Rollergirl swaps her skates for go-go boots in The Spy Who Shagged Me.
By Kevin Maynard

She played a teenage junkie in Drugstore Cowboy, channeled a porno starlet in Boogie Nights, had an illicit quickie with Robert Downey Jr. in Two Girls and a Guy, and wore nothing but gold paint and a pair of skates on the cover of Details magazine. Now, Heather Graham steps into the go-go boots of Felicity Shagwell — a randy Barbarella-like CIA operative — to trade innuendoes with the ever-horny titular superspy in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. It's a far cry from her stifling, conservative upbringing in a devoutly Catholic household, but the 29-year-old actress's Hollywood career has hardly been that of your typical ingenue.

After her film debut in 1988's License to Drive, playing the object of Corey Haim's affection, she snagged supporting work in edgier fare, such as Drugstore Cowboy in 1989 and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in 1992. That same year, she raised eyebrows for dating her Diggstown co-star James Woods, who was exactly twice her age at the time. But while their six-month relationship made headlines, Graham's star wasn't really rising. She got steady work as a character actress, with roles in Six Degrees of Separation, The Ballad of Little Jo, and Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, but none of these performances revived the critical hosannas she's won for Drugstore. That all changed in 1996, when Graham rebounded as a Lindy-hopping dream girl in Doug Liman's sleeper hit comedy Swingers. The following year, she nailed the part of a lifetime in Boogie Nights, Paul Thomas Anderson's sprawling seriocomic masterpiece about the porn industry. As Rollergirl, a mono-monikered sexpot who always wears her skates — but little else — Graham gave a breathtaking performance. Her career upswing continued when she appeared opposite Downey Jr. and Natasha Gregson Wagner in James Tobak's improvised ménage à trois Two Girls and a Guy and saw herself immortalized as an action figure for New Line's big-budget remake of Lost in Space.

This summer, Graham's playing it for laughs in two big comedies. In addition to The Spy Who Shagged Me, she stars as a casting couch cutie in the satire Bowfinger, opposite Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin. On the eve of her smashing debut as Ms. Shagwell, Graham sat down with Mr. Showbiz to chat about her live-in love (actor-director Ed Burns), kissing Mike Myers, and what it's really like to shack up with the "dead sexy" Fat Bastard.

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So was the set of Austin Powers a total boys club?

Yeah, they wouldn't let me into it. I was totally excluded from everything — no, no, not at all. They couldn't be nicer people. In fact, it seems like they were a boys club and very into their male thing, but I've never met two more happily married people than Mike and Jay Roach, the director. Mike is obsessively in love with his wife — to the point where, when she comes to the set, he's a completely different person. And if she laughs at one of his jokes, it's the ultimate pat on the back. And Jay is really in love with his wife. He's married to Susanna Hoffs, one of the Bangles, and they couldn't have been any nicer to me. They definitely have a working relationship from the other movie, but they were two of the coolest people I've ever met.

Is it true that Mike gets a little squeamish doing love scenes?

[Laughs.] Sometimes when you're doing a sex scene in a movie, you get the feeling that the guy's like, "Oh, cool, I get to do a sex scene!" But with him I got the feeling that he was like, "Oh no! Sex scene? Oh dear!" It was a little awkward. I felt like apologizing. "I'm sorry, Mike, gee do you mind if I …" I mean we never did anything [very] sexual together, but I did feel like I was imposing on him. But he had the sweetest way. He's very proper that way.

Was that nice for a change?

It is nice! I think for me it's nice to see a happy couple in Hollywood. Because I'm sure Mike Myers could have tons of women throwing themselves at him, and he couldn't be more devoted, so it's nice to see that that exists.

You had sex scenes in Boogie Nights and Two Girls and a Guy, but none of that could have prepared you for the seduction of Fat Bastard in this movie.

[Laughs.] I know! I actually asked for that scene to be put in because he was so sexy that I really wanted to experience him. But it was really … I mean the makeup he had on was amazing and it was just really just, detailed. Hair and pimples and warts and moles. It was a long day, that day.

When you were offered this role, how did you feel?

I was jazzed. Totally. I met with them and usually, as an actor, you have to read for the part, and I didn't have to do that, they just offered it to me. I was just so excited. I loved the first movie. I was just sort of shocked. Like, "Oh my God! This is amazing!"

What did you love about the first one?

It came up with something really original, and it seemed really personal. There's just something really infectious about it. Like all the things he says, and this character who's such a lover of life, and may be idiotic but [is] always charging forward with this incredibly positive attitude. I just think he's really lovable.

Do you see any similarities between the real Mike and Austin Powers?

There's a part of Mike that's very entertaining, and he'll make millions of jokes, and he loves to make people laugh. But then there's a very serious part, which is nothing like Austin Powers. The life that he loves is not a crazy Austin "Danger" Powers life. I think he likes to stay home with his wife, watch hockey games on TV, play with his dogs, and just hang out. Like when we went to Cannes and we stayed at the most glamorous hotel, the Hotel du Cap and he's like "It's the Hotel du Crap!" [Laughs.] We had these beautiful views, but he was like, "There's no shower! I wanna be home! This isn't exciting at all!" He's not a glamorous man of the world. He's like, "I wanna go home and sleep in my own bed."

They didn't have showers?

They have those European ones … but it wasn't attached to the wall and there was no shower curtain so he was very bothered by that.

Did you slide easily into the moniker of Felicity Shagwell?

Oh, isn't it the most genius character name? I loved it! I've been to England, so I know the terms. Shagging, whoever made that up. It's just one of the most genius words.

What were the inspirations for the role?

Well, definitely Ursula Andress from Dr. No. I think she's really cool. Actually, I think when they wrote the movie, they had more in mind like a Jane Fonda-Barbarella girl, as you could tell from my hairdo. It was an amazing wig. And I loved doing the go-go dances. Sometimes the movie feels like a musical, [and] I think Mike would love to do one. But luckily, I didn't have to try and emulate those women so much as [make] fun of them. I saw the movie more as a love story. I think that's what was so good about the first one too. There's all this craziness going around, but it's about two people falling in love. And I think [in] this movie, the story's like that — at least for my character.

How did you feel about doing all the improvisation in the film?

It was a little terrifying — but also really exciting — to be around a comic that can just go on a tangent and make up a million funny things. It's fun. I'm an actor, but it's fun to be around somebody who's such a comedian and can just say so many funny things off the top of his head.

Wasn't there some problem during a kiss scene while filming?

Oh, right. I had garlic breath. Mike's very into fresh breath. He always carries around his Binaca. And I definitely think about these things too, but they have this really good tuna salad on the craft services truck, and it had those purple onions in it. So I ate it one day, and I realized it was the day of the kissing scene. And he was like, "Yeah!" So I sprayed myself with Binaca and afterward Mike compared the kiss to s---ting up a pine tree. I said, "It wasn't really that bad, was it?" And so then for the rest of the day, he was like, "Oh, yeah, good breath. Thanks a lot." [Laughs.]

How was the kiss for you?

He's shagadelic.

Did you guys hang out off the set?

We had a friendly relationship, but we didn't really hang out. I think he was very serious. I think every minute he's thinking about the next day, he's thinking about rewrites. They rewrote things the day before we did them. He was so focused on the movie that he's probably the most hardworking actor I've ever worked with. Usually, as an actor, you do just kind of hang out and chat, but he was definitely zeroing in on what he was doing the next day.

You have another comedy coming out in August, Bowfinger, starring Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin. Do you prefer doing funny stuff? I wouldn't really say I prefer [it]. I would just say it's fun to do comedy. It's fun to do different things. I think I'm more interested in a good script. I like movies that are a mixture of comedy and drama. For me, I think it's harder to do comedy because I came more out of a drama world. So when [my co-stars] go off and do all these funny things, I'm just in awe. It's fun to be around because you just think that, "Hopefully, this will rub off on me."

Who do you play in Bowfinger?

It's about these desperate people in Hollywood, and I play a girl who comes from a small town. I'm really naive, and seem so sweet, and I basically sleep my way to the top. [Laughs.] But in a way, where I just seem so innocent, you can't believe that I'm really doing it. I have more scenes with Steve than I do with Eddie, but Eddie's really funny. He plays two different characters. Actually, it's funny, I worked with the same cinematographer on Austin and Bowfinger. He's the greatest. His whole crew is the greatest. Mike Myers used to tease him all the time, [assumes German accent] "Uli Stieger is Swiss. Uli Stieger!"

What's it like working with all these funny men? How are they different?

It's hard to say why someone is funny, you know what I mean? It's just their perspective on things. They just manage to see things with a sense of humor. I think Steve's really a smart man, and he really enjoys being an entertainer. Maybe he's worked on being funny. He's serious about a lot of other things like art. He's been around so long that he has an ease to the way he works, and his level of success. I think he's been through [so] many ups and downs that it's kind of coming out of him in a very easy way. Then there's Eddie. Both guys are at different places in their career. Steve seems like he's been around the longest and has reached a level playing field. I think Eddie's a bit more frustrated by fame and his position sometimes. And I think Mike's more excited. He works his ass off because he just wants to do the best work he can to stay where he is. Kind of like that young, "Wow I'm doing a movie!" energy. But I think there's still an element of that in them all. I even see [it in] Steve … I mean, that's what Bowfinger's about. It's about people who want to do movies and who have that joy because it's so great to be here.

Do you still think it's great to be here?

Yeah. Definitely. Sometimes it can be exhausting, but I feel so lucky and happy. Each little experience I have on a film is like being with a family or a little camp experience. It's still fun.

You said before, about Mike and Robin, that it's nice to see one happy couple in Hollywood. Are you a little cynical about that?

I don't know. I've been so lucky with the people I've worked with recently. But you definitely do meet the more stereotypical Hollywood types. You do.

You're currently in a relationship with Ed Burns. Is it hard dating someone else who's in the spotlight?

We're kind of like boring homebodies, so we really don't deal with the spotlight much unless we decide to go out on the town. The only time that we get harassed, for some reason, is when we go to the airport. There are always people there that find out that you're traveling, and they get autographs and sell them. And so that's really [surreal] … you want to travel, you're wearing your sweats, and you're all messy and suddenly everyone's taking pictures of you, and they all want you to sign things. And if you don't want to do it, they follow you to the car, and they demand, and they get angry. But other than that, our lives are pretty normal.

What other projects are you working on?

I have a Miramax movie called Committed. It's directed by a woman named Lia Krueger. She did an independent movie called Manny and Lo. I read the script and I thought it was great. I really pursued it, and it was kind of a leading role. It was fun because it was [written] by a woman, and it's about a woman. It touches upon marriage and commitment. My husband decides that he's having a hard time, and he wants to leave, and I just say, "He's going through a hard time. I just have to stand by him." So I basically stalk him, but I'm doing it for his own good.

What's your take on commitment?

I think it's good. Even though my situation in the movie is so bad. I mean, here I am following this guy who left me, and he won't talk to me, but all the people around me are inspired by it. Like my brother, who's this free spirit, falls in love with this other girl, who's actually been sleeping with my husband. And they think, "We want this. We want to be married." I think even though so many times it doesn't work out, or your expectations fall short of the reality, that there's something about commitment that everybody wants at some level.

People seem to see a very strong association between you and Rollergirl, the character you played in Boogie Nights. Did you anticipate that?

I knew when I read that script that it was great, and I wanted that part so bad. When I got it, I couldn't believe my good fortune. And I just knew it was a cool part. Just the way it was written. I have strong feelings about that role so I really enjoy being associated with it.

In retrospect, what it was like doing that Details cover. The one where you're dipped in gold and wearing nothing but roller skates?

[Laughs.] It was weird! It was just strange because you don't think of yourself as sexy, but you think, "Wow, I'm on this magazine cover, and I'm supposed to be all sexy." It was kind of fun, in a way and you just think, "Why not do this one time?" Just because it's fun.

But was it uncomfortable wearing all that gold?

Oh, it's just like when a woman puts base on, it's kind of like that. Just all over your body. People have said to me, "Could you breathe?" because of that scene in Goldfinger when that woman dies. Everyone was like, "Were you alright?" But it was just like being covered in pancake makeup.

Have you finished shooting Danny Boyle's Alien Love Triangle?

Yeah. That was actually a while ago, and it hasn't come out because it's part of a trilogy, kind of like New York Stories. Danny Boyle directed a segment, Gary Fleder, and Kevin Smith. And I don't think Kevin Smith has done his part yet. But mine is called Alien Love Triangle, and I play an alien with a green head. I'm totally bald and I have pointy ears, and I wear fake contact lenses. It's with Kenneth Branagh and Courteney Cox. Courteney Cox is a male alien in the body of a female, and I come to pick her up on Earth because she's my husband. She's a very chauvinistic male. So it's funny; there's Courteney Cox yelling at me, and being really mad, like "Where have you been?" and "I just wanna scratch my balls and hang out with the men!" [Laughs.] It's a comedy, but in a very dark way, and a commentary.

Anything else in the works?

Well, Austin Powers was the last thing I did. They just rushed it out with lightning speed. But next, I might work with Greg Mottola [who directed the indie The Daytrippers]. I've been talking to him.

Can you afford to be choosy now?

Yeah. I am choosy. I just try to follow my instincts about what's right.