Katie Holmes is just wonderful in the film Pieces of April. She plays a 21 year old downtown New York City artist named April. April is a former heroin addict, thief and all around troublemaker who is estranged from her family. Her mother [Patricia Clarkson] is now very ill with cancer so April decides to have a big Thanksgiving dinner at her shitty apartment. Chaos ensues when she finds out that her oven isn't working and now she has to run around with a 15 pound turkey trying to find someone who will help her cook this turkey on Thanksgiving morning.
I had first heard of Pieces of April when the film had gone from a bigger mainstream film to an InDigEnt film to be shot on digital. InDigEnt is a style of filmmaking that is comparable to Dogme 95.
April is Joey of Dawson's Creek multiplied by a thousand and heroin. Both won't compromise their dreams for anything. I suspect Katie is very much the same way. She's very nice and sweet, but backed into a corner I would imagine she turns into a tiger. On the day I spoke to her she wore a very Aprilish fuzzy red scarf that looks like it was from a yard sale. This is the second time I've spoke with her and she just gets more beautiful every time.
Check out the website for http://www.piecesofaprilmovie.com/]Pieces of April.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Do you have any tattoos?
Katie Holmes: No and I don't want any. I don't enjoy pain.
DRE: Did you like the way the cherry tattoo looked on your neck?
KH: Yeah it was cool. That was the creation of the wonderful makeup artist Mike Potter. Peter had originally written in the script that April had a tattoo of a lightning bolt and Mike said that wouldn't be cool enough. I liked it.
DRE: Were you a troublemaker as a kid?
KH: No I was pretty much a good girl.
DRE: What was Toledo Ohio like for you as a kid?
KH: It's very conservative. I went to an all girls catholic high school and I'm the youngest of five. In high school I was trying to get to Hollywood so I didn't want to get into any trouble.
DRE: What was it like playing a reformed damaged character? I don't think you've ever played anyone like that except maybe in Abandon. She was kind of screwed up.
KH: Yes she was. The whole murder thing. Pieces of April is a good movie though.
April is very complex. She's angry, independent, childlike, caring, mad, resentful and embodies a lot of the feelings you have in your early 20's when you're trying to break away and establish you're own life. Sometimes you just want to run back home. She doesn't apologize for herself and has this look that has a message to it. But when you meet her she's completely in love and overtaken with her boyfriend. So she is capable of connections and isn't mean or too tough. She's vulnerable and sweet. So I think the fact that she's dealing with her mother's illness and her impending death makes her confused but it doesn't make her like her mom any more. She loves her but now she has to deal with what her death means. She grows up a lot in the movie.
DRE: Do you learn about your own life by doing these characters? You seem pretty balanced.
KH: People aren't always what they seem [sighs]. I think being an actor, and playing so many different characters awakens you and causes you to think outside what you know. It makes you use your imagination and you kind of learn what it is to be screwed up. You may find what is redeemable about someone who is screwed up. Ultimately you learn to just be more open to people in general. Also sometimes it's cathartic as a woman to just emote and get paid for it.
DRE: How do you relate to April?
KH: I related to her in the fact that I am away from my family. I was alone early in my life making money. April is on her own with no money in New York City in a bad apartment. I always imagined that April worked in some sort of coffee shop or was a DJ. Just enough to get by so she could do her art.
DRE: Pieces of April is very much about the relationship between a mother and a daughter. But yet you have almost no scenes with Patricia Clarkson. What was that like?
KH: It was all there in the script. I met Patty for about an hour and it was her second to last day of filming. I didn't see any dailies so it was a leap of faith to trust Peter. Also the two characters were written so similarly. I liked that we didn't see them together. In my family I'm the sister who lives far away so I get one person's point of view of a fight then the phone rings and I get the other person's view. So I can only imagine how it all happened. It makes the ending of the film so powerful.
DRE: You played April so well it seems like you may have hung with downtown New York types.
KH: Those starving artists. I have a lot of friends who live downtown and I spent a summer in my friend's apartment in Soho. I hung out with some people from St. Mark's Place. At first I asked them how they came up with that unique look but then they turned out to be some of the nicest people I ever met.
DRE: They didn't mind hanging with the girl from Dawson's Creek?
KH: I went in knowing someone but I definitely had to prove myself.
DRE: It's been a year since Dawson's Creek ended. You're one of the few actors from that show that has made a successful transition from TV to film. Do you miss television?
KH: I miss having a place to go everyday. I miss my friends and working with the same people. It's my second family. But at the same time I like having the freedom to go on vacation, blow off a day and work really hard to find the next job. What's intimidating is that I'm used to having only three months a year to take a risk and do a movie. Now I have 12 months to take risks that could breed success or push me back a few steps.
DRE: Were you happy with how Dawson's ended?
KH: I was happy with the finale. It was very satisfying. I thought it was powerful, I was proud of it and I'm glad of the decision that Joey made. I was sad that Jen died.
DRE: Do you watch yourself on screen?
KH: I got pretty used to it doing Dawson's Creek. I feel like it's helpful. To me it's like when football players watch their games. You see your mistakes and you try harder next time. It causes some people pain to watch themselves.
DRE: Anything you've done cause you pain?
KH: Only the commercials I did when I was a kid.
DRE: What was it like shooting your scenes in Pieces of April in only 8 days?
KH: I liked the pace because it was intense and kind of a relief because it was shot digitally I felt like it was a nice way to feel like you were inside the family.
DRE: What made you stay with the project once it switched to being shot digitally?
KH: It didn't affect me because I had shot Phone Booth. That wasn't done digitally but it was done very quickly. So I had seen Colin Farrell do it. I had seen him and I was impressed by him. I know he was ultra prepared for it so you have to prepare and just go for it. So if that's the way to tell this story then do it.
DRE: Is it nice to do a gentle sex scene as opposed to the rough ones in The Gift?
KH: Actually I was very nervous about this sex scene because I felt it would work or be very bad. We spent a lot of time on that. I thought it was ultimately funny and I was glad the camera was far away.
DRE: Every actor says sex scenes are really hard to do. Did you ever have to tell a director that there is stuff you won't do?
KH: I've never been in the position where I had to put my foot down. But I am certainly not afraid to. I've worked with a lot of gentlemen which is nice. Sex scenes are easy because there is no feeling.
DRE: Those scenes with Sean Hayes were hysterical. He kidnapped your turkey. What was it like doing that with him?
KH: Sean is awesome. He's a brilliant comedian. He had to dial it down a bit but I wanted to see him act like he is on Will & Grace.
DRE: What are your Thanksgivings like?
KH: I've never cooked a turkey. My mom has it all under control. I don't touch the turkey especially after this movie.
By Daniel Robert Epstein
I had first heard of Pieces of April when the film had gone from a bigger mainstream film to an InDigEnt film to be shot on digital. InDigEnt is a style of filmmaking that is comparable to Dogme 95.
April is Joey of Dawson's Creek multiplied by a thousand and heroin. Both won't compromise their dreams for anything. I suspect Katie is very much the same way. She's very nice and sweet, but backed into a corner I would imagine she turns into a tiger. On the day I spoke to her she wore a very Aprilish fuzzy red scarf that looks like it was from a yard sale. This is the second time I've spoke with her and she just gets more beautiful every time.
Check out the website for http://www.piecesofaprilmovie.com/]Pieces of April.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Do you have any tattoos?
Katie Holmes: No and I don't want any. I don't enjoy pain.
DRE: Did you like the way the cherry tattoo looked on your neck?
KH: Yeah it was cool. That was the creation of the wonderful makeup artist Mike Potter. Peter had originally written in the script that April had a tattoo of a lightning bolt and Mike said that wouldn't be cool enough. I liked it.
DRE: Were you a troublemaker as a kid?
KH: No I was pretty much a good girl.
DRE: What was Toledo Ohio like for you as a kid?
KH: It's very conservative. I went to an all girls catholic high school and I'm the youngest of five. In high school I was trying to get to Hollywood so I didn't want to get into any trouble.
DRE: What was it like playing a reformed damaged character? I don't think you've ever played anyone like that except maybe in Abandon. She was kind of screwed up.
KH: Yes she was. The whole murder thing. Pieces of April is a good movie though.
April is very complex. She's angry, independent, childlike, caring, mad, resentful and embodies a lot of the feelings you have in your early 20's when you're trying to break away and establish you're own life. Sometimes you just want to run back home. She doesn't apologize for herself and has this look that has a message to it. But when you meet her she's completely in love and overtaken with her boyfriend. So she is capable of connections and isn't mean or too tough. She's vulnerable and sweet. So I think the fact that she's dealing with her mother's illness and her impending death makes her confused but it doesn't make her like her mom any more. She loves her but now she has to deal with what her death means. She grows up a lot in the movie.
DRE: Do you learn about your own life by doing these characters? You seem pretty balanced.
KH: People aren't always what they seem [sighs]. I think being an actor, and playing so many different characters awakens you and causes you to think outside what you know. It makes you use your imagination and you kind of learn what it is to be screwed up. You may find what is redeemable about someone who is screwed up. Ultimately you learn to just be more open to people in general. Also sometimes it's cathartic as a woman to just emote and get paid for it.
DRE: How do you relate to April?
KH: I related to her in the fact that I am away from my family. I was alone early in my life making money. April is on her own with no money in New York City in a bad apartment. I always imagined that April worked in some sort of coffee shop or was a DJ. Just enough to get by so she could do her art.
DRE: Pieces of April is very much about the relationship between a mother and a daughter. But yet you have almost no scenes with Patricia Clarkson. What was that like?
KH: It was all there in the script. I met Patty for about an hour and it was her second to last day of filming. I didn't see any dailies so it was a leap of faith to trust Peter. Also the two characters were written so similarly. I liked that we didn't see them together. In my family I'm the sister who lives far away so I get one person's point of view of a fight then the phone rings and I get the other person's view. So I can only imagine how it all happened. It makes the ending of the film so powerful.
DRE: You played April so well it seems like you may have hung with downtown New York types.
KH: Those starving artists. I have a lot of friends who live downtown and I spent a summer in my friend's apartment in Soho. I hung out with some people from St. Mark's Place. At first I asked them how they came up with that unique look but then they turned out to be some of the nicest people I ever met.
DRE: They didn't mind hanging with the girl from Dawson's Creek?
KH: I went in knowing someone but I definitely had to prove myself.
DRE: It's been a year since Dawson's Creek ended. You're one of the few actors from that show that has made a successful transition from TV to film. Do you miss television?
KH: I miss having a place to go everyday. I miss my friends and working with the same people. It's my second family. But at the same time I like having the freedom to go on vacation, blow off a day and work really hard to find the next job. What's intimidating is that I'm used to having only three months a year to take a risk and do a movie. Now I have 12 months to take risks that could breed success or push me back a few steps.
DRE: Were you happy with how Dawson's ended?
KH: I was happy with the finale. It was very satisfying. I thought it was powerful, I was proud of it and I'm glad of the decision that Joey made. I was sad that Jen died.
DRE: Do you watch yourself on screen?
KH: I got pretty used to it doing Dawson's Creek. I feel like it's helpful. To me it's like when football players watch their games. You see your mistakes and you try harder next time. It causes some people pain to watch themselves.
DRE: Anything you've done cause you pain?
KH: Only the commercials I did when I was a kid.
DRE: What was it like shooting your scenes in Pieces of April in only 8 days?
KH: I liked the pace because it was intense and kind of a relief because it was shot digitally I felt like it was a nice way to feel like you were inside the family.
DRE: What made you stay with the project once it switched to being shot digitally?
KH: It didn't affect me because I had shot Phone Booth. That wasn't done digitally but it was done very quickly. So I had seen Colin Farrell do it. I had seen him and I was impressed by him. I know he was ultra prepared for it so you have to prepare and just go for it. So if that's the way to tell this story then do it.
DRE: Is it nice to do a gentle sex scene as opposed to the rough ones in The Gift?
KH: Actually I was very nervous about this sex scene because I felt it would work or be very bad. We spent a lot of time on that. I thought it was ultimately funny and I was glad the camera was far away.
DRE: Every actor says sex scenes are really hard to do. Did you ever have to tell a director that there is stuff you won't do?
KH: I've never been in the position where I had to put my foot down. But I am certainly not afraid to. I've worked with a lot of gentlemen which is nice. Sex scenes are easy because there is no feeling.
DRE: Those scenes with Sean Hayes were hysterical. He kidnapped your turkey. What was it like doing that with him?
KH: Sean is awesome. He's a brilliant comedian. He had to dial it down a bit but I wanted to see him act like he is on Will & Grace.
DRE: What are your Thanksgivings like?
KH: I've never cooked a turkey. My mom has it all under control. I don't touch the turkey especially after this movie.
By Daniel Robert Epstein
VIEW 25 of 39 COMMENTS
This interview was amazing, and Katie Holmes has yet to disappoint me. She's real down to earth, a complete sweetheart and just nice all around. I've admired her for such a long time, I gotta admit not all her films are the best... but in the acting business you have to get what you can get. I personally loved Pieces of April, it was such a great film and she looked fantastic in it. I also loved her spunky attitude in Disturbing Behavior and I don't care if it's a scary cliche teen type movie. If I had any girlie crush it would definitely be on her.