Well, that’s finally done with! HQ screencaps of Nick and Norah, along with pictures from the storyboard. :)
We also have something else that Sandra pointed out; a piece from The New York Times Online called Great Performers, which has a short commentary on Kat, an article Catherine Keener wrote on Kat, along with four gorgeous photographs by Paolo Pellegrin. If you don’t know who Catherine Keener is, she played Kat’s mom in The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Great Performers
“We try to spotlight individuals who are not as well known, and this year, that is Kat Dennings. She is in the movie “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” and she first caught our eye when she played Catherine Keener’s daughter in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” Despite the fact that she is an actress who has a burgeoning career and has been featured in magazines as up-and-coming, she still lives with her parents in the carriage house behind their house, and she doesn’t know how to drive – her mother has arranged for her to have a car service so that she can get to and from auditions and parties and wherever she needs to be. She has the qualities of being both a very young girl and very sophisticated at the same time. She’s not an actress that’s intensively trying to be seen by the tabloids, and she has a kind of vulnerability about her that makes her very, very interesting.”
Catherine Keener on Kat Dennings
I’m not sure when I first met Kat Dennings. She played my daughter in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” and one day, we were having a read-through of the script and I looked over and there was this lovely girl. I thought, Who is this girl? She was kind of lit up from within. When someone is that beautiful, it’s great when they’re funny too, and from the beginning, Kat had her own rhythm: a way of being funny and emotional at the same time.
A lot of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” was shot like a controlled improvisation. Anything and everything was welcome, and the director, Judd Apatow, never yelled “cut.” It took me a while to get used to that style of working, but Kat was a natural. In one scene her character, who is anxious to give up her virginity, is battling with me. As her mom, I don’t want her to grow up too fast. Kat’s character is in the bathroom, crying, and I’m outside the door with Steve Carell, who played my boyfriend. Kat was just screaming at me — cursing and yelling and calling me all kinds of names that were not in the script. I was thrown and I turned to Steve and I said, “I don’t know what she’s talking about.” Even though it was improvised, Judd kept that line in the movie — I clearly sounded like a frustrated mom and it was all due to Kat’s rant.
During the shoot, I looked out for Kat. I think we all did. I was protective of her and I stayed in touch with her after the movie was finished. It’s tough on young girls in Hollywood — it’s easy to fall into the tabloid culture. But that’s not what she’s made of. Kat has beauty and youth and talent, but there’s something else that sets her apart: she’s comfortable being different.
Catherine Keener has received two Academy Award nominations for best supporting actress, for “Being John Malkovich” in 2000 and “Capote” in 2006.
Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos, for The New York Times.
