I used to wish I could go to an LA bar and meet a girl like Heather Graham. Now it’s gotten more complicated. You have to have a drunken bachelor party and wake up married to her as a single mom. Either way, Heather Graham is a dream girl and she’s back in The Hangover.
Crave Online: Is you character pretty much a spin on the hooker with a heart of gold?
Heather Graham: Yeah, probably, but I tried to personalize it more as a hippy stripper, with a New Age/spiritual attitude about sexuality.”
Crave Online: When Todd offered you the part, was that something you talked about or did you just come up with that aspect of your character yourself?
Heather Graham: We talked about it. He was like, “I liked how you brought the hippy quality to it.” Which is kind of what I was thinking, because the night before we had this true connection and even if he doesn’t remember, I still believe it was true. It’s like a lot of girls fall in love with the guy, but the guy doesn’t necessarily feel the same. But the girl is like, “I know it’s there.” So, I kind of thought of it that way. Like I believe in it.
Crave Online: How did you like working with the baby?
Heather Graham: Well, I think there were six babies. If you watch the movie, you can see that’s it’s a bunch of different babies, if you really look. Four were great and two were really evil. Horrible. And kept us there for so many hours. The mom of the twins that were difficult, they said to me, “My baby hates everyone but me,” and then she handed me the baby and the baby started crying for like three hours.
Crave Online: I know there are a lot of rules for stage babies, but what are the actual rules about breastfeeding one?
Heather Graham: It takes a lot of practice. I had to start lactating. I’m a method actor. The baby was teething, so the AD said, “Be careful because the baby is teething and I can’t promise that he’s not going to try and bite you,” but luckily, he didn’t.
Crave Online: I didn’t know that a baby would feed on someone other than his mom.
Heather Graham: Well, the thing is that was actually the longest day. I think it was like a seventeen-hour day, because obviously the baby is not really breastfeeding, so the babies keep looking around, and they start looking at Zack, looking at Bradley and so they were like, “It doesn’t look like he’s breastfeeding now because his head’s moving.” So we had to keep his head facing down towards my boobs. So someone had to stand behind me with a rattler, going, “Chee, chee, chee,” and at the end of the day, it kind of felt like it didn’t matter what I was doing as long as the baby’s head [was right]. It was all about where the babies head was looking.
Crave Online: Does the mother ever get involved with directing the babies movements?
Heather Graham: Well, there were three different moms. Two were really easy-going, and one I think they were kind of worried because Zach was usually carrying the baby. The one was like, “Are you all right? Are you going to be careful? Be careful!” And Zach was telling us that he used to be a nanny. No, really, he used to be a nanny, because he was really into it, like, “I love kids. I really want to have kids.”
Crave Online: Watching your kid breastfeed seems like it would be really weird for a mom.
Heather Graham: No, the moms were really into it. They were like, “Can you take a picture of my baby? I want a picture of you.”
Crave Online: What were the days like when you had to shoot the photo montages on the wedding and the other events?
Heather Graham: That was like kind of the funnest thing in a way, because it was like silly, just made-up ideas of things to do, and all these guys were thinking of hilarious things. It was really fun, actually. But usually they did it at a long day, so we’d all be kind of sleepy, but it was fun.
Crave Online: Have you seen the final film? What do you think of it?
Heather Graham: They might have made a few little tweaks, but it was almost like the final film. I thought it was hilarious. I mean, I had read the script a lot of times. Whenever I work on something, I read the script like a million times. I just found it all new and funny and I was laughing so hard.
Crave Online: Do you find comedy harder to do than drama?
Heather Graham: Yeah, I think it is so hard. Actually, after working with them, I was like, “I’m going to take an improv comedy class.” It’s like such a different art form, what they do, that kind of stuff. I guess they are both difficult in their ways.”
Crave Online: Have they talked to you at all about a sequel?
Heather Graham: Yeah, they wrote that one in the trades, and then I saw Todd and I was like, “Hi. Can I be in it?” He was like, “Yeah,” but I don’t think they’ve written it yet. I think the sequel is an idea that they want to make a sequel. It’s not like a written-out script.
Crave Online: Were there any scene you did that didn’t make the final cut?
Heather Graham: The thing is, Todd was saying that basically since it’s kind of a detective story, you can’t really cut anything out. I think there was a lot of improving comedy that the guys did that maybe didn’t all end up in, but you can’t really take out any moment because it’s all like filling in the pieces. Each thing leads to the next thing.
Crave Online: Did they add anything to the script after you joined?
Heather Graham: Ed’s missing his tooth, so at the end you have all the photos and in the script it’s just like, “You see the night and it’s just more horrible than you could have ever imagined.” So, when you’re on the set, everyone would be like, “How did Ed pull his tooth out?” Every day, people would come up with a new thing, “This is how Ed pulled his tooth out.” So one, day, I can’t remember who came up with the idea but they were like, “Ed pulled out his own tooth,” and then not to give it away, but Todd added some lines when I get to tell Ed how he pulled his tooth out. That was fun.
Crave Online: What was it like being the only girl in this testosterone environment?
Heather Graham: In a way it was really fun because I feel like I get attention, and it was really fun to be all flirty with these cute guys. But there’s also like a brotherly feeling where I felt like they were really sweet. Every now and then I felt like I have to call some girls, because I feel like I have too much male energy, and I need some girl time.
Crave Online: Did you bring any girlfriends to stay with you while you were there?
Heather Graham: No I didn’t. I tried to get some people to come out. But I was only here for three and a half weeks or something, and they went back to LA for the rest of it.
Crave Online: After the movie, what did you think about bachelor parties?
Heather Graham: I’ve never been married, but if you’re a girl getting married, I’m sure you’re not that excited that you’re boyfriend’s going to go out and get totally crazy, you know.
Crave Online: Have you ever been on any crazy bachelorette parties?
Heather Graham: Yes, I’ve actually just remembered this one that I went on for my girlfriend. We went to this sadomasochistic dinner club. There’s like a menu, and you have to order dinner, which you kind of feel gross eating because you’re like, “I’m at a sadomasochistic club eating food. Isn’t that a little strange?” There’s a menu which says, “You can be disciplined or you can be tied up or you can spank or be spanked.” There was another bachelor party in there too where the guy was spanking the girl. It was in New York. It’s in Chelsea. I don’t know if it’s still there because this was a while ago. He said it was still there, a few years ago.
Crave Online: Did you talk to any working girls for the role?
Heather Graham: When I first got here, Todd and I went to a strip club and we went in, and I was kind of disillusioned, because I’d taken these S Factor classes and at the end of the class, everyone in the class would do this dance and they’d be expressing themselves. But if you go to the strip club here, no-one’s doing a dance, everyone’s just like standing there, doing a few [moves], all the girls are on stage at once and it’s all about lap dances, which I didn’t realize.
Crave Online: What’s S Factor?
Heather Graham: S Factor is an actress named Sheila Kelley who started her own pole dancing classes. It’s like get in touch with your sensuality. And one of things we do is find your erotic creature. It’s kind of that feel good about yourself, feel sexy. And they teach you all these moves, some of which are very hard.
Crave Online: Would you like to continue balancing film with TV?
Heather Graham: Yeah. It’s sort of depending on the project. Like if it’s something really good on TV, I would love to be in it.
Crave Online: Why weren’t you in the Scrubs finale?
Heather Graham: I was going to be in the last one, and there’s this thing where he walks in the hallway and everyone’s like looking at him and he’s remembering. But I was on a driving trip with my boyfriend. We were in upstate New York in Woodstock. But I loved working with them. I’m still friends with a lot of them.
Crave Online: Do you find TV more instant and enjoyable to do than the big slog of making movies?
Heather Graham: To be honest, I kind of like movies better because I’m the kind of person that I like to prepare in advance, and TV, it’s like you don’t get to prepare in advance because it’s like, “Here’s your script for tomorrow.” And I kind of like having something like months in advance and thinking for five days, “How do I say this one line?” But Todd’s not like that at all, he’s like, “We’re going to rewrite this” and I said, “Well, can you send me the new copy, the new draft?” and he wouldn’t do it until like two days before. He was like, “I know this is giving you a heart attack but…”
Crave Online: Have you left the movie with friendships with the guys?
Heather Graham: Yeah. I feel like I’ve got to know Bradley and Todd and Ed the best.
Crave Online: Had you had enough of Vegas by the end of your time here?
Heather Graham: Yeah. It’s definitely fun. I think it’s kind of exciting, but if I was going to go on vacation, I probably would go somewhere more like nature-y. It’s so crazy energy here, I find it just makes me feel super, like, anxious.
