Catherine Zeta Jones Interview
Interview with Catherine Zeta-Jones regarding her role in the film No Reservations
Catherine Zeta-Jones Q&A
QUESTION: What attracted you to play this character?
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES: Well, I was looking for a while for a role that was different, something I haven’t done on film before. When I read the script, I thought, well, this is who I've been waiting for - Kate. She has a vulnerable side, a sensitive side, albeit in her kitchen, which is her world. She's fierce about her perfection and her dedication to her art. And outside that, she has nothing. It was a character that I thought multifaceted, and I just had to do this movie because the story was so beautiful.
Q: Did you have fun on the kitchen set?
CZJ: I did have fun. Once I got to my cooking boot camp I felt comfortable. I just wanted to feel like I controlled and commanded that kitchen, that space. And then I could move around easily, look as if I know what I’m doing, and just to encompass this character of Kate.
Q: That’s a nice trick you do in the film
CJZ: There’s going to be a whole bunch of outtakes of that, I’m sure, of me doing my new party trick, which is pulling a tablecloth off a full table with plates and silverware and glasses. Took me forever to learn.
Q: Is it a love/hate relationship between your character and Aaron Eckhart’s, Nick?
CZJ: I think at the beginning of the movie it’s not even a love-hate, it’s a hate. I mean, this man, her boss, has brought in a sous chef, who has opened up this kitchen to a world of singing opera, being flamboyant, where Kate’s world, she was in control. She’s a control freak. And so it was a very confrontational beginning. And through that, with my niece, they actually fall in love.
Q: Can you believe how many people watch cooking shows that can’t cook?
CZJ: My father, for one, can’t boil an egg, loves his TV shows about cooking. And the weird thing is the phenomenon is international. When you look at cooking shows you can’t taste it, you can’t touch it and you can’t smell it, but we’re all drooling at the lips, just about what it could taste like and how it got made.
Q: What do you think attracts people to cooking?
CZJ: Something about food in general. The flavors, the textures, and cooking it, all the love and the attention that goes into it. For example, usually first dates are always, “Can I take you to dinner?” It’s all around food. Food brings people together, and there’s something very sexy about a woman cooking for somebody, sexy for a man cooking for a woman.
Q: What was it like to work with Scott Hicks, the Director?
CZJ: He was a dream to work with. He is such a sensitive man and at the helm of the movie just conducted himself beautifully. The crew respected him. The set was calm. No one raised their voices. His love of food and fine wine is incredible so this movie was made for him. And he has a very sensitive hand in filmmaking so it was just perfect for him.
