We "Catch" Jennifer Garner!

This is the first time we've chatted with cute and friendly Jen Garner since she became Mrs. Ben Affleck and had new, now year old baby daughter Violet. Yes, she's totally in shape again and looks great! At the lovely Santa Monica beach hotel Casa Del Mar, Jen met with us to talk about her new romantic dramady Catch and Release in which she plays a young woman whose fiance dies just before their wedding. Turns out the fellow was keeping some pretty hefty secrets from his intended.

In black Stella McCartney pants and a dark gray, puffy sleeved, empire waisted top with black piping by Juicy, Jennifer looked very feminine. As usual, she wears little make-up, had her hair pulled back and likes to "talk" with her hands. No flashy diamond sparkler there; just a classy, plain wedding band. Jennifer is cooperative as usual, even turning over the tape in our recorder when it ran out mid-interview. We thanked her, "Hey babe, it's okay. This isn't my first picnic". Yep, she knows how to handle the press.

Jen talked about her heartbreak at the end of her long-running "Alias" series and some Jen/Ben stuff as well...like Ben's chuckling as he writes e-mails. Fellow "Catch" castmate, actor/director Kevin Smith, an Affleck buddy, says Ben was a regular visitor on the set and, he knew something was cooking bigtime between the two Daredevil co-stars. We knew that Catch and Release had been awaiting release for a while so we started with that. It has something to do with Jennifer being an exhausted new mom and ending her long-running TV show...

TeenHollywood: This movie waited so long for release, partly because of your commitment to "Alias" and family. How do you approach having the film caught in suspended animation?

Jennifer: I think it's still a great story. I don't think it matters when it comes out. It was never certainly for lack of anyone's enthusiasm. I wanted them to wait because they wanted it to open the last week I'd be shooting "Alias" which couldn't be moved because of our air date. That was so emotional for me. I [told them], 'Well, it'll be my last day...' and [blubbering crying]. Right? Wasn't I just in hysteria.

TeenHollywood: And you were a new mom too!

Jennifer: Yeah, I had a two month old baby. I just knew and I was kind of pulled to the brink just by going to work at all. I was working eight hour days. I was with her most of the time. Traveling with her when she was that new and I was a first time mom, the whole thing kind of overwhelmed me and I didn't want to short shrift "Alias" and I didn't want to short shrift the movie. Now I'm just so happy because I can be here and feel good. I had a good night's sleep, I can talk to you.

TeenHollywood: Was there a moment when you realized you were famous?

Jennifer: Yeah, there was a defining moment. It was the year "Alias" had come out and I hadn't been out in the world once since July when it started, and it was December and I went Christmas shopping. It was freaky and terrifying. In July I could have gone shopping and nobody would have seen me or said anything but in December, in that short amount of time, I couldn't even take a step without somebody stopping me [to take a] picture and da da da. It never happened to me before.

TeenHollywood: How have you coped with fame since then?

Jennifer: Well, I keep my knickers on. [We laugh at the Britney reference]. I have a strange relationship with it. I think most people do. It's not a comfortable way to live your life. There are great things about it. My life is really great so I find it hard to complain too much.

TeenHollywood: Why do this movie? Did the story mean something to you personally?

Jennifer: Well, there are always hooks that kind of draw you in but Susannah Grant's [the director/writer] writing is so beautiful. The first time I read it, I knew I had to do it. I was beyond excited. I just said, 'I can't let anyone else play this role. It's my role. Please wait for me.' And she said, 'Okay,' and they waited for me. So this has been 'interruptus' a couple of times. [Usually], you either are doing a comedy where you're really pushing for the comedy and finding the funny, or you're doing a drama where everything is really maudlin. This is the balance that kind of follows our own life patterns. It just felt to me like something that was true.

TeenHollywood: What did you especially like about the character?

Jennifer: That she had seen her fiance as this prince on a white horse. She only saw good in him, even when at some point he tried to say, 'Hey, there's something I need to talk to you about,' she didn't want to hear it. She wanted to live in her fantasy. And, in going through the hardest thing in herself, she grew up and she was able to learn about the gray, which p.s., it's her first name, so I'll give you a little hint.

TeenHollywood: Isn't this film also about the process, the stages of grieving?

Jennifer: Yes. You can lose someone, you can lose your 'idea' of someone which I think was as hard for her as losing Grady (her fiance) himself. So she had to grieve doubly, not just for the loss of her wedding. The very beginning of the movie, her wedding flowers are being brought up to the house and she's standing there at his funeral looking out just imagining herself in that dress and all the things that were supposed to be happening that day, just on a girl level alone.

TeenHollywood: There are funny moments in the movie as well but that is soooo tragic!

Jennifer: Yeah, and then the fact that the man himself, her partner and her best friend, her boyfriend is gone and then her idea of who he was, that he was this straightforward straight and narrow guy who only loved her and never cheated on her, that that has to go away too. But you can go through all that and with the help of friends and with your own introspection, whatever, growing, you can come out better and stronger. That is something that interested me very much.

TeenHollywood: When it comes to emotions, are you more open about yours?

Jennifer: Yeah, more than [my character] Gray, definitely. I just cry more.

TeenHollywood: How tough was it to leave your "Alias" character Sidney behind?

Jennifer: Well, I was ready. I mean, you know, five years of something, I think we all felt exactly the way we were supposed to feel at the end of "Alias". We were all heartbroken. You've never seen a closer cast or crew. It really was the best place to work, and we all say that now when we see each other. So there was that loss but at the same time, we really felt like we had told the story. We didn't know what else there was to tell. We felt like we had done it justice but I still get emotional about it. J.J.[Abrams, the show's creator] just gave all of us for Christmas this huge leather bound book of pictures starting with the pilot. I can hardly even talk about it. I can't look at it without crying because there are our lives, especially since he put some of the crew in there. And I miss them, I talk to them a lot.

TeenHollywood: Did you keep any of those wild wigs or costumes?

Jennifer: No. I just don't care about that stuff, so I don't know where all those wigs are. There are 100s of 1000s of dollars of wigs that only fit my head that are floating around Los Angeles but no, I'm sure they're in a Disney warehouse or something.

TeenHollywood: It's cool that your director/writer is a woman. It's great to see that more women are getting that chance now in the business.

Jennifer: We just had girl heaven. There was Jenno Topping, this wonderful producer who was smart and to the point and no bullshit. And then there's Susannah who is this incredible writer who in the middle of the scene, if it wasn't working, you could kind of say, 'What I feel like I should be saying, Susannah, is this and what I'm trying to get across is this.' And she'd say, 'Oh, well, you're right. Let me just take a minute.' You'd think she'd just gone to the bathroom or something and she would come back and have reworded the script in such a way that it was all clear and there so that's kind of magical to have somebody who has that ability right there. It could not have been more Zen and chill.

TeenHollywood: You were the girl in a mostly guy cast. Was that a blast?

Jennifer: There's nothing better than being a girl in the middle of a group of guys, you know what I mean? [we do]. It's true. And for women, as hard as it is because there are so many more men's roles than there are women's, once you get there, you have this big group of guys to play with and they treat you as one of them so I loved it.

TeenHollywood: Did any of the relationships on set mirror what is going on with the guys in the film?

Jennifer: No, not really. It's hard to say that because there was romance and intrigue and tension [in the film] and there was none of that certainly. But was there banter and friendship and them treating me like a dude? Yes, and that was heaven. Although I have to say that Juliette Lewis [the other gal in the movie] is she a genius or what? She is so funny.

TeenHollywood: Does being mom to Violet determine the types of roles you'll take now?

Jennifer: Well, it'll determine what I do just timing-wise. I don't think I can do two huge things back to back anymore. I couldn't do a single lead on a one hour drama anymore. And, I have to really love something a lot to be willing to not be with my little girl every day. I will have had six months straight with her before I go back to work and that is heaven on earth.

TeenHollywood: You seem all glowy and happy.

Jennifer: It's great because I have it just so good right now I'm afraid if I even tell you, it'll get screwed up because I'm home with her and I get filled up with her. I'm definitely the primary caregiver all the time but I do have enough meetings for my production company that I find really fun and fascinating and they use my mind in a different way so I do get out of the house. We are having a blast with our production company. My producing partner Julianna and I. I think I'll look at every script that I do differently from now on because I'll see that it's not just set in stone. I've never really tried to affect a change on a script that I've been given. I'm a good little girl. You give it to me and I go and say my lines. Now I'm going to be a terror.

TeenHollywood: Are you waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under this great life?

Jennifer: I have those moments in the middle of the night of course. I wouldn't be human if I didn't but I really try just to exist in it and to feel how happy I am and just enjoy it. Life is always going to have hard spots, ups and downs, whatever. So what's the point if you're in one of those spots where there's a balance and there's happiness and joy and health if you don't at least appreciate it and take advantage of it. That's kind of my attitude. Just love it.

TeenHollywood: What was the biggest surprise about motherhood?

Jennifer: I thought it would be easier. I thought the pull from her would not be as huge as it is. I thought it would be easier for me to work, that I'd be like, 'Oh, it's fine, she's here, she's happy.' And that actually isn't the case. She is fine. I am the one who is a wreck if I don't get to be with her.

TeenHollywood: Are you finally resting at night now?

Jennifer: We had four teeth come in at once, that was a rough one but she's a pretty good sleeper and so if you crash out at nine o'clock it's not so bad.

TeenHollywood: Kevin Smith is best friends with Ben. How involved is he with your day to day life?

Jennifer: I think they mostly just write hateful e-mails back and forth. From what I can tell. I just hear Ben laughing to himself when he's returning one, maniacally... alone.

TeenHollywood: Does Ben get as profane with his language as Kevin can?

Jennifer: That's probably why I don't read [the e-mails]. He isn't around me but I have a feeling with Kevin, yes.

TeenHollywood: Can you keep a straight face acting with someone as funny as Kevin?

Jennifer: I'm bad about keeping a straight face anyway. I very rarely keep a straight face the whole day so no, I can say that I did not keep a straight face with Kevin Smith nor did I with anyone else.

TeenHollywood: Do you miss being action girl?

Jennifer: I do like it. I do think it satisfies a part of me I didn't even know was there, and I like the physicality of it in general. I like roles that are physical. I also like physical comedy. Roles that tend to have action in them, if they're well done, I like. And I love my stunt double so much that I'm always enthused by getting to be with her.

TeenHollywood: Do you still train like you did for "Alias"?

Jennifer: At first, when in finished "Alias", I didn't work out for a long time. And I didn't lose my baby weight for a long time. It was just kind of annoying because I just didn't want to. I didn't want to take that hour away from her and work out. Or if she was sleeping, I was exhausted or wanted to just sit and veg or take a nap or something. And then, finally this summer, I noticed my own energy had shifted because I wasn't taking care of myself the way that I'd become really accustomed to. So then I just got on a treadmill and started getting back in shape. It's slower than I thought it would be because there's something bigger in my life now so I might do 20 minutes where I would have done 45 before.

TeenHollywood: Would you work with Ben again now that you're married?

Jennifer: A big part of it is somebody's got to raise the kid, so if we're both at work, that's a bummer for her. But yeah, there's no rush. We're not looking for anything to do together.

TeenHollywood: Two actors in the house, how do you keep Hollywood out of your daily life? Is there a rule, don't talk about work?

Jennifer: Yes, we have a rule! [laughs] That would be awesome. 'Don't say that. Don't tell me about your day. Ah, stop.' No, it's pretty easy when there's a baby. You basically talk about the baby.

TeenHollywood: Let's talk future projects. Who do you play in The Kingdom?

Jennifer: I play Janet Mayes. She is an FBI agent and she's one of four. There's Chris Cooper, Jamie Foxx, Jason Bateman and myself and it is so much fun to be with those three guys. We're going to Saudi Arabia to investigate a terrorist attack against a western civilization within the kingdom.

TeenHollywood: J.J. Abrams is co-writing, producing and directing the 11th Star Trek film. Has he contacted you about a part in it?

Jennifer: J.J.'s contacted by me every day saying, 'What are you doing? What are we doing next? Hi, it's me, how are you? What are you doing?' I'm outside his house with coffee in the morning. 'Hi J.J., it's me.' No, I don't think that I have been contacted by J.J yet. But, you know that he has a core group of actors. How great was Keri Russell in "Mission 3"? I hope that someday he and I will get to do something together again. Anybody that works with him, he's just their favorite.

TeenHollywood: Do you know what you're doing next?

Jennifer: I'm going to do this little project called Juno that Jason Reitman is going to direct, who did Thank You For Smoking, It's this wonderful script. I have a small role. I'm only working a couple weeks and it's just cool. It's written by this kooky woman named Diablo Cody. She just decided randomly to become a stripper for a year. It isn't about that though. She's pretty funny and her personality infuses the whole script so it's going to be fun. I play a woman who can't have children and who is wanting to adopt.

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