The Real Biel

No Personal Questions. No Personal Questions.

When you interview movie stars for a living, you hear the phrase so often it’s soon internalised as a mantra. Ask X about her drunk driving and your bottom will hit the tarmac outside so fast you’ll be nursing scuff marks for weeks. Ask Y how come he insists on the sham marriage when it’s plain to see he just doesn’t swing that way and you face permanent disbarment and a restraining order.
I know it happens. I remember that Dutch guy who asked Nic Cage about ‘his much younger wife’ during a press conference. I haven’t seen him since. Nobody has.
Normally you make do. Normally you soldier on with questions about craft and career plans, searching for a small chink in the armour, something that might convey What This Person is Really Like.
Today, sadly, there are no such opportunities. There are only legal forms to sign and dire, apocalyptic warnings.
Absolutely No Personal Questions. Got it?
Golly. I know Jessica Biel is one of the hottest stars on the planet, but what in hell is going on?
There’s a big clue outside her hotel where rows of young girls are huddled under blankets. It’s freezing out. Last night London was blitzed with its first October snow since 1937. But still they came.
They’re not here for Jessica. It’s her boyfriend they’re after.
Justin Timberlake and Ms. Biel have been ‘stepping out’ since January and, if certain tabloids are to be believed, the pair may be waltzing down the aisle any moment now. Mr. Timberlake did not attend the premiere of his girlfriend’s latest film, Easy Virtue, on the previous evening, preferring to skulk about their hotel. Even his non-appearance was enough to overshadow the entire event.
Today the various PR wonks and handlers are having none of it. They are not only insisting on the No Personal Questions rule, they are also insisting that no questions are asked that don’t pertain to the film. Just in case I have the urge to be naughty, there’s an entire posse sitting behind the star, all glowering in a way that makes me think that Satanic music will strike up any minute and the ritual sacrifice will begin.
She, as you might expect, is exotically beautiful, a prepossessing union of Choctaw, German, French, English and Irish genes. When she walked down the hotel corridor earlier I heard awed witnesses audibly gasp as she passed by.
I think of all the non-Justin questions that might have been. I might have asked her about her Native American ancestry, her sterling efforts for PETA, whether she feels gypped being FHM’s Second Sexiest Woman in the World 2008.
Okay. Hmm. So. Easy Virtue. Let’s see. Well, it’s an interesting project at least. Loosely adapted by director Stephan Elliot (The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert) from a 1924 Noel Coward play, the film keeps Coward’s between-the-wars period setting while reconfiguring its ghastly upper class grotesques as a poster family for dysfunction.
Jessica stars as the only properly sympathetic character, a lady racing driver who marries the dashing Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian) during a whirlwind romance, then returns home to his English estate to face the wrath of his fierce disapproving mother (Kristin Scott Thomas), damaged father (Colin Firth) and mean siblings (Kimberley Nixon and Katherine Parkinson). Catfights quickly ensue, as the ladies go from best friends to worst enemies at the drop of a scented handkerchief.
“I often feel that’s how things are between women,” smiles Ms. Biel.
She checks herself and looks over her shoulder in a manner that suggests she’s just as fearful of the hordes of personal question police as I am.
“I mean all relationships. I mean with men as well. I guess. I mean I’d love to work with more women. This is the first movie where there were three or four other girls around. It was so nice. I never get to work with girls. Only boys and cars and planes.”
Ms. Biel, I learn through our enforced chit chat, enjoyed shooting the film in England, developed a taste for curry and beer during her stay and relished the opportunity to work with co-stars Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas.
“It was such a prestige project,” gushes the young star. “And I’m a huge fan of Kristin Scott Thomas. I have been watching Kristin and idolising her forever. It was very scary working with her and even scarier because the nature of who we were playing meant we never got a chance to become friends. Keeping our distance was all part of the experience. So I never knew if she really liked me or if she wanted to kill me.”
Rehabilitating a deeply unfashionable Coward play might strike one as an odd career move for Hollywood’s hottest starlet but Jessica Biel has, to date, proved adept at thoroughly postmodern reinvention. A household name since 1996 when, at age 14, she landed the role as the oldest daughter in the Christian-themed TV ratings winner, 7th Heaven, her very public teen rebellion began with playing against type (Ulee’s Gold) and ended with semi-nude poses on lad mags.
She has often expressed regrets for this time spent as a cover girl, a renunciation capped by a move into the action sector where she has since earned her stripes as a vampire hunter (Blade: Trinity), a crack pilot (Stealth) and a Final Girl (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).
“I have a pile of action scripts at home,” says the 26 year-old. “I like them. I’d love to do another one some time. But really, they’re all I get offered. I hear other actors complaining about corsets and costume drama and I think ‘give me the corset’. I’d love to do more corset films.”
To that end Easy Virtue comes hot on the heels of The Illusionist, a classy period drama which saw Jessica effortlessly transform into a turn-of-the-century Austrian Duchess alongside Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti.
Surely with these projects under her belt she can command all the corset based action she wants?
“That’s the thing,” she says. “There are so many talented females out there. It’s not like there’s a catfight going on but every time there’s a decent female part everybody you can think of is competing for it. If it’s good writing you’re up against Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett. They’re amazing women so they can do whatever they want work wise. People like me are still trying really hard to climb that ladder to even get a shot at the great roles. It’s tough.”
She laughs. “You should feel sorry for me, right?”
I’m not sure about that. I think when you’re about to release an album (produced by Mr. Timberlake, of course) and appear in a much-touted David O. Russell comedy (Nailed), you’ve almost certainly made the A-list.
“Ah,” she says. “But it’s hard to know what that means. When I did Texas Chainsaw Massacre, people said this is your breakthrough movie. Is it? Great? What happens next? What do I get? Guess what? You go straight back to the bottom of the ladder. Then after The Illusionist I heard it all over again. This is your breakthrough role! Great. Do I get a great pile of scripts now? Hell no. It’s back to the bottom of the ladder again.”
The personal questions police are narrowing their eyes. We’ve veered dangerously off topic. Do they have a SWAT team? Are they on their way? Erm. Right. The film. So how was it working with Colin Firth on the film Easy Virtue, Jessica?
“Well a lot of those scenes are outdoors so it was cold,” she says.
We keep smiling politely and talking like this until our time runs out.