Did you identify with your character, Melanie Carmichael?
Yeah, definitely. The thing I loved about this script was that I think every young person goes through the process of rejecting their upbringing, rejecting their parents, or having that sort of shame about where you're from - whether it be how much money you had or the city you're from. I like that idea of someone having to come back and make peace with who they really are and accept it.

Have you been through that?
Oh, yeah. Growing up, I was embarrassed to tell people I was from Tennessee. I'd be laughed at and ridiculed at camp and things.

Have people from home ever reacted to your Hollywood success the way they do in this movie?
No. I think the thing that was good about my starting so young in this business was that people in my hometown got very acclimated to the fact that I was going to be doing this for a living. I started when I was 14, so I would go away during summers and come back. They would see my picture in things and watch the movies, and we'd all go see them together. It really created a real sense of normalcy for me. I think it initiated them to what my life was going to be like. I think they're all really used to it. I go back home and everybody treats me the same.

Was the world of this film similar to the one you grew up in?
Yeah, similar.

Like the civil war re-enactment?
Yes. I actually grew up going to those. Every year we went out to Franklin, Tennessee and revisited the Battle of Franklin. We were actually shooting during the reenactment. Andy [Tennant], Josh [Lucas] and Patrick [Dempsey] were all standing out there going, "This is ridiculous. Can you believe this?" I was like, "Yeah, I do this all the time." I'm used to that stuff.

What will people back home think of their portrayal in "Sweet Home Alabama?"
I feel pretty good about it, being a Southern person. I was very conscientious about it in the jokes that we made, but I think it's important to celebrate the eccentricities of Southern people because they are very funny and very comedic. My family's hysterical. But also that it represents the great thing about being Southern which is the morality, the sense of values, [and] the sense of caring about your neighbor.

Do you exaggerate your natural Southern accent in this film?
I just had to kind of pick back up where I left off. It helped that my brother was with me as my driver on this movie, so he and I would fight every morning on the way to work. It always comes out when I'm a little bit angry.

Do you slip in and out of different accents?
I wish I could hold onto that "Earnest" accent. It was really, really hard for me to get and I worked six weeks, three hours a day, every day, on it. I'm about to go do another movie after "Legally Blonde 2" where I have to do an English accent and I'm nervous about it. It's hard.

How was shooting in New York after 9/11?
It was interesting. There was a different vibe in the city; it was very quiet. I had done the first "Saturday Night Live" after 9/11, which was really tense. It was a really tense experience because I was nervous because I'd never done "Saturday Night Live" and I was already booked to go. Then 9/11 happened and first of all, I didn't want to travel with my family and then I also was like, "What's funny? What's funny right now?" But Lorne Michaels called me and said, "It's really important that we get out there and we laugh. We're not going to be overly sappy."

I don't think it's really entertainers' place to sit and cry on national television about things. People can cry on their own and it's a private thing, but it doesn't make me feel better to see a celebrity cry about the things I'm already sad about. So, we went in there with a mission to make people laugh and hopefully shed a little positivity on the situation. Rudy Giulliani was there and I got to talk to him and I got to talk to some of the Port Authority people and some of the firemen. It really helped me think, "Oh great, I'm glad we're starting to be here and laugh," because everybody was so thrilled that "Saturday Night Live" had gone on and that they were honoring the spirit of New York and showing that New York is still a safe place to be and a good place to go.

What was it like to work with Candice Bergen?
I was asking her for advice the whole time. She's great. I mean, she's had an amazing career. To have done the dramatic work that she did and also the comedic work, I mean, she's so hysterical but she's also a babe. She's just a babe and we were all like every time she'd leave her trailer, like God, could she get any prettier?

Do romantic comedies set an unrealistic standard for real relationships?
I don't think people look to romantic comedies as measuring sticks of their own lives. I think it's entertainment.

It should be.
Well, it is. I certainly wouldn't want to be like any of my characters. It's nice to watch for a couple hours. I think this character really represents a certain realism, too. She's fallible. She has faults. She gets drunk and tells everybody off. She's ashamed. She has guilt and embarrassment in her life. I don't think it's necessarily this perfect positive character. That's why I liked it. It has its ups and downs, all the characters do. They're very realistic.