With a professional career that is somehow nearing 40 years, Heather Graham has taken time to reflect on some of the most famous roles throughout her run in Hollywood, from crushes on one of the Coreys to her first nude scene to shoving her tongue in Mike Myers’ mouth.
Speaking with Yahoo!, Heather Graham took the time to pinpoint what made many of her roles so special to her, beginning with one of the first credited roles of her career (so, sorry, no Twins talk). On 1988’s License to Drive, Heather Graham said there were plenty of drugs going around the Two Coreys but “it was a great introduction to being in a film. [Haim and Feldman] were both really talented.”
The following year, Heather Graham delivered an Independent Spirit Award-nominated supporting turn in Gus Van Sant’s Drugstore Cowboy, a production she said “was very exciting, because outside of the studio system there were these independent features that would tell all these interesting, creative, unusual stories.” Even more unusual fare like Twin Peaks (and Fire Walk With Me) followed, but the career of Heather Graham would change forever with her appearance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights.
On Boogie Nights, Heather Graham remembered one of the movie’s most famous scenes, in which her Rollergirl first strips so she can give porn recruit Dirk Diggler a go. “That was my first time [doing a nude scene], and I was so nervous about it. But at that point in my career I was also like, ‘Beggars can’t be choosers.’ It was a great script and Paul was an amazing talent. I had a great time making that movie even though it was terrifying doing a nude scene.” That moment undoubtedly propelled Heather Graham’s career to the next level.
A bonafide sex symbol, Heather Graham became the leading lady for the first time in her career with the Austin Powers sequel The Spy Who Shagged Me, playing Felicity Shagwell and proudly going toe-to-toe (or rather tongue-to-tongue) with star Mike Myers. Although far outside of the spotlight she had in the ‘90s and early 2000s, Graham has at least been a consistent presence, continuing to headline features more than 35 years since her first credited role.
What is your favorite Heather Graham movie and performance in her entire career? Let us know in the comments section below!