Entertainment Weekly - March 23, 2001

by Sandra P. Angulo

Don't expect Jennifer Love Hewitt to keep playing sweet, earnest girls next door like she did in ''Party of Five'' and ''I Know What You Did Last Summer.'' In ''Heartbreakers,'' she and Sigourney Weaver are a vampy mother - daughter con artist team who target rich men. And she just completed work on Alec Baldwin's directorial debut, a remake of ''The Devil and Daniel Webster.'' Hewitt's role: Satan herself.

EW.com talked to Hewitt, 22, about how she's taking charge of her grown up image, her fear of scary movies, and how she WON'T be asking Baldwin to sell his soul.

About that ''Heartbreakers'' movie poster, Jennifer: Is this your tribute to Julia Roberts in ''Erin Brockovich''?

It was fun! I thought it was hysterical that they thought I could remotely pull this character off, because I'm not that kind of woman. It took me a while to get comfortable with myself. The clothes I wear in this movie speak for themselves. She very much uses what God has given her to get what she wants in the world.

The trailer doesn't show it, but you have a big romance with Jason Lee (''Almost Famous''). How much fun was that?

We kiss in every scene, I think. All we do is kiss. In the middle of a scene, I asked, ''Are you sick of kissing me?'' And he said, ''Yeah, kind of.'' We're trigger happy with our lips. It was like kissing your male best friend. He's a John Cusack kind of guy, where you think he's goofy, cute, and, ''Omigod, I'm in love with you.'' He made me literally pee in my pants four times. Wait, let me back that up. He ALMOST made me pee in my pants. He does this thing where he turns himself into a human orangutan.

How did you and Sigourney get the mother - daughter chemistry down?

We spent every day for six or seven hours together in a tiny room rehearsing. I was able to learn a lot about my character by talking to Sigourney about her and her own daughter. It's like spending a lot of time with any girl. You bond. I don't think we talked about anything serious. Mostly stupid jokes, and laughing at [director] David Mirkin, or talking about the scenes. To be the daughter of the woman from ''Alien'' was so cool. I have such a tough mom.

Which ''Alien'' movie is your favorite?

Well, actually, I haven't seen them, because I'm terrified of scary movies. But I've seen parts of them and all of her kick-butt scenes, and that's what counts.

How did you survive making the ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' movies if you're such a big scaredy cat?

I know, it makes absolutely no sense. Part of the reason for doing the scary movies was to possibly get over the fear. And it worked, because now I'm a little bit better. I can go and not be as terrified. You have to understand, I'm a wimp. The scariest for me was ''The Shining,'' and ''In the Mouth of Madness,'' and ''The Omen'' I had never seen a scary movie before [making ''I Know What You Did''], so Freddie Prinze organized a movie fest.

Is the wave of teen horror movies over for you?

Yeah. And I hope my fans agree. I'm kind of at a weird age in the entertainment industry. It's like when you're 13, that's another weird age because they'll hire the 18 year olds to play your parts since they can work longer hours. You're stuck in the middle. I want to do ''My Best Friend's Wedding'' kind of movies, and you can't if people still consider you the ''teen scream queen'' type. That's why my roles as Audrey Hepburn [in the TV biopic] and in ''Heartbreakers'' and ''The Devil and Daniel Webster'' are characters that allowed me to be a little older.

You started a production company, Love Spell Entertainment. What kind of movies do you want to make?

I want to be able to make movies that people wouldn't expect from me. I don't want to make kid movies or stupid comedies. I want to do romantic stories, small epic dramas. I like having the opportunity to take chances and go from being Audrey Hepburn to being Satan. I was just telling Alec, ''I'm so nervous, because there's not a more exciting, complex character to play than Satan. What do I do now?'' And he said, ''Well, next you have to play God.''

Elizabeth Hurley tempted Brendan Fraser in ''Bedazzled.'' Is your devil like hers –- a sexy Satan?

Each of us has a different interpretation. Of course, when you have a woman devil, she's automatically going to be sexy, and we have these wild outfits that I wear. And in the very first scene there's some seducing that goes on. My Satan uses her powers in every way that she can, which requires some controlling, sexy behavior, but it's not like I'm in a bikini or that I'm like, ''Here's my boob, now sign the contract giving me your soul.''