Celebrity Interviews

7 Questions with Jessica Biel

Jessica Biel in The Cinema Society Hosts A Screening Of

Actress Jessica Biel attends a screening of "Easy Virtue" hosted by The Cinema Society and The Wall Street Journal with Jaeger-Lecoultre and Brooks Brothers at the AMC Loews 19th Street East on May 11, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jessica Biel (Getty Images)more pics »Jessica Biel was once declared the sexiest woman alive by Esquire magazine. Then she told Marie Claire that her beauty keeps her from getting the really great movie roles. High class problems. Easy Virtue doesn’t seem so bad. She plays an American race car driver who clashes cultures with her soon to be mother-in-law. She’ll be lucky if Mrs. Timberlake lets her off that easy.

Zimbio: Have you ever had to deal with a boyfriend’s difficult mother?
Jessica Biel: Oh, sure, yeah. I mean, a long, long, long time ago, but you can't please everybody and I think you just really have to remember that. I think there are two ways to think on this one. You can just be confident being you, and if you don't like me, too bad. Or you kind of do what Larita did. You try. I think that's what I would do. I think I would give my best effort to try to be accommodating and respectful, but I would definitely keep my integrity and who I am. I wouldn’t be pushed around by someone in a ridiculous sort of scenario. But I also don't think that I would start a war with someone's mother.

Zimbio: You’ve said your beauty sometimes keeps you from getting the roles you want. What are you too pretty to do?
Jessica Biel: I'm always trying to do new things, different things simply so that I don’t become bored. I want to do something that I haven't done before. I want to try something that's scary or challenging. So, yes, I'm constantly looking and searching for something hard. What is going to literally scare me to death? Okay, I should do that. Sometimes I don't get in the room. That's frustrating, to not be seen for whatever reason. That's very frustrating. I always feel like you just want one chance. I want my time in court, like, “This is what I've got. You don't want it? Fine. That's cool. I understand that but at least let me have a shot.”

Zimbio: Would you take a movie just to work with someone awesome, like De Niro, regardless of the script?
Jessica Biel: Hmm…No. No, I wouldn’t. I was actually looking at this Robert De Niro film just the other day and there was so much nudity in it, that I was just like, “I can’t do this. Damn!” There are so many elements that you have to think about, and it took me a long time to really, finally say no to that one.

Zimbio: Would you ever do a movie with your boyfriend, Justin Timberlake?
Jessica Biel: If it was the right thing, yeah. Yeah, I would. I don’t know what the right thing is though, and you have to be really careful about it once you go there, [because] you really are opening your life.

Zimbio: But you’ve been good at keeping the paparazzi away so far.
Jessica Biel: We just don’t do anything. We don’t do anything interesting. We just hang out at home.

Zimbio: The new Maxim Hot 100 is out. How do you feel about your current ranking?
Jessica Biel: I actually don't know my current ranking. I don't care.

Jessica Biel in Celebrities Attending 'Easy Virtue' After Party

Zimbio: Well, I could tell you if you like.
Jessica Biel: Sure.

Zimbio: You’re 11.
Jessica Biel: Great. I'll take it.

Zimbio: How do you handle stress?
Jessica Biel: I'm very positive. I feel like I handle stress very well. I kind of just let things roll off and always find what's positive in a situation and how can I resolve it in a logical way. I'm probably not as cool under pressure. My heart would be pounding a million miles an hour if I was having a confrontation with that mother-in-law. But I can definitely see the positive and get through a tough situation pretty well.

Zimbio: You’ve done a couple of costume dramas. Do you feel like you were born to wear those old frocks?
Jessica Biel: I definitely did feel pretty wonderful in those clothes, but the thing about those clothes is that they're built for women's bodies. They're built to accentuate your waist and give you room in the hips and the legs and let you wear just a loose and beautiful silk, satin blouse. Everyone will feel beautiful in something like that. It was just such a wonderful time for women's clothing, I think, that suited a woman's body.

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