Stars speaking out
Heigl’s spicy blasts follow lead of Newman, Brando
NEW YORK — When Katherine Heigl opens her mouth, people listen. They don’t always like what they hear.
If the media loves a celebrity lightning rod, then Heigl certainly delivers the goods. The Emmy-winning actress has taken heat for her blunt public comments and doesn’t seem to give two winks.
According to her detractors, the “Grey’s Anatomy” star’s outre behavior includes: demanding a higher salary in contract negotiations with ABC; slamming the megahit comedy “Knocked Up,” in which she starred with Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd; and, recently, refusing to seek an Emmy nomination because “Grey’s” writers failed to deliver the goods for an awards-worthy performance.
But in a world of bland, media- trained celebs, is it such a bad thing to speak your mind?
After all, celebrities have spouted off for years, bashing everything and everyone from presidents to fellow actors to directors. But Hollywood is like high school — only meaner — and hammering the popular kids might have consequences that take years to undo.
“There’s a long tradition of actors who have disdained the Hollywood establishment and then had some retribution for it within the Hollywood establishment,” said Neal Gabler, an author and cultural critic whose books include “Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality.”
Gabler named screen legend Paul Newman as an example. Newman, now 83, shunned the movie-industry hoopla and never showed up in 1986 to accept his best-actor Academy Award for “The Color of Money,” after having been nominated seven times before.
“He didn’t live the way a star was supposed to live. There was an expectation ... placed on him, and he didn’t satisfy that expectation and Hollywood took retribution,” Gabler said, citing Newman’s awards snubs.
And yet, that tough-guy persona enhanced his public image as a man of integrity who lived on his own terms, Gabler said. Newman’s awards-hating colleagues included Marlon Brando and George C. Scott, who refused an Oscar for his grandiose performance in 1970’s “Patton.” Brando sent a Native American surrogate to turn down his statuette when he won best actor in 1972 for “The Godfather.”
Heigl, on the other hand, simply declined to put her name in consideration for an Emmy bid.
Heigl’s announcement spread swiftly online, where it was variously heralded, ridiculed and hashed out by a vocal mob eager to weigh in.
“First of all, she did something crazy — and that is she told the truth,” said veteran publicist Howard Bragman. “At the very least, she told her truth. ... And in this town, it’s not always a great idea, because what you have to understand is television is a very collaborative industry, and what she’s essentially done is trash her writers. These are people you have to go to work with every day.”
