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From The Sunday Mail Cooking up a storm THE transformation couldn't have been more dramatic. Katie Holmes, the doll-faced Dawson's Creek ingenue, hidden beneath purple-streaked pigtails, heroin-chic clothes and tattoos. After six years of playing the all-American girl, with the break-ups, make-ups and disasters of TV adolescence, Holmes is all grown-up and showing she is ready for a serious film career with Pieces of April. Over the past few years, Holmes has delicately balanced her career between her past and what she believes to be her future. The girl-next-door image from Dawson's Creek was shattered with her topless romp in The Gift (2000), but left intact for films like Abandon (2002). And it is the riskier – though not necessarily risque – roles that Holmes says will define the rest of her career. "I don't want to take the easy path, those (teen) movies, I want to push myself," she says. "I think I would like to do anything, try everything and just learn as much as I can." Pieces of April, which landed co-star Patricia Clarkson a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, is hardly the usual vehicle for a TV star to make the jump to the movies. Made for just $US300,000, with a novice director and repeated false starts, Holmes turned down roles in big budget films to be available for the widely-acclaimed drama. But her success in playing Joey Potter in Dawson's Creek was hardly a comfort for her before winning the role. "I have a lot of April in me, just like I have a lot of Joey in me. But I know people have a good-girl image of me from the show that's hard to get away from." Holmes was one of many young actors who received the script, written by Peter Hedges, who penned hits What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and About a Boy (2002) in between writing novels. Making his first foray into directing, Hedges had written a simple, moving story about a girl attempting to mend fences with her estranged family by preparing her first Thanksgiving dinner. The movie takes place entirely on Thanksgiving Day and cuts between her attempts to cook a turkey, her live-in boyfriend's (Derek Luke) attempt to buy a suit and her family's drive to New York from the country. During the trip, it is revealed her mother (Patricia Clarkson) has terminal cancer. Hedges never thought Holmes would seriously consider playing the role. For one thing, he had no money to pay her. She and everyone else would work for a percentage of the profits, if there were any. Also, Hedges, who had tried twice before and failed to get the film made on a $US6 million budget and a 40-day shooting schedule, was eventually forced to make it for $US300,000 in 14 days. Regardless, Holmes was ready for action. "It was like a sprint," she said. "I'm used to shooting quickly from TV, but nothing, nothing like this. "It was a completely different way of working than anything I've ever done before. "It was a huge adjustment, but it was good for me, because I tend to over-analyse every role I take. "There was no time. You got on set and it was go, go, go. You work until you drop, you go home and crash, and get up and do it again." The film was quickly snapped up by the major studios, after being a hit on the festival circuit, and Holmes is probably now getting her slice of a growing pie. The movie has also served as seachange, at least creatively, for Holmes. She misses the cast and crew of Dawson's Creek, which she shot between the ages of 18 and 24, but needed to get off the treadmill. "It was like a breath of fresh air to do something completely different, to be challenged to just go for it." •Pieces of April opens on Thursday. |
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