Together for a press conference in LA to discuss the Lionsgate film, Kutcher and Heigl talked about the action, the comedy, and the good and bad of keeping secrets in relationships.
Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl Killers Press Conference
What was the appeal for each of you to do this film?Ashton Kutcher: "My character in the film is a guy who starts out in this extraordinary place with this extraordinary profession. When he meets the right person, he decides that he just wants a normal life, and it’s a life that he doesn’t necessarily get to have. For me, I found that I was connected to that. Also, when I read the script, I had been looking for a movie like this, that was a two-hander and that was a fun, entertaining action-comedy. I thought I was going to find it in a buddy cop movie with two guys. And then when I read this script, I realized that this kind of movie hadn’t been made in a while and I felt like we could have a really good time doing it, and make a really entertaining film."
Katherine Heigl: "I’ve obviously been doing a few romantic comedies, and what I loved about this particular romantic comedy was that it had the added element of action, so it was a slightly different take on the formula. Although I love the formula and I will continue, hopefully until I’m too old to do them, to do romantic comedies, this just had an energy and this thing that made it unique."
"I loved being the broad character to Ashton’s straight guy. It was really fun to not be the straight guy for a change, and Ashton made it really fun and easy to do that. When I saw the movie, I was very entertained and that’s hard to do when you’re in it because that takes you out of it. With this movie, I just had such a good time watching it and thought, 'That’s exactly what we were going for. I love it!'”
Everybody in this movie has secrets. Do you think it’s a good idea to sometimes keep secrets in a relationship, or should you never do that?
Ashton Kutcher: "I firmly believe that it’s a good idea to keep secrets. I think it depends on who the secret is benefiting. If, at the end of the day, you’re the person that’s benefiting from the secret, or you’re hiding something and you’re the one who has something at stake, then you should probably tell it. If the secret is benefiting the other person, maybe you should keep it."
Katherine Heigl: "That’s probably far more profound than anything I could say. Unfortunately, I have a very difficult time keeping secrets, which is evident in any interview with me you ever read. So, I don’t really have any - and I don’t think my husband does. I think that it’s okay. I think that everybody has a right to their own thoughts, their own feelings and their own private moments, if they want them. If my husband had a second wife in Spain, that would probably be too big a secret to keep. But if he’s using Rogaine, that’s okay. He doesn’t have to tell me."
How do you know that you’ve met the right person?
Katherine Heigl: "It starts with a tingle in your toes."
Ashton Kutcher: "I don’t know. I really think that you have to find a partner that compliments you and is somebody that pushes you and is better at some things than you are, so they can push you to improve yourself as a person. That’s my take."
Katherine Heigl: "I think the exact opposite. I think it’s better to find somebody who’s worse at everything than you. It just makes you constantly feel so good about yourself. And then, you can constantly talk about how good you are at everything, and how terrible they are at everything. No. I agree, for sure, with Ashton. My husband is better at most everything than I am."
"What I loved about this film in particular was that with Jen and Spencer, Spencer is a sophisticated guy who has seen the world and done all these things that are beyond her understanding or reality, and she’s just dorky. She doesn’t know she’s dorky, but she just is. She’s living in her own skin. She has a moment where she tries to be sophisticated to match this amazing man that she’s met, and then she gives it up pretty quickly - and that’s ultimately what he loves about her. That is certainly my relationship. What makes it so spectacularly wonderful is that my husband loves all the things that everyone else would find ridiculous, silly or dorky. That’s when you know you’ve found the right person."
Ashton, did you actually try to grow your own Tom Selleck mustache for the film?
Ashton Kutcher: "I have been trying to grow that mustache since I could grow facial hair. I believe that Tom produces more testosterone in his little finger than I produce in my entire body. My face doesn’t do that. I’m so enamored by Tom’s facial hair that I would say Tom’s mustache is akin to Chuck Norris’ beard. That’s a great thing. I can’t grow a mustache. It’s pretty sad, if I attempt to."
What was it like to do the fighting and the stunts in this film?
Ashton Kutcher: "I do have a stunt person. I’m not as awesome as Tom Cruise. I don’t jump through glass. I didn’t participate in that. My stunt guy went to the hospital twice for jumping through glass. I did jump off a boat and I did most of the fight stuff. I bought one of those exercise DVDs off the TV. I put it in and watched it, and got in shape. I did some fight training. I learned Krav Maga, Muay Thai and Kali, which is a Filipino knife fighting. And then I realized that I should have learned how to movie fight because on the first fight scene, I knocked out a stunt guy. That was a bad ordeal. We were doing that scene on the boat, and we were on a yacht in the wind. He threw a punch and I blocked it, and then punched him and knocked him out. I felt really bad about that. And then I kicked Rob [Riggle] in the face. I hurt a lot of people. I should have just let the stunt guy do everything, to be honest, and stuck to just making jokes."
