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Kate Beckinsale

Kate Beckinsale

W0RDS PhilipWotson IT'S PH0T0GRAPHS Andrew Macpherso n GREAT HEN YOU'RE KATEOOO YEAH! THERE ARE THREE THINGS EVERYONE SEEMS TO KNOW ABOUT ,PEARL HARBOR'STAR ...

www.esquire.c o.uk A 129 "Dressing up as somebodg else and meeting great people just seemed, as it does now, like a jammg job"

ate Beckinsale breezes "I've probably seen more of him on tele- into the lobby of vision than I did in real life," she explains, 's furiously fash- when Dad later crops up unavoidably in ionable Sanderson hotel as if conversation. "I guess I've inherited his it's her second home. Whereas energy and sense ofhumour - one ofthe high once her preferred intervrew priorities in my family life was laughing and venue was the Shepherd's making stupid jokes but it's really hard Bush branch of Caf6 Rougg to say now because he did die an awfully where she worked one long time ago." summer, shenowseems Kate was born Kathrin Romany Beckinsale more at ease in the in 1973 and brought up in Chiswick, west chic and glamorous surroundings of one of London. When Kate was nine, her mother, the world's hippest hotel bars. stage actress Judy Loe, began living with This is (though she'd protest) the perfect theatre director Roy Battersby, and Kate had environment for the Kate of today. Starring to adiust to a new family offour stepbrothers in Pearl Harbor, this summer's biggest and one stepsister. blockbuster and, at $135 million, the most "Yes, it ras something of a surprise," she expensive film ever to be given the green says, laughing. "They were all older than me light, she is on the verge of the fabled and my stepbrothers arrived at an age when Hollywood breakthrough. Dressed down in I wasn't all that keen on boys. I was jeans and a denim jacket, she looks every bit convinced that my stepfather would beat the amiable English beauty, but Kate is or poison me; I thought I was going to be undeniably entering a crucial stage in her separating peas and beans on a stone floor." career. Pe arl Harbor will take her from being It was a house full of actors and theatre one ofthe finest British character actresses people and Kate had early experience ofstar of her generation to a major movie player, roles. At just three weeks old she very convinc- the Next Big Thing or, as Hollywood would ingly played a crying baby in a television play; have it, the new . Beers down at nine she was making an army-training f,rlm the Bush are simply not quite show business. with her mum and Charles Dance. A Diet Coke and Marlboro Lights are "If you see your parents really enjoying ordered and she sparks one up. "Now then," their work and all your mates are impressed she says, leaning back slightly nervously. b5 uhat thel do. then dressing up as some- "Where shall we begin?" body else and meeting really great people seems so much better a prospect," she says. THREE THINGS EVERYONE SEEMS TO KNOWABOUT "It seemed, as it does now, like a jammy job." KATE BECKINSALE: N0 1 Kate admits, however, to mostly being an Kate Beckinsale is the daughter of British angry and aggrieved child, to being, as she comedy actor , who died once put it, "a traumatised posh girl". of a attack in 1979 at just 31, when Kate "I was a passionate child - especially about was five. Co-star in two legendary Seventies my friends - but I was also very stumpy and , Rrlizg D ump ar,d Porridge, Beckinsrle furious. If somebody hit me or any of my has become a TV icon because of their friends I'd steam in there and beat them up." enduring appeal and frequent repeats. His There are, indeed, certain words which portrayal of the ingenuous, deadpanning crop up again and again in the articles writ- Godber opposite in Porridge ten rbout Kate Beckinsale, all of them, I tell is a classic of understated comic acting. her, beginning with "s". STYLING: MAYA RAHME "I've made it a rule not to discuss anything "Oh, God," she says, folding her arms. HAIR: PHILLIP CARREON AT that happened more than 10 years ago," Kate "What are they?" ARTMIX THE AGENCY warns, good-naturedly, at the start of our "Strong-minded. " MAKE.UP: LUCIENNE ZAMMIT chat. Yet she means it, tired of being cast in "Who, me? I don't know about that." AT ARTMIX THE AGENCY a tragic light- "I'm nof exactly Sylvia P1ath." "Self-confident."

130 @ www.esquire.co.uk Kiss me Kate "Growing up in a house full of boys did not give

me much of an opportunity to walk in beauty lil

So it's a funny thing tall

White shorts by Gucci

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-.*gE "l This is met with silcnce and an inscrutabie ofwork) and possesses a sharp intelligence, think at the look."Steadfast," I continue. easy eloquence and lively wit. She has a "That sounds a bit like 'stout'. Is 'stout' strong sense of her own self-worth. It made beginning of mg in there?" the prospect of interviewing her slightly career lwas "No, but stocky is." She flashes me a side- daunting. She seems, however, to have wavs glare. "Only joking," I add. changed, because the Kate Beckinsale I determined "Yeah, stocky and shirtv" spent a couple of hours with could not have "And, ofcourse, steely and spiky" bccn more charming and entertaining. You not to be a weak "I'm always amazed because I don't recog- sense thcrc is still a fractured nervousness nise myself in any of those descriptions. I in her make-up, but there is a shell of and wussg think at the beginning I was determined not self-belicf nou,. Shc has a long-standing to be a rveak and wuss]. woman - r.l.hich I boyfriend, actor , and a two- obviously was. But rvhen you feel out ofyour baby- named Lily-. has woman which I 1,ear*old girl She - depth, vou either stop or you say fshe leans a promising film career both in the UK and obviouslg was" forward and puffs out her chest]: 'No, I'm the US. She seems composed and comfort- tough and I've got mv big boots on.' I rvas able with herself. She is happv. 18 and there was probablv a lot of adolcs- "I really would have liked to have been that cent beefing. An1'bod1' u,ho's m)' age no\\ outspoken and assertive person you describe, would look at me and 5x1', 'Oh,ves, aren't vou but the bigger picture rvas that I was under so political and feminist rvhen what you slightll'more pressure than I knew I could really need is vour mum."' handle," she says. "I stand by a lot of the Kate's reputation for prickliness does pre- things I said, but it's a shame that 1S-year- cede her, perhaps because she has played an olds are allou,ed to give interviews to the press. imposing roster of baddies, bus,vbodies and I look at some of mv comments and think, bitches. Yet she has also at times been out- 'Oh fuck, that's embarrassing.' Luckilv, I'm spoken, hot-headed, even foul-mouthed. She not a teenager any more, rvhich is a relief." knorvs her ox,n mind, often refuses to discuss certain topics and u.ill not do nude scenes - THREE THINGS EVERYONE SEEMS TO KNOW ABOUT she recenth'admitted to taking revenge on KATE BECKINSALE: N0 2 one (nameless) director, s,-ho had ordered her Kate Beckinsale had anorexia rvhen she was Aii to strip off, by peeing in his Thermos flask. I'oung. This is another topic she avoids, again She studied French and Russian at Oxford because it paints her as a victim and happened (leaving in her third 1ear, tempted bl offers some time ago, but she has admitted that it

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Pearl before swine 'Pearl Harbor' was given Hollywood's biggest

ever budget, $ 135 million. Already insiders are predicting it will do for Kate Beckinsale what'Titanic' did for Kate Winslet

,]33 www esquire.co uk e It's said that Keanu Reeves wooed her with red roses and invitations to dinner, and even Stephen Frg confessed that, with a few different twists to his DNA, he would fall hopelesslg for her

was part of a larger breakdown. While her THREE THINGS EVERYONE SEEMS TO KNOW ABOUT But Kate's ability to avoid the limelight is lamill could not har e been more supportive KATE BECKINSALE: N0 3 about to change. Pearl Hurbor will, after all, and laissez-faire "My stepdad was a Kate Beclinsale aluals appears in costume make her a star. In a movie that also features Trotskyite and into Timothy Leary and trip- dramas. Stnce Much Ado atthe age of 19, she Cuba Gooding Jr, Alec Baldwin, Dan ping and all sorts of stuff" - and she was has had major parts in the epic Ackroyd and Jon Voight, Kate plays female doing well at school, twice winning the Prince of Jutland, Schlesinger's adaptation Iead Evelyn, a naive Navy nurse posted to WH Smith Young Writers Competition, of Cold Comfort Farm, and last year's the US base in Hawaii while her pilot eventually the disturbances ofher early years Merchant-Ivory adaptation of Henry boyfriend () is fighting in caught up with her. At 15 she stopped eating, James's The Golden Bopl. She also took the Europe. His best friend is also in love with weighed little more than five stone at one lead in the television film ofJane Austen's her and a tragic lor,e triangle ensues. point and refused to leave the house. When and has been on stage in Chekhov's The film is being kept under wraps. There she did go to school, she was disruptive. The Seagttll. have been no preview screenings and, when "I had this really heavy Freudian analysis But she has taken on more contemporary I press her for information, she tells me she for several years, which I'm not sure was the roles. In 1998's The Last Days of , is "forced at this point by Disney to stop most appropriate thing for a teenager, but I directed by , she was talking". However, with the A-list team of really went for it," she says, with good grace, Charlotte, an Eighties New York party girl. producer and director when I ask about her time at Godolphin and In the British comedy Shooting Fish, she (Armagetblon, Con Air and The Latymer school in , west played an aristocratic con artist, and in Rock) atits core, Pearl Harbrtr is being pitched London. "But mostly I was sort of deranged, 1999's Brokedown Paltt,ce she co-starred with as an epic action*romance somewhere and not the easiest person to deal with." Clare Danes as an American tourist wrongly between Titanic and From Here to Eternity. Ifher troubled teenage years once severely imprisoned in Thailand on drugs charges. With a large percentage of the budget affected her appearance, there is little sign of In many of these films, she has displayed spent on recreating battle scenes, insiders are it now. While she has self-deprecatingly an intuitive approach to her craft that has talking rp Pearl Harbor as the most visceral described herself as "a twig with a bottom" impressed critics and directors alike. war movie ever. "The real attack on Pearl and having "small breasts and a pointy face", Branagh lauded her "strong acting pres- Harbor can't have cost this much," one crew Kate actually has a slim, elegant attractive- ence", rnhile Schlesinger compared her member is reported to have said. It is the ness. She has large green eyes that are light- favourably to both Audrey Hepburn and perfect movie for the kick-ass Dubya era. sensitive and change colour - "but not at will , predicting similar success. Yet Although Kate tells me she was paid lit- or anything". Her thick dark hair, passed she has failed to find the right vehicle for tle ("I'm bargain-bucke t Beckinsale"), P e arl down from her Burmese paternal grand- her talents; there have been no runaway Harbur will bring her big-name recognition, father, falls teasingly over her face. She does a successes to shift her career up a gear. While She has a phalanx of Hollywood agents and thing with her nose when she laughs, a kind she has no doubt chosen projects carefully, publicists behind her, another Hollywood ofcartoon scrunch-up that is unbelievably there are enough awful films to question her film in the pipeline (Serendipity, a romantic appealing in a naughty schoolgirl sort ofway. judgement. In Shooting .Fls/2, she battled comedy with ), and this month Many have fallen victim to her allure. against a screenplay far too rambling her face will beam out from billboards world- There were reports from the set of Kate's and ridiculous; Broked,own Palace invrted wide. She will achieve, at 27, what few British first major film, 's.Much unfavourable comparisons with .Midnight actresses have done: a strong Hollywood Ado About Nothing, in which she played Etpress; and worst of all, as she assures me profile. It has taken Kate Winslet, Catherine innocent Hero, that Keanu Reeves wooed herself, was Prince of Jutland, which was Zeta Jones and Liz Hurley many years of her with red roses and invitations to dinner. "badly written originally in Danish and then hard labour to achieve a Stateside career. Even , who appeared in John appallingly translated into English". There The spotlight will be sharpest at the film's Schlesinger's Cold Comfort Farm withher, is a degree ofluck in any actor's career, but world premiere on board a US aircraft car- confessed that, with a few different twists Kate has not always helped herself. rier in Hawaii on May 21. The event is being to his DNA, he would fall hopelessly in love Fame would also seem to hold little appeal talked about, somewhat rhetorically, as Kate's with her. Kate, however, is unmoved by the for her. "I haven't gone out to be a star. I've "official launch party to Hollywood society". attention. "Growing up in a house full of not gone to the premieres, parties and "It's hilarious, isn't it - like Pritle and boys did not give me much of an opportu- events, and I've not done many interviews Prejudice or something," she demurs, in a nity to walk in beauty like the night," she and photo shoots. When my daughter was way that sums up her ambiguity at being says, lighting another cigarette. "So it's a born we weren't in Hello !I find all the stuff part of the Hollywood machine. "I'll have funny thing talking about my looks. I get that surrounds the business really scary - I to learn to play the pianola." @ embarrassed and feel a bit shifty and hot." would throw up if I had to present an award." 'Pearl Harbor' o?ens on I June

134 @ www.esquire.co.uk

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