Katherine Heigl Rejects Emmy Possibility, Slams "Grey's" Material

LOS ANGELES — Katherine Heigl won't be chewing her manicure at this year's Emmy ceremony: She says she didn't seek a nomination because "Grey's Anatomy" failed to deliver the goods for an award-worthy performance.

Heigl, who was honored as best supporting actress in a drama last year for the ABC series, declined to put her name in consideration for a bid, a spokeswoman for the actress said Wednesday.

"I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization" decided against competing, Heigl said in a written statement provided by her publicist, Melissa Kates, who was contacted by the AP.

"In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials," added Heigl. She plays Dr. Izzie Stevens on "Grey's Anatomy," which slipped in the ratings this past season but remained a top 10 show.

An after-hours message left with a publicist for "Grey's Anatomy" creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes was not immediately returned Wednesday night.

Heigl, who shot to box-office success last summer with the comedy "Knocked Up," has established herself as one of Hollywood's rare voices of candor.

In a Vanity Fair magazine interview published in January, she called the hit film "a little sexist" and said that it painted women as "shrews, as humorless and uptight," while the male characters were lovable and goofy.

Heigl also was outspoken when "Grey's" castmates Isaiah Washington and T.R. Knight clashed last year over Washington's alleged use of a homophobic slur.

"I'm going to be really honest right now, he needs to just not speak in public. Period," Heigl said at one point of Washington, who ended up being booted from the medical drama.

Nominations for the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced July 17. The ceremony is Sept. 21.

Comments

[walk0nwalls]

Hey people: get over it.

Katie has a brain, she knows her show sucks. She also knows Knocked up was slightly sexist, which it was. She calls it like she sees it.

And let me reiterate: GREY'S SUCKS. It is a GLORIFIED SOAP OPERA, and those of you who are attacking her just because "oh my god, but I LOVE McDreamy" have such fundamentally bad taste in entertainment it's all kind of embarassing.

[rmetz74]

I like Grey's for what it is... Soapy distraction.

It's just amazing how upset people get when a celebrity breaks the Hollywood fakery rules and tells the slightly unpleasant truth.

And how much joy people get out of anonymously insulting strangers.

[NorthernMan]

stop expecting good things out of TV. If you want good material write it yourself. She didn't want to insult the academy? it's TV, lighten up. Go do dinner theatre. You knew what it was when you read the pilot. You make TV and then make one movie a year that is a great career. This movie you're producing about the Latter day saints girl better be the greatest thing ever written. You're not curing cancer, just shut up and read your lines. Soapy distraction is what it is.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

I don't know how anybody can make themselves sit through more than 5 minutes of Grey's Anatomy.

Mad Men - that's a show worth watching.

[MiraMcB]

Very attractive girl. I've enjoyed the performances I've seen. I think she's behaving like a kamikazi pilot with her career. You can only pull stunts like this just so many times and you can stick a fork in. Seems that she wants out of her contract to go on to bigger and better things on the big screen. Think again, Katherine. People you "may" work with in movies won't find that behaviour any more attractive than the people you HAVE worked with in TV. Take a page out of George Clooney's book. Graciously finish your obligations, fit in what you can in the off season and bow out gracefully at the end of your contract.

[slobone]

I stopped watching when I figured out it was going to be "Ally McBeal, MD"...

[gloriar8]

I live in Hollywood. She's PISSED of a lot of people. It's not like she an a-lister. Hmmm, I wonder if the she give the money she earned, back for such a poor performance?

[westminster]

Never did like her. She trashes Isaiah Washington on Grey's and she herself was no actress. She is an ungrateful you know what.

[MiraMcB]

She didn't trash him, she just said he should keep his mouth shut and she was right about that.

[rmetz74]

And if you're looking for someone with a truly terrible reputation in Hollywood, look for Isaiah Washington. Katherine Heigl doesn't even come close.

[Plus15]

Bye Bye Katherine your five minutes are up.

You can be sure that if she sought professional advice before this current comment she would have been told exactly what she told Isaiah Washinton "I'm going to be really honest right now, you need to just not speak in public. Period,"

Since she is paid very good money to appear in film and TV where they expect her to promote the product/the film as part of her responsibilities, she has proved herself Worthless. It's not smarts, It's not candor, it's not honesty it is utter stupidity and beyond insulting to her coworkers.

I'm sure now that they've been publicly trashed the writers on her show will be well motivated and write her some Shakespearian or Tennessee Williams type material for next season, yeah sure.

When you think about it, it's just like Kobe Bryant that great teammate screaming at his fellow Lakers and inspiring their lousy performance.


Wonder if her childhood report cards notified her parents that "Katherine does not work well with others".

You can put her on the short list for an engagement in the next year or two on Celebrity Rehab.


By the way I hear Hef just offered her a nude Playboy spread because he figures that othwerwise she's about done.

[zann]

Who cares what she says behind the scenes. I know my place- in front of the screen glancing up from my computer (screen) once in a while at my daughter's favorite show. In fact, she and her friends (7th grade) probably help write it. Bailey's a great character though, the only one I'd trust as a doctor. The character of Izzy is way too flaky and emotional to have gotten through medical school. She's the last thing that show needs in its fight to pin reality. Heigl was more glance-up-worthy in Knocked up, but she came across as too stuck up to fall for that goofy guy. Maybe she'd be believable as somebody more like herself, though I doubt that would be worth any glance at all.

[cBc]

I felt the exact same way..poor material has prevented me from watching it...ever.

[Underthematrix]

WORD!!

[phoenics]

Wow - I thought she was horrible when she basically torpedoed Roswell because she wasn't getting what she wanted. Now she's trashing Grey's? That show made her. It's so sad, because I thought she'd learned from her mistakes.

Honestly, I don't get why she doesn't just do TV and movies - it's working. She's finally got the fame she wanted while on Roswell (where she wasn't the lead, but machinated behind the scenes to try to take the lead role, only to finally do it in the 3rd season with the show slipping immediately to last place in the ratings), but now that she has, her head has gotten so big that she's forgotten to have some class about it all.

I really don't get her. I honestly think it would be better for Grey's Anatomy and Heigl if they just let her out of her contract. If they don't, and she plays true to form, she'll destroy GA in her effort to get whatever it is that she wants(see Roswell) - though who knows what that is.

[rmetz74]

I say good for her. Not because I necessarily think she's right, or a great actor... But why shouldn't she be allowed to say what she thinks? Aren't we always complaining about Hollywood fakery? Well, here you go. She's not fake - and she's being attacked for it. I'm a tv actor, and I wish more of us would have the moxie to be honest about the ups and downs of this life.

Those who think she'll never work again, watch and wait. People in the industry a) know she's a marketable name, and b) often AGREE with the things she says.

The fact that she makes so many people uncomfortable - people who have nothing to do with her, or the show, or the industry - says more about those people than it does about her.

[Plus15]

The fact that she goes out and trashes the product while doing the publicity and promotion of the film a/k/a product that she's selling make her absolutely worthless in marketing.

This is not about her right to say what she thinks, she can do that all day long, this is about her part in making the film or TV show that she has been paid a lot of money to appear in successful.

Reminder: There are tons of stunning talented actresses who can do any part she has thus far been chosen to play. She was lucky to get chosen over the competition, whoever is cast in a part is always lucky to win the part against the others under consideration. In the future these behaviors will have to weigh against casting her.

[rmetz74]

Except that you're wrong.

Knocked up did great box office after her comments about Isaiah Washington. The next season of GA got great ratings, despite her comments about Knocked up. She got another movie, she's still on GA...

Her comments get publicity, and as the saying goes, "there's no such thing as bad publicity." I assure you, the projects she works on are happy to have her in the headlines. Ironman is dominating the box office with a former drug addict in the lead. Mel Gibson's movies break records in spite of being made by a known anti-semite. Bad behavior simply does not mean the end ofa Hollywood career. And speaking one's mind is hardly the worst behavior one sees in Hollywood.

The reason the projects she's in are successful is that she HAS done her job. And as a big reason for that success, she has every right to speak her mind. Yes, she's lucky to be cast. And the project is lucky to get someone who draws an audience. She's allowed to voice her opinion either way.

Actors with 'difficult reputations' get cast ALL the time, and have long, impressive careers. Like in most aspects of media, people are harder on women with strong opinions than on men who speak their minds.

[AliLiz]

Good for Katherine Heigl to speak her mind. I think she is right; we need more actors to demand better storylines...the viewers have little say, so maybe the actors can bring about a change that is good.

[trish74]

Ms. Heigl why don't you write the part that suits your talents and then fund the project yourself.

[williams411]

I don't understand why any studio would want to hire her again, since all she's gonna do is bash the project that she's involved it. I hope she likes the fact that she'll be on the long list of tv actors that thought they were big hollywood stars. Also, why is it that women have been pulling the sexist card recently when things don't go their way? do they think that if they just cry sexism at anything then everyone will kiss their ass? Sorry ladies, but it doesn't work that way.

[dattexas]

I like her a lot, but I think you're right.

[PhDiva]

This woman is not talented enough to be this petty and ungrateful. It is amazing that she constantly presents herself as superior to her material, when she is completely mediocre. Who is telling her that her outrageous comments are appropriate? Somebody who loves her needs to stop her.