Jennifer Garner: All You Want to Know – Part 2

Okay, let's pick up again with actress Jennifer Garner and our chat about her new romantic comedy 13 Going on 30, her teen experiences, cool clothes, how she spends her time off and other gurltalk musts!

TeenHollywood: What's your worst memory of being 13? Was it in school.

Jennifer: No. I'm thinking really hard. I just remember, when I was 13, being in a band uniform at a football game, and I really liked this trumpet player, and he was my older sister's boyfriend's little brother. And, I so had a thing for him and all my friends were running up to him and saying, "Well, do you like her? Why don't you ask her to go with you?" And, there I was with my saxophone, and he didn't ask me the whole night, and I just waited and waited. I had on huge glasses. And, it was a bummer.

TeenHollywood: Did he ever ask you?

Jennifer: Nah, we joke about it now. My friends tortured him. He's married and happy now.

TeenHollywood: So not being ultra popular didn't bug you like it did your character Jena?

Jennifer: No. I was not devastated by not being the popular girl. I was one of the girls on the outskirts and separated by the inability to dress and a natural geekiness, and being in the band was a stigma, but I was not unhappy about it. However, even now, if were around the girls that were cool at the time, now, I would still feel like a geek. I would still feel like I don't know what to say. I mean, believe me, you are all still 13, right under the surface.

TeenHollywood: What do you think that this movie is telling young girls?

Jennifer: I think that it's a cautionary tale for 13-year-olds to just be careful, and to not be seduced by some idea of who you should be, but to make choices based on who you actually are. I think that the scary thing about being 13 is that most kids probably have really pure, good instincts, and feel like they need to do something in order to be accepted or they need to fit into a pattern, and I think that this movie says that you don't. And, actually, if you change yourself in order to fit that pattern, you could be very sorry later.

TeenHollywood: That almost makes sense here in Hollywood too, right?

Jennifer: Yeah. Well, I think that, for adults, this movie is more about, "Okay, just remember that you're constantly shaping who you are becoming, so what choices are you making to keep yourself on the path that you want to be on?"

TeenHollywood: We heard you hung out with young teens here and back home as research. Were they very different from each other?

Jennifer: Some were privileged. I had a trip home to West Virginia in the middle of this and hung out with a bunch of girls there, and there were quite a few similarities. These girls were nice to each other. They had traveled quite a bit, but they were inquisitive about the world. They were very sophisticated, but also incredibly innocent still, and aware of the fact that they had the opportunity to grow up faster and that there were possibilities for being promiscuous at a very young age and they weren't going there. These were really, really great girls in both cases. They didn't talk about other girls in a nasty way, which I found to be great.

TeenHollywood: Are you sick of seeing yourself in the tabloids and do you have a family support group when that happens?

Jennifer: My parents understand what I'm going through, and they still live in West Virginia. It's all a human thing. It's not that wacky. It's not like I'm on another planet. It's just a little odd.

TeenHollywood: Does your mother ever call you up and say, "This is funny, it's so stupid"?

Jennifer: Oh, constantly. That's our way of dealing with it -- laughing about it -- but she's as clueless about it as I am. And the cast (of "Alias") and I were just laughing because, last summer, the press decided that I was pregnant, and they ran all these pictures and they talked about it. They were like, "Remember when you were pregnant?"

TeenHollywood: Elektra is a fantasy figure, and so is Sydney. Was it refreshing to pay kind of a regular girl (even if she is a 13-year-old in an adult body)?

Jennifer: Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I'm aching to play every role that is out there. I mean, you constantly are just looking for a challenge. 'Elektra,' to me, is an unfinished challenge, and so, I need to finish her off, just for myself. Whether there is another chapter to be had or not, I need to know for myself that I dug in there a little deeper, got a little more proficient at the fighting. I just get kind of hungry for it. The problem is that I fall for everything that I do. So, eventually, and in this case, this was a complete, opposite challenge for me.

TeenHollywood: Can we talk about the clothes in this movie? Did you have favorites?

Jennifer: You should've seen us rearranging the shoes in the closet. We were salivating. We were like, "No, no, let's really put these more towards the middle." At home, I give them away as fast as I get them.

TeenHollywood: What size are you?

Jennifer: Nine. The clothes in this movie made me so happy, which is funny, because I grew up in a family where we truly didn't care about clothes. And, by the time that we did, I would steal from my big sister and she would yell at me. I would baby-sit to try to earn money, and then, I'd get something that was a bad color. We had three things -- something to wear to church, and then two things to wear every day. I remember in fifth grade, I had a purple sweat shirt from Chautauqua, New York. I wore it every day that year, to the point where the teacher called my mom, and my mom said, "I'm washing it. She wears a different shirt under it. I'm washing it every day. I can't get her not to wear it." I just wanted to be comfortable. I would've loved to have gone to a school with a uniform. I would still love that. I love nothing more than, when I get to work, someone dresses me and I don't have to think about it.

TeenHollywood: So you never went nutz over the cool wardrobe in this film?

Jennifer: While I was making this movie, I couldn't believe how excited I was getting over a strappy heel. I would be like, "Is that a Birkin bag?" And, I've never known what a Birkin was before this. I don't own them, but I was still, "Oh my God, does this outfit have the Kelly bag?" We were obsessed. We had fittings every single day because it's a 13-year-old's fantasy of how she would dress at 30, if she had an unlimited budget. This 13-year-old doesn't know that there are credit card bills that are eventually going to show up, unless she gets the hell out of dodge beforehand. As far as my favorites, I wouldn't even begin to tell you.

TeenHollywood: Did you take anything?

Jennifer: No. I've got to remember to try that. They were generous, they did give me several things. Why I didn't think about it, I don't know. But also, to me, the clothes are so specific to her that there were things that, like jeans, I could wear again. But, other than that, a lot of the stuff, I couldn't.

TeenHollywood: Do you feel like you have to be tough to be a successful woman?

Jennifer: It's actually an incredibly unfair double standard. I really find no reason not be pretty accommodating and nice every day at work. I'm really happy to be there. I know that the fact that I'm in a good mood keeps the whole set happy. And, I know that on days when I'm not, I can sense it kind of trickling down and around, and that is not fun. But, at the same time, there are times when you get to the point where you're so exhausted because you've said yes to everything and to everyone, and you finally say, "You know what? I really don't want to do that over lunch. I need really to sit down and take some time." And, the next thing you know, you're hearing, "Oh, God, she's [a bitch]," and you start to realize you can't live your life by what other people are going to decide. I do think that there's a double standard, in that way, but I think that if you pretty much go forward from a place of team spirit and wanting the best for whatever the project is, and for everyone involved, that they'll be respectful. I do not think that this is just about Hollywood. I think that this is indicative of our culture.

TeenHollywood: Okay, the one thing we'll ask. Are you and your co-star Michael Vartan still together.

Jennifer: Yes, we are.

TeenHollywood: Okay, 'nuff said. What's a great Saturday for you, if you're not working?

Jennifer: It would probably be a Sunday because that's when my farmer's market is in my little neighborhood. I would get up and be there at the farmer's market at 7:30.

TeenHollywood: Is that because you're used to getting up at 5:30 every day?

Jennifer: Yeah, and I don't want to waste a minute, if I have a free day. And now, I've turned into a morning person. The day ends with me going to bed at 8:30. So, I'd better get up and get on with it. I would have a great trip to the farmer's market and have a great breakfast with stuff that I bought, and buy flowers, and then have a nice run, or do something fun with my dog.

TeenHollywood: What kind of dog?

Jennifer: A white Lab. Martha Stewart is her name. Then, I would spend the day reading cook books and deciding what to make for dinner, and I would make enough for the week.

TeenHollywood: Was there a food that you used to love that now grosses you out?

Jennifer: Yes. Spaghetti-o's.

TeenHollywood: Do you ever see movies during your time off?

Jennifer: I actually love to see movies and, someday, I am going to rent every DVD. I just fall asleep, if I sit down for that long.

TeenHollywood: Do you remember your first car?

Jennifer: Of course. I shared it with my mom and my sisters, but it was a Caprice Classic green station wagon with wood paneling.

TeenHollywood: A Woody! Did it run good?

Jennifer: Yeah, it did.

TeenHollywood: Do you have a pet peeve?

Jennifer: Being condescended to.

TeenHollywood: Do you have any plans for your birthday? (Note: Jennifer's birthday was April 17th so, we hope she had a great time!)

Jennifer: My birthday is coming up. The little girl on the bed with all the curly hair, in the scene where we're dancing around, has been one of my really close friends since she was like six . We've really been pals. Her dad produced two TV shows that I did. Her name is Madeline Sprung Keyser, and her dad is Chris Keyser, and it's her Bat Mitzvah that day, and so, I'm going to go to my first Bat Mitzvah.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.