Anne Heche on motherhood, Johnny Depp, and "catfights"

Larry King’s guest is the Emmy- and Tony-nominated actress, director, and screenwriter, Anne Heche. She is known for powerful roles in films like ‘John Q,’ ‘Wag the Dog,’ and ‘Donny Brasco,’ as well as small-screen performances in ‘Hung’ and ‘Quantico.’ Currently, her satirical comedy film ‘Catfight’ is playing and receiving rave reviews.

‘Catfight,’ described as “strangely hilarious”—a term Heche says describes her too—uniquely depicts women fighting publicly and brutally. Heche plays an anti-war artist in love with a woman, and she raves about her co-stars Alicia Silverstone and Sandra Oh. Larry asks her about the film’s political aspects, and while Heche acknowledges this, she considers the movie to primarily be about women who take their life struggles out on others. They literally “throw down,” and Heche demonstrates the fight choreography with Larry, who takes her mock punches and gives some of his own. 

After they sit down again, Larry asks Heche if Hollywood has changed over time. She says, “We’re still sitting here, so it hasn’t changed that much.” The benefit of hard work, Heche believes, is longevity—she began working when she was 12. Larry asks if she’s played her dream role, but like an interviewer can’t ask questions to everybody, she “can’t throw everything [she’d] like to play in one role.” Her description of a self-centered female character she plays is compared by Larry to Trump, whom Heche doesn’t think “offers the community what he could.”

Then the conversation shifts to gender equality, and Heche mentions women are embracing different opportunities. Larry asks her about her opportunity working with Johnny Depp, which she describes as “heaven.” She talks about being too uncool to date Depp, who was with a supermodel anyways. Larry then asks her if she watched the Oscars, but she was distracted with her kids. Still, she was delighted by ‘Moonlight’s’ win. On the subject of films, Larry asks about her new film, ‘My Friend Dahmer,’ about the cannibalistic killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s high school years, from a friend’s perspective. Heche praises Ross Lynch, the Disney star who portrays Dahmer, and talks about her role as Dahmer’s mother. She believes it’s her responsibility “to show what it’s like when parents ignore their children.”