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This site was created February 16, 1997
It was last updated June 1, 2001 

These are some online articles about Rachael that I have found. Some include interviews and articles on some of the films she has done. Enjoy!  
 

"Teen Movieline: Rachael Leigh Cook"
Dennis Hensley
http://www.dennishensley.com/RachaelLeighCook.htm

Even though she's been in over a dozen movies and done the attendant publicity, Rachael Leigh Cook has never posed for a magazine spread with her hands over her breasts. "Everyone has done that but me," she says with a shrug. "Sorry."

"Are you ever going to do that?" I ask.

"No," she says casually.

Could I have just stumbled upon secret of Cook's specialness? That elusive inner something that kept us sticking around to see how the prom turned out in She's All That even though we've been to that dance a zillion times before? That rare combination of knowingness and innocence that has everyone from Sylvester Stallone to Jane Austen wanting in on the action? I mean, what if she were to do the hand over breast pose, would it all go away? Would she become just like all the other three-named starlets, cock-teasing us into the new millennium? I can't let that happen.

"Promise me you won't do it," I implore. "Even if they ask you to."

"I promise," she says raising up her delicate hand as if to swear. "My rule for movies and pictures is, if I can't sit at the premiere with my father next to me, I won't do it." That's our girl! "I mean, the Bikini cover I did recently, it's not gonna be the family Christmas card but I'm okay with it and I think he will be too. I'm just waiting for somebody to take my head and put it on somebody else's body. I have no problem with that because, most likely, they're going to help me out a little bit."

All this is not to say that we wouldn't want to see Rachael Leigh Cook doff her kit and turn up in Basic Instinct 2: Has Anybody Seen My Panties. I'm sure it would be quite pleasant. It's just we like her the way she is. Right now. We like the way she mows down a lunchtime breakfast here at Jerry's, the San Fernando Valley deli where the Seinfeld cast used to nosh after work. We like the way her silky hair falls around her face and her brown eyes light up when she talks about her pubbing adventures in London. We even like her blue polyester slacks, the ones she bought used from the men's section of a thrift store and had altered to fit. "I'm sure they picked up a lot of chicks in their past life," she quips.

Cook's off-hand way with a funny line was well showcased in She's All That. In fact, it was that droll deadpan quality that made us buy her as the bushy-browed, glasses-wearing misfit, Laney Boogs, even though we could tell from the get-go that she was just one makeover montage away from babedom. Pretty as she is, the movie worked because Cook had the inner-geek thing happening in spades. When Big Man On Campus Freddie Prinze, Jr., who had previously bet his buddies he could turn her into the prom queen, falls for Laney, we fall right along with him. She's All That may have been short on originality but it was long on charm.

Were you surprised that She's All That was a big hit?

Totally. But when I started thinking about it, it made sense. I mean, I love those feel-good movies from the 80s. You don't want to know how many times I've seen The Breakfast Club.

Who did you relate to?

All of them. Like when I go down the red carpet and people make you feel like you're important, I'm Molly Ringwald. Then when I fall down in front of some cute guy, I'm Anthony Michael Hall.

And when you shake the lice out of your hair and onto a piece of notebook paper...

I'm Ally Sheedy. (Laughs) I'm telling you, I can't buy the video because then it will be too easily accessible to me. I have to have the barrier of having to get in my car to go to the video store to keep me from watching it at all hours of the day.

She's All That climaxed with a prom. Did you go to yours?

No. No one asked me and I was working. It was weird because I think only one of us in the movie had ever been to a prom. I remember it was about eight o' clock in the morning and we were all riding in the elevator up to the set and Paul Walker said, "This is weird, I'm nervous." I said, "I know what you mean." It was like we were really going to the prom.

Do you ever feel like you missed out on the typical teenage experiences?

Sometimes. When I was 15 and shooting Tom and Huck, my mom and I had just gone to a movie and there were all these teenagers out in the parking lot throwing ice at each other and laughing and I hadn't been around anything like that in over a year. While I didn't want ice thrown at me, I felt so much like I was supposed to want that. It was a little overwhelming.

Rachael Leigh Cook was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of both Prince ("I think we're the same size") and professional wrestler-turned politician Jesse Ventura ("My governor could kick your governor's ass") not to mention the setting The Mary Tyler Moore Show ("There's always some yahoo tourist throwing their hat in the air by the building they used."). Her father is a social worker who counsels at-risk or abused kids. Her mother works free-lance for a Think Tank-type company. Cook has one younger brother, after whom she named her production company: Ben's Sister Productions.

The spotlight first beckoned to Cook at age nine, when she would gaze at the department store ads in the Sunday newspaper and wish that she was in on the fun. Before long, she was, modeling in a slew of print campaigns. It was during this time, while posing with a cocker spaniel for the Milk Bone dog biscuit box for mid-sized dogs, that Cook got her first taste of difficult co-stars. "The dog kept drooling and squirming," she recalls. "It was so bad that they had to shoot him separately because it looked like I was trying to strangle him." At 14, Cook played the lead in a short film in Minneapolis, which got her the attention of a Hollywood manager. At 15, she moved to Hollywood, leaving her family and friends back in Minnesota. "When I first moved out here I had a roommate," Cook says. "She was older, so I think my parents found some kind of solace in that but she was crazier than I was! I'm pretty conservative."

Soon she started landing features like The Babysitter's Club and Tom and Huck in which she played love interest to teen heartthrob Jonathan Taylor-Thomas. "That part got me a lot of hate male," she says. "Girls would write, 'I can't believe you kissed Jonathan Taylor-Thomas. I hate you. I hope you die'."

Through much of her early films, Cook had to contend with being compared to other actresses. She's been called the young Winona Ryder, been mistaken for Natalie Portman on the street and played younger versions of both Holly Hunter (Living Out Loud) and Parker Posey (The House of Yes). But thanks to the success of She's All That, Hollywood's dealing with Cook on her own terms. And she's got the offers to prove it. "People equate someone making money with like, 'Oh, she's good,'" figures Cook, who will soon be seen in a trio of new films. "Hey, I'll take what I can get."

Tell me about the movie you just finished shooting in England called Blow Dry.

It's from the writer of The Full Monty and it's about the world of competition hair dressing and it's really funny. I play an aspiring colorist, and I become the unwitting hair model of my father who has a hair studio in London. He's a "win at all costs" type of person and we're kind of the bad guys. He gets me cheating in the competition.

How can you cheat in a hair competition?

Like we switch all the combs backstage so as soon as everyone turns on their hair dryers all the combs melt except for my dad's.

Do you have insane hairdos?

Yeah, and they're all wigs, because my hair wouldn't do that stuff. At one point, there's like there's a chandelier in my hair with all these jewels and pieces. Usually, on a film, you'll be in the hair trailer and the A.D. will be like, "We need Rachael on set. This is not a movie about her hair, get her out here!" but this time it was about hair.

Do you play English or American?

I was English until the last minute. I got a call from the director and I said, "Yeah, I start voice coaching tomorrow. It should be fun," and he said "Oh, there's one other thing...you're American. Talk to you tomorrow, bye!"

Were you relieved?

No, I wanted to do it because I wanted to DO something. I just kind of hang out now, but it's a fun movie and a sweet part.

Josh Hartnett plays your love interest, right?

Yeah. It's kind of a Romeo and Juliet thing because our fathers are arch-rivals.

What's the most fun you had in England?

I can go out to clubs there. Here, I'm not old enough. Josh was in the flat above mine, so after work we'd be like, "Wanna get some pizza?" We'd just hang out. It's so funny because Josh and I went to the same high school, South High in North Minneapolis. We knew some of the same people, but we didn't know each other. I met him in LA a couple years ago.

Do you have a fake I.D.?

I used to. I got busted with it once at a club and I didn't really break it out after that. I really wanted to go in and the bouncer takes my I.D., looks at it for a minute, and then, in front of this whole big line of people goes, "This one is pretty good," and then starting laughing.

You're starting another movie soon, Get Carter with Sylvester Stallone. What's it about?

It's about this guy whose brother dies, semi-mysteriously, and he senses something's up and starts to look into it. I play a troubled teen, and you find out that I'm really Stallone's daughter.

Is there a lot of action in it?

Some. Mostly it's just, you know, people beating up other people with a cool line at the end.

Have you met Stallone?

No. I've just heard stories.

What kind of stories?

The ones I'm probably not supposed to tell you! (Laughs)

Then there's the western Texas Rangers.

Right. There's kind of a love triangle thing going on between me, James Vanderbeek and Ashton Kusher.

Texas Rangers is another Mirimax movie of which you've done several. Is working for the Weinstein Brothers little like working for family?

Is it like, "(Twists her arm around her back) So how do you like the script?" No, it's not. The truth is, I didn't think I wanted to do Blow Dry. I was like, 'Would you go to see a movie about hair dressers?'

Of course! You're asking the wrong guy.

(Laughs) But I started thinking, "This is funny and when was the last time Harvey Weinstein was wrong?" So I'll start arguing with him when he messes up and I don't think he's going to. I trust him. Plus, they got me the main role in Northanger Abbey, a Jane Austen movie which we're hopefully shooting this year. I'm extremely happy about that so I'll pretty much do whatever they say.

At the moment, Rachael Leigh Cook is single, having broken up with actor Shane West (from the new TV series Once and Again) a few months ago. She admits successfully juggling a romantic life with a career is something she hasn't quite figured out yet. "People are like, 'Well, stop dating actors,'" says Cook whose previous beau was also a TV actor, Ryder Strong from the sitcom Boy Meets World. "But most people don't understand like, 'Honey, this is really good, and I really love you, but I have to leave for four months, but I'll be back, I promise! Come visit me!' But Shane is a really good guy."

If you like someone are you good at flirting with them?

It depends how much I like them. If I kind of like them, no problem. But if I'm like, "This person is really cool," then I'm not very good.

What's the most you've embarrassed yourself in front of a guy?

Well I wasn't trying to pick him up I was at the yogurt shop and my friend starts talking to Jeff Goldblum, and he asked how old I was, and I said, "18 1/2!" Jeff just looked at me like I was smoking so much crack.

What's been your wackiest star encounter?

When I was shooting this movie Strike in Toronto, we were having like a girl's night slumber party in one of the rooms and I had to go down to my room to get something. It was really late, and I was just in my pajamas, but I thought, "It's just three floors, who could possibly be in the elevator at this hour?" I get in and it's like, "Oh no! That's Marilyn Manson right there, isn't it?" And I'm in my boxer shorts.

Who's been your most surprising admirer?

Well, Jeff, my manager -- who also seems to think that he's my pimp -- corners Luke Wilson on a plane and he was like, "Oh, I'm just meeting my client Rachael Cook" and Luke's like, "Oh yeah, I saw that She's All Right movie," and I'm just thinking, "What's this respected 28-year-old actor doing watching She's All That?" Not to bash it, it's just not his demographic.

Do you ever meet Luke?

We ended up meeting for drinks and the subject of someone's age came up and I was like "Uh-oh, it's coming," and he's like, "So how old are you?" I told him I was 20, and he goes, "I've got almost a decade on ya." And I'm thinking, "Well, there goes that."

What is the lamest audition you ever had?

The one that stands out was at CBS. I was meeting this guy and I come in and trip over something, myself, and spill coffee all over the rug, all over the floor, on the wall, everywhere. And the worst part is that it wasn't even this guy's office. He was borrowing it because they were painting his. So I go back the next week -- I had another meeting with another guy -- and this new guy goes, "Just come in my office" and it's the stain office! And we're having a good time, just talking, and he's got these little antique figurines on his desk and I picked one up and I accidentally snapped its arm off! And I'm like "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," and he goes "Don't worry about it. Last week some girl was in here and spilled coffee all over the place!" I was so mortified. You don't even know.

Did you act like it wasn't you?

Yeah. I was like, "That bitch! Some people!" (Laughs)

Have you ever thrown a star tantrum?

No. I get most fed up when people do things for me. I'm notorious on set for having the drivers take off their seat belts and have the door half open while the cars still running so they can be on the other side so I don't open my door. I don't like people going out of their way to do stuff for me. Some people think that just cause I'm a little white girl from Minnesota who looks 15, that I can't handle myself. But I can.

The next time I see Rachael Leigh Cook is a few days later at the Hollywood Reporter Young Star Awards, where she picks up the trophy for Best Young Actress in a Film Comedy for She's All That. In true inner-geek fashion, she's turned up not with a brooding actor, but with a charming middle-aged chap with an ear-to-ear grin: her father. "It makes me laugh how much fun this is for him," she says, of the man who saw She's All That four times. "There's a ton of other people who would rather be somewhere else right now and my dad's just having the best time." Cook's looking particularly glam tonight, sporting a sleek black pantsuit she picked up in London with impeccable hair and makeup, but she can't really take credit for it. She came directly from a cover shoot for the American magazine Details. "They wanted me to do the hands-over-the-breasts shot," she informs me. "They gave me these gloves and everything." Oh my God, she didn't. She couldn't have."But I said, 'I promised someone two days ago that I wouldn't do that.' So I didn't." That's our girl. All That and true to her word.

--Dennis Hensley

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