying, she explains. We arrived in this kitchen, Ive got my little apron on, looking at
Aaron going, Oh God, my fingers coming off before you know it! Its like a ballet and Aaron and I wanted to fit into that environment.
Its just another talent the multi-faceted performer can add to her repertoire. Shes sung and danced on screen to Academy Award-winning
effect in Chicago, fenced with Antonio Banderas in The Mask Of Zorro, she could even be a pretty handy cat burglar thanks to her turn as a
thief opposite Sean Connery in Entrapment.
In other words, its been an epic journey for CZJ from the small village of Mumbles in Wales, where she nurtured dreams of stardom, before
getting her big break in The Darling Buds Of May.
Now, it takes something special to get the actress out of the house. She is returning to her Welsh roots in rugby comedy Coming Out, in which she
will star alongside Alan Cumming and Gavin Henson. And she has just finished filming Death Defying Acts, where she plays a psychic who falls
in love with Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce).
In the meantime, Catherine is practising her golf and concentrating on her family and marriage, which is blooming in spite of those who
initially criticised it as a typically Hollywood enterprise.
And for a movie star who seems to have remained a down-to-Earth country girl at heart, the secret to a Tinseltown union is deceptively simple.
I think just be kind to each other, she says. We meet so many different people in life and sometimes we spend more time being nice and
friendly to complete strangers than you do to the person you love more than anything else in the world. So just have that at the back of your
mind: be respectful, kind and nice.
--------------------------
Real Name: Catherine Jones
Age: 37
Significant Other: Married to Michael Douglas, they have two children.
Career High: Winning an Oscar for her high-kicking performance in Chicago.
Career Low: The dreadful Splitting Heirs with Eric Idle, or Blue Juice, alongside Sean Pertwee.
Famous For: Being Welsh. And dating John Leslie before all those nasty rumours.
Words Of Wisdom: For marriage to be a success, every woman and every man should have her and his own bathroom. The end.
|
 |
|
