Hayden Panettiere Interview, I Love You Beth Cooper

“I Love You, Beth Cooper” is about two people whose lives cross at a time when they’re about to make an enormous leap forward. Buffalo Grove High School valedictorian Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) is moving toward a future that’s extremely bright and filled with the potential for success. Beth’s (Hayden Panettiere) future, however, is not so certain. In a way, she may have reached her pinnacle in high school and thinks the rest of her life is going to be completely ordinary. Things change unexpectedly on graduation day when Denis utters five little words, “I Love You, Beth Cooper” -- something that he’s been waiting to say for a long time.

Denis is a dorky guy who’s played it safe and made it through high school without ever having really experienced some of the joys of higher learning while Beth is the popular girl who’s a bit rough around the edges. Intrigued by what he says to her at graduation, she decides to take him on the ride of his life and show him what he’s been missing -- breaking curfew and everything else that comes with that:  destruction of property, over-consumption of alcohol, fist fights, late nights, fast cars and faster women.

Lucky for the director Chris Columbus, the perfect Beth Cooper – Hayden Panettiere, from the hit television series “Heroes” – had already expressed an interest in the project. What drew Panettiere to the film was the layered character of Beth, which afforded her the opportunity to turn her “Heroes” cheerleader/superhero image on its head.

MoviesOnline sat down recently with Hayden to talk about her role in her new movie. She’s a fabulous person and we really appreciated her time. Here’s what she had to tell us:

Q: I was curious about the costume and the character from the movie. Can you demand a bonus for putting on a cheerleader outfit or playing a cheerleader in any capacity?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I wish. I think I’m just going to start putting it in my contract that I refuse to wear a cheerleading outfit for the rest of my career. In this film I only had to put it on once for a picture but that was it.

Q: And then you do a cheer in street clothes. I was thinking you should cash in on this because that’s a big selling point for them.

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: (Laughs) I know. I don’t know how I always manage to find my way back to the cheerleading outfit.

Q: Is your character a girl that you can relate to?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I think so. Absolutely. It’s kind of like a metaphor even though specifically I haven’t gone through exactly what she’s going through. It still stems from these insecurities and not believing in yourself. I think we all have our own insecurities. I know I have plenty of insecurities.

Q: Like what?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Like body image insecurities. The older I get, the more comfortable I get with it but I still have my days where I don’t feel great and I don’t like this outfit or that outfit and I’m having my fat day where I have to put something baggy on and sweat pants or just with the way that people perceive me. I have plenty of insecurities. I could go on and on.

Q: You look completely brilliant. It’s hard to believe you have insecurities. Do you work out a lot? What’s your fitness regimen?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: You know, I’ve never been one of those people who has been obsessed with working out or being super skinny. I’m not that [way]. I have the body that I have and that’s not going to change. I try to stay as healthy as I can. It’s a little hard when someone’s standing behind you with a camera on the beach and takes a picture of your rear end and points out all your bumps or whatever or puts some more (bumps) in or puts some shading in. I mean, it’s tough. You become much more critical of yourself because you’re in a position of such extreme judgment and scrutiny. People love to point out flaws and love to build people up and then rip them down again. That’s just the way it works.

Q: We saw recent photos of you on Elton John’s yacht. What were you doing there? How did you end up there?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I was just on vacation. Friends were going so I decided to come along and it was quite an experience.

Q: On vacation on Elton John’s yacht? That’s not an everyday thing.

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: No, it’s not. It’s actually a very interesting and very strange world and I was glad that I had the experience. I realized that it shows you how unbalanced the world is. You go to these places during the film festival and these people have more money and wealth and all of that and it’s just so unbalanced knowing what a lot of the world looks like. It’s crazy. I would never want it. It’s why they say, “Have a friend with a boat. Have a friend with a plane. Have a friend with houses all over the world.” You don’t need them. It’s a responsibility. It was quite an experience but it was just a vacation.

Q: What about the misspelled tattoo you have? How did that come about?

Are we talking about the movie or are we talking about my personal rumors? It is misspelled. Whatever! But what else can you do? You can laugh at it. I put my own spin to it.

Q: You can have it removed or you can laugh and live with it, right?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Yeah. I’m not rushing in either direction. Chances are I’m probably going to get it fixed. That’s why I love having it on my back because I don’t get bored with it. I don’t have to stare at it all the time. But then, you have it on your back and you don’t realize that it’s misspelled either.

Q: What was exciting for you working on this movie? Obviously working with Chris Columbus was? What was it about the character? Did you do many of the stunts?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I did as many as they would allow me to do. I was always an athlete growing up and I love sports but now I can’t participate on a team like I could in high school so stunts are kind of my sport. I do it as often as I can and as many as they’ll let me. It was fun though. It was a great experience. It’s a fun film. It’s full of action and it’s funny. Chris Columbus is the nicest man I’ve ever worked with.

Q: Can you talk about the stunts that you did? What did they allow you to do?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: They allowed me to do some of the driving. I think that was the most of the stunts. Most of the stunts were her reckless driving. Other than that, it wasn’t really a stunt to fall in his lap. That was more him, he falls in my lap and has to find his way into my…

Q: Yeah!

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Hello! [Laughs]

Q: What about the shower scene in the locker room? Did you actually have to get naked?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Yeah. It didn’t bother me much. I think when the person who’s doing it gets all uncomfortable and shy, then it’s other people around too who get more uncomfortable because they’re uncomfortable. But I was fine. Everyone was really professional.

Q: But wasn’t it embarrassing?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: If I can’t flaunt it at 20, c’mon! I might as well show it now. (Laughs) No, just on set.

Q: Did you get to drive through anything?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: No, I didn’t get to drive through the house but I got to back out of the house. That was pretty cool because I took half the house with me.

Q: What about the theme of this movie in that fantasy and reality don’t necessarily go together? Could you identify with that aspect of this movie? There’s a line in this film where you say, “Guys fall in love with me all the time.” Have you ever experienced that in your own life where guys or fans fall in love with you for the wrong reason?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Wow, I think people might at this rate only fall in love with me for the wrong reason. Most of the time, if somebody’s doing a confession or something like that, it’s a fan or someone who watches what I do. How can you really say I love you which is kind of a theme in the film. He says “I love you Beth Cooper” and Beth Cooper is this image of perfection to him but he really doesn’t know her at all.

Q: How do you know when somebody’s being real with you and when somebody just likes you because of your fame and celebrity?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I think after a while there are certain telltale signs. I’ve become really good at reading people but how could you ever be really, really sure. People surprise you sometimes and most of the time when it’s a surprise, it’s generally for the worst. I just surround myself with good people and I’ve got really great friends and people that I trust and I trust my instincts. I mean, there’s no specific telltale sign that someone’s interested in you for any other reason.

Q: Do you have a certain type that you go for?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I’m a big personality person so you need to be cool with who you are. You need to be confident in who you are because, in order to be with someone like me in the industry that I’m in, you know, we go out, we have to mingle at parties, and that line is blurred between our jobs and our personal life. It goes beyond just standing on set and acting. So, it takes a secure person. I like somebody who gets my sense of humor because I can have a very dry sense of humor sometimes. (Laughs)

Q: I was thinking you might hear a little bit of uproar when the movie comes out over some of the reckless behavior in it. Do you think some recklessness is part of the growing up process?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Absolutely. All the kids I grew up with did the same thing. I think people are being a little naïve if they don’t know that that’s going on and they don’t want to come to terms with it, but it is. It’s a funny film but you can’t be too nervous to speak the truth because, you know what, probably the chances are your kids aren’t off in college or in high school drinking juice boxes. It’s probably not likely. This is a character. It’s not me. It’s a character that we created. We tried to stay true to the book and to the story and if they want an uproar, they can do it all they want.

Q: When you were a bit younger, who was your idol in terms of acting or music? Did you have a massive teen pin-up that you idolized from afar a bit like Denis Cooverman does?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Not really. I have a lot of people that I look up to as an actor. Like Meryl Streep is obviously one of if not the best actors of all time. I think she’s brilliant. I mean, there’s a million people. I think in my position the people I wind up looking up to now are people who have their shit together, people who know who they are and are confident in who they are, people that I look at personality-wise and go, “Gosh, I just want to be like you because you’re so likeable and you’re so smart and you’re so together and with it. Everyone has their flaws but it’s more genuinely who people are now that I look up to and I go “Oh wow.”

Q: In the movie, it seems like dating in high school is very tumultuous and difficult. How does that compare to Hollywood? Would you rather be dating in high school or in Hollywood?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Oh God! I don’t know. Both of them are terrible. In Hollywood, it’s either you’re single or you’re not. There is no in between, there is no dating. No one allows you the ability to have fun and be young and hang out with people and just say “Hey, I’m enjoying someone for who they are. Just because it’s a guy doesn’t necessarily mean I’m dating him.” Every girl I walk down the street with, I’m not dating them.

Q: Is that the case with Steve Jones? Obviously there’s been a lot of speculation about that.

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: He lives in London. I mean, distance.

Q: So that’s a bit impractical.

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I have a lot of good friends.

Q: How surprised are you by this whole celebrity thing that has happened with you since Heroes took off? How do you cope with it? Has it gotten easier over the last 4 years?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I don’t think you can ever prepare yourself for it. You can’t. There’s no amount of preparation. There’s no amount of anyone telling you “Oh, keep your head on straight.” I was  really, really lucky because I was fortunate enough to have a great family, a great upbringing, and I think I was really fortunate to have gotten to this point of quote unquote celebrity – I hate that word – but being in the public eye at the age I did because I think if I was older and if I was on my own and on my own terms and wasn’t as receptive to people telling me “No, this is not okay” and still didn’t have parents that I had to listen to, I don’t know if it would have gone quite as smoothly. You get to the point where you’re on your own for a certain period of time and no one’s told me what to do for a couple years now, I’m not used to it. No, you can’t tell me what to do. I’m an adult. But at 16 years old I still had parents who said “No.” I still had parents who said “You’re going to be home at this time.” I still lived at home. I still had the ability to hear “No” and knew that I needed to listen. I also was fortunate enough to come to this place with a group of really, really grounded strong people which were my cast, because if I had gone there by myself, whether it had been a film and then I’d hit that level of success by myself without these older people that I really looked up to and got to see how they handled it and how they interacted with people and just the way that they dealt with it, I don’t know if it would have gone quite as smoothly. I’d like to think it would have gone the same but it really was great to have people to look up to.

Q: How much more of Heroes do you think there will be?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Well, we’re in the fourth season now so I have no idea yet. We signed on for 6 years.

Q: What’s coming up for Claire?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: She’s at college now. She’s in college and she’s got a great roommate who’s… I kind of don’t know about her in the beginning. There’s this new group of people called the Carnival and they’re kind of the opposite of the Company.

Q: How hard was it when Bryan Fuller left again?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Since I haven’t read all the scripts and haven’t been involved in the writing process the way obviously the writers are…. We work hard and everyone’s great. We have a blast together. He’s going off and he’s doing some great stuff so we’re all just really proud of him. But college…I do very much believe in education. I’ve got 15 alumni on my mother’s side through Duke University and my grandpa was the Valedictorian. My grandparents met there and my great uncle was the dean of the law school. I have a huge side of my family that’s very well educated, so genetically I’m well educated. My thought of college has always been that it’s not only continuing your education, but it’s also a social experience. It’s your first time on your own. It’s your first time not having somebody sit there and go, “You need to go to bed at this time. You need to do your homework. You need to get up at this time to go to class.” You’re on your own terms. Most of what I saw from my friends who came back from their freshman year, they were all hanging by a fingernail going “Oooooh! I almost just failed out of school. I almost just flunked.” They have to juggle these new responsibilities that they didn’t have before and you generally learn the hard way. You learn from mistakes and from doing it over and over again. That social experience, because I’ve been on my own, because I know so clearly hopefully what I’m going to do for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t get that social aspect the same, not to mention it is a really big thing that you want to go and you want to have this social experience and you want to go out to the bars like the other kids are going out to because everyone does that. They do, whether you like it or not. You have to deal with the fear of somebody taking a picture of you with a drink in your hand and the fear of it going and getting put all over the place. I find it hard to do normal things that most people my age are doing because of the criticism, because doing what’s normal isn’t right, because we’re the ones that are completely corrupt which is so not true. I have had the opportunity to travel all over the world. I’ve seen beautiful countries. I’ve talked to incredibly intelligent, well educated people. I’ve been involved with politics. I’ve been involved with environmental studies and work and have gotten a great education on the things that I’m curious and passionate about whether it be the ocean… I’ve become really well educated on the ocean just from spending time with really smart, smart people and this is their field and this is what they know and you learn so much from them. I’m also very interested in history and I have a bunch of history books at home that I sit there all day and I’ve watched the History Channel for 12 hours straight about Chris Columbus.

Q: The director?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: (Laughs) Not that Chris Columbus, the one who sailed the ocean blue. And the ozone layers. I mean, science has always been a big thing and I’ve really been educated on it having not gone to college. Would I have liked to? Yeah. But it didn’t quite pan out that way.

Q: How was it working with the director, Chris Columbus?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: He was incredible. He’s one of the nicest human beings I’ve ever worked with. He’s so talented with no ego, and for someone like him with the background that he has to come in with no ego and completely open to collaboration. [He’s] just open minded and fun but somebody that you can trust and you know is going to pull you and lead you in the right direction. It was great. It was nothing less than great.

Q: What are your dreams and goals as an actress?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I’ve never been somebody who said “This is where I want my career to go. This is the path I want to go on. This is the kind of film I want to do.” I just love everything. I love what I do and I love creating characters and I want to do it all. I’m just excited to see what my career brings.

Q: Is there anything coming up for you next?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Just the show right this second. That’s the only thing that’s sure right at the moment. I’m just doing the fourth season of Heroes right now. There are things in the works. I’ve been very involved with pitching projects, meaning going to the studios for my own development, developing it either from a book or from just an idea. We’ve developed some TV shows and produced them.

Q: As a producer only or do you want to direct?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I would love to direct at some point. Directing is something I would very definitely want to take a major break from acting to do because you have to live with the project for so long afterwards and I wouldn’t want to spread myself too thin. I would want to dedicate my time and my energy to that and eventually maybe down the road that will happen.

Q: Why are you attracted to the high school cheerleader roles? What kind of scripts have you received lately and what are you interested in doing right now?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Frankly, it has fallen in my lap. That’s about it. It’s literally just been that it’s just happened that way and it was not planned. It was not something that I ever sought out. It was just the way the cards fell. I’m really excited to see what comes. I have no idea. I’m not going to try and guess. I just want to be surprised and excited and all that good stuff.

Q: Are you tired of your character on Heroes? You’ve been with the character for 4 years now. It seems that the show goes up and down. Would you like to let go of your character now?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Well, it’s all different. It’s movies or film, television and theater. There are great aspects and bad aspects to both. Movies, it’s great because you get to play all these different characters. You never get tired of one thing and you get to travel and it’s a much bigger world. With TV, I’ve gotten to spend almost 4 years in a character and really gotten to know her, really developed her myself, kind of grew up with her in the beginning. Yeah, I’m excited to do other things but I also do love what I do, and then theater is great because you have the same layout every single night doing it but you get to perfect it and live with it every single time and try to make it fresh and new every time. It’s just a different aspect of acting.

Q: How much fun is acting? Because you’ve been doing it for so long, is the fantastic fun of it still there for you?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: Oh absolutely. I would not put myself through this if it wasn’t. I don’t mean *this* (referring to the film, I Love You, Beth Cooper). I mean the misspelled tattoos and the ‘can’t walk down the street to get a cup of coffee without 5, 10 cameras in your face.’ It really is a very invasive industry and the line between your work and play is so blurred if not non-existent that it’s tough. It does, I’m not going to lie. It makes it hard to live, but I’m not sitting there and going “Oh woe is me, my life is terrible.” People get this idea in their head that what we do isn’t hard and it is. It’s work. Do I want to get up every morning and go to set? No. There are some times where I’m like “I just really don’t want to go to work today,” but I love what I do.

Q: What did you enjoy most about making this?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: The most fun part? I always enjoy the traveling, the working with new people, and eventually down the road, what you wind up learning from those people that you may not realize right off the bat. Every time I work with somebody and travel to a different place, your experiences create who you are and I may not be able to tell you right now who I am but down the road I’ll get to look back and go “Oh, that’s who I was and I was that because of X, Y and Z. I was that because of all the wonderful experiences and roles that I’ve played and people I’ve gotten to work with and places I’ve traveled. It’s not too shabby.

Q: Why do you think Heroes has struggled with the fans?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I don’t know. I think it set a very high bar for itself and it’s very scrutinized now because of just the demand of what…you know…it’s not an easy crowd to please all the time but I still enjoy watching the show.

Q: What about your work with the Whaleman Foundation and Isabel Lucas? Have you kept in touch with Isabel?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I haven’t seen her in a while but she’s doing great.

Q: (joking) She’s in a very low budget movie that’s coming out this week.

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: (Laughs) Oh yeah. It’s called Transformers or something like that?

Q: Why do you think Heroes is struggling with the fans?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I don’t know. I think it set a very high bar for itself and I think it’s very scrutinized now because of just the demand of what…you know, it’s not an easy crowd to please all the time, but I still enjoy watching the show.

Q: Will you be at Comic-Con again this year?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I think so. Maybe.

Q: You went to Japan. How was it?

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: I loved it. It was incredible. It’s a beautiful, beautiful country with lots of great, great people.

“I Love You, Beth Cooper” opens in theaters on July 10th.