When I meet Kate Bosworth in a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, it’s about 15 minutes prior to kickoff of the New England Patriots divisional playoff game against the Tennessee Titans. Since Bosworth grew up on the south shore of Massachusetts, I attempt to establish a rapport by mentioning how impressed I’ve been by Pats quarterback Tom Brady and the inspired coaching of Bill Belichick.
But Bosworth, the talented young star of “Blue Crush” and the new comedy “Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!” isn’t aware that Belichick recently won Coach of The Year honors, or that Tom Brady isn’t related to Greg and Marcia, or even that the Patriots are in the playoffs. She did, however, immediately flash a smile that could light up Gillette Stadium, and even offered me a stick of cinnamon chewing gum. That was all the rapport this scribe needed. So with that, it was on to the questions: QUESTION: Rosalee Futch, your character in “Tad Hamilton,” is hopelessly in love with matinee idol Tad Hamilton. Who was your first celebrity crush?
KATE BOSWORTH: I guess Brad Pitt was the first guy that made me go, “Wow!” (Sighs) Yeah, he was the one.
Q: Did you get along well with co-stars Topher Grace and Josh Duhamel?
KB: They’re “guys” guys, but really nice guys as well. Nobody had an ego. Everybody was so sweet. It was fun because we’re all kind of young, so we were learning and growing and making good and bad decisions together. It was a great experience for us, getting to work with Sean Hayes and Nathan Lane, who are veteran comedic actors.
Q: What’s it like to see yourself up on the screen? KB: It was really weird the first time, because I sat there listening to myself and I thought “Is that what I sound like?”
But this film, well, she was such a character for me that I was able to just sit back and enjoy it. It’s difficult, though, that first time because you are so on edge.
Q: Have you ever watched something you’ve done and wished you could have a do-over?
KB: Oh yeah, all the time. I’m not going to give you specific moments because that wouldn’t be fair to other people, but I will tell you that it happens quite a bit.
Q: You recently celebrated your 21st birthday. Do things feel differently now that you’re of legal drinking age?
KB: They feel pretty good, actually. Twenty was kind of difficult because it was a transition year. There were growing pains associated with not quite wanting to be an adult or a teenager. Twenty-one makes me feel like I’m coming into my own.
Q: I read somewhere that you may be enrolling in college soon to study psychology.
KB: Where did you read that? Q: Why, is it not true? KB: No, I might go back to school. It’s just, I wonder where they get this stuff sometimes.
Q: Have you been surprised by something you’ve read about yourself before?
KB: Well, here’s one I always wondered about: When I went to the audition for “The Horse Whisperer,” they asked me to bring a picture. Obviously, they wanted an 8x10 professional headshot, but I didn’t understand that. So I brought a Christmas card picture — a little 4x6 job that I threw on the stack with all the actors’ headshots. Years later, when “Blue Crush” came out, I read about the Christmas card picture in a story about me, and I was, like, how in the world did they find out about that?
Q: You learned to surf for your role in “Blue Crush.” Do you still take the board out from time to time?
KB: I really don’t, because the training schedule for that movie was so intense that I still associate surfing with work. I enjoyed it, but I went from surfing to making “Wonderland,” which was totally different, so surfing kind of got left behind.
Q: Finally, how do you feel about Boston now that you’ve relocated to LA?
KB: You know what I love about Boston? It’s real. With all the superficiality that LA can embody, being in Boston always brings me back to reality. And it’s a great, great thing to have that.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 23, 2004. Read the original PDF.