About Features Reviews Community Screenings Archives Home
January 2004
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton : An Interview with Kate Bosworth

By Todd Gilchrist

Win a Date with Tad Hamilton: An Interview with Kate Bosworth

Kate Bosworth has this innocent look to her face that with certain roles, she's the right choice. She made her film debut in "The Horse Whisperer" opposite Scarlet Johanssen and Robert Redford, and was featured in "Remember the Titans" opposite Denzel Washington. In 2002, Kate branched out from the small roles and had the lead role in "Blue Crush". With Valentine's Day just a few weeks away, Kate hopes to bring in an audience early to see her latest film. In "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton", Kate plays Rosalee, a store clerk who has her dream come true when she wins a date with the celebrity she has a crush on. In an interview with blackfilm.com, Kate speaks about celebrity crushes and illusions.


TG: Do your parents see you in this character?

KB: I sure hope so. That would be my hope. My favorite thing about this character is I think I took basically the best qualities in me and kind of poured it all into one character. And that was a really, really great space to live in for a few months, to go to work every day and just look at things in the most positive light and hopefully try to take that more so away from this.


TG: What qualities?

KB: In this character, I would say that she's incredibly true to herself, or she tries to be. She tries to see the good in everything, the silver lining, which is so important in life. And just a certain kindness I think that I find really endearing in this character and I enjoyed doing.


TG: Have you ever met a celebrity who shattered your illusions?

KB: You know what? I really haven't, which I feel fortunate actually, because- - but on the other hand, I never really- - being in this business and knowing how you really can't judge a book by its cover, and just knowing how different things probably are than how they're portrayed, I never really have a certain- - I try not to have a certain image of somebody and if I do, I keep that in mind because I know that there are so many different things said about me that I'm thinking, Well, take it with a grain of salt. You know what I mean? You can't exactly put anybody in a box.


TG: Did your parents try to learn about the business, subscribe to Variety and such?

KB: They're actually pretty savvy on their own which is really thoroughly sweet, but sometimes my mom will pull things out like she says something and I say, you were on the internet today, weren't you? And she'll say, yeah, I was. I sort of catch her because I think there's no way she could know that. I hear so and so is up for this part. I'm like, you know.


TG: Where are they from?

KB: They actually lived in Los Angeles for many years, so that's sort of I think how they have their own savvyiness in the business. But, I was raised basically on the east coast in Connecticut and Boston.


TG: Did you have a celebrity crush?

KB: The Tad for me, I just remember Brad Pitt in "A River Runs Through It". I remember just thinking he was so cute. And I can't remember what year that was. 92, so I was about 12, I think, somewhere around there. And I thought he was really, really cute. And it must've been around that time because that came out around the time as The Horse Whisperer. Robert Redford had directed that, so I sort of saw it for that and was interested all of a sudden going oh, there's a much different interest going on. The voiceover is just not matching up with the character.


TG: Best date you've been on?

KB: I've been so, so lucky. I've never really been on an official date to be honest, which is really weird. The person I've been interested in, I've been with for kind of chunks of years. And so I've just been really lucky. It'd be hard to pick one just because of that. There's a sort of 100 magical ones which was great.


TG: What's a wild night out for you?

KB: A wild night out- - Oh God, I feel like so boring all of a sudden, searching my brain for something wild. I'm so low key. I hate to say it, but I really am. I don't enjoy the wild side. I mean, it can be fun to go out in Hollywood once in a while and have a laugh, but that would be so occasionally. I'm mostly traveling. I've been traveling a lot this past year which is great.


TG: You go home to a small town life?

KB: Yeah. I try to keep that mentality. I've been in Europe a lot which has been really great. It's been a lot of fun. I'm shooting this film in Berlin and it's been really neat to travel and see Europe and it's a beautiful place.


TG: Ever won a contest?

KB: No. I never had good luck with that sort of stuff. No, I've never won a contest. I live vicariously through my characters I guess.


TG: Any teen jobs?

KB: No. One of the biggest pieces of advice my dad gave me growing up was he said, just whatever you do, love it. And it was something that was really, truly ingrained in me from a very young age, so I've groomed horses since I was about six, so I think that the only job I've had other than filmmaking, because I started that when I was about 13, was just working in stables. Which can be- - I mean, it's mucking out, it's getting really down and dirty but I loved it. I loved every second of it and that's a great thing to learn actually, love what you do.


TG: Do you have a competitive drive?

KB: Absolutely, yeah. I would say in a healthy way. I think I'm competitive to the point where I'm driven for success, but not to the point where I would wish anything- - I want success for everybody is what I'm saying kind of. Do you know what I mean? I think that's really important actually, especially in this business. It can be so cutthroat. And I think to keep the mentality of focusing on your own journey, your own path and what's meant for you will be meant for you and what's meant for somebody else will be meant for somebody else.


TG: Do you embrace your inner dork?

KB: Honestly, like I said, I took a lot of particular qualities in me and basically bunched them all together and put them on screen. I was watching it last night for the first time and I knew sort of what I was doing. You always know sort of what you're doing throughout filming, but you never see it put together, so when you see it put together, it's sort of like mm. So I was sitting there and seeing myself do these quirky things that I do in life and I don't necessarily would love the whole world to see these dorky things that I do, you know, or the laughs or the complete hilarity of situations. And I'm watching going wow, this is gonna be really, really interesting. Yeah, I really do think it's important to embrace- -


TG: Jumping up and down?

KB: Yeah, you know, and I will be the first to admit I do that all the time. I'm not one to pretend I'm this cool human being because I'm certainly not and I think that it's really important to embrace the inner dork.


TG: Did you squeal when you got this part?

KB: I did. Just like Rosalee. I wanted this part so, so, so much and I'd just finished filming Blue Crush actually, which was quite a long time ago. I got Wonderland the script and this script at the same time. I read them actually on the plane back from Hawaii. And I said to my agent, after Blue Crush, I said, I want to do something really just completely different, something really dark and shocking. So then I happened to be on the plane, I read Wonderland. I said, God, this is great. It's perfect. And then I thought, yeah, but you know, we'll see this next one. And I read the title and I thought, okay, reality TV show thing? I didn't understand. And I read it and I fell in love with this script so full heartedly. It was just probably the most I've ever wanted a part. And so I landed, I called my agent, I said, I want to do them back to back. If I had a perfect, ideal world, that's what I would want to do and like I said, when I put my heart to something, I do it 100% so it was really a combination of luck and hard work I think with those two.


TG: What about the script did you like so much? Its innocence?

KB: Yeah, it was written that way and I knew Robert Luketic was directing it and I love Legally Blonde. I thought he just had an intelligence to something that could've been really mediocre and I thought he made it really unique. So I was dying to work with him and I knew that he would elevate anything that was already there.


TG: Did you and Topher go to high school together?

KB: It's extraordinary. I spent about five years and he spent his entire life in Connecticut. I was about nine, about eight to 13. And I lived in Darian, Connecticut, this small town in Connecticut and he grew up there. And I was 13 when I got The Horse Whisperer. And he's a few years older than me, so he was probably about 15, 16. So he was in high school, so he certainly didn't know me. I was just some little kid. And I ended up getting Horse Whisperer and actually moving to Boston, but he came up to me at a party when I first moved to LA, which was way before this, and I first got to LA and was overwhelmed by everything, certainly a Hollywood party. And I was standing there in the corner, new girl sort of thing. And he came up to me, said, you're Kate, right? And I said, yeah, because I knew Topher from That 70s Show. And he said, did you live in Darian, Connecticut? And I said, Yeah. You know one of those things that somebody comes up to you at lunch and you say hello and they say something, and you're like, Oh god, a certain subject. And I said, yeah, and he said, oh, I'm from Darian. And I was like, you're kidding. He said no and so then he said, do you know so and so? And I said, Yeah. And it was amazing, because it was like such a small town that we had the same doctor, we had the same teachers, all these crazy things, and then it happened, fate would have it, a couple years later, three years later, them saying, Oh, I think Topher Grace is gonna do this, I said, That's hilarious because we're both from the same small town.


TG: Valentine's Day plans?

KB: I'm not sure if I'll be done with the one in Berlin actually. It's called Beyond the Sea with Kevin Spacey.


TG: Do you relate more to Tad or Rosalee?

KB: Oh, Rosalee for sure. 100%.

 

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy