Yahoo Finance Anne Heche Reflects on What She Learned from Harrison Ford, Denzel Washington and Robert De Niro
Anne Heche is looking back at the important lessons she learned from some of the A-list leading men in her life.
The 52-year-old actress appeared on PEOPLE (the TV Show!), where she spoke to senior correspondent Jeremy Parsons while promoting her new disaster movie 13 Minutes.
Heche talked about working with Harrison Ford on the romantic comedy Six Days Seven Nights — calling the star "my hero" — as well as Tommy Lee Jones in Volcano, Robert De Niro in Wag the Dog and Denzel Washington in John Q.
The actress said Jones, 75, was her "life-saver," literally.
"There's this scene [in Volcano] where Tommy Lee Jones and I have to grab onto a firetruck and we have to hold on, we're all supposed to be locked in," she said. "As the ladder is going up until we get to about 50 feet, Tommy Lee looks at me and goes, 'Holy expletive! You're not connected! Hold on!' [He] grabbed my belt and made me lift up and told me to hold on because I wasn't attached [to the ladder]."
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She added, "And that's a moment where you deem a man who's holding onto your belt for you a life-saver."
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As for De Niro, Heche said the veteran actor was her "teacher of the arts," adding, "Here's what I learned from him: Learn your lines and show up on time."
Heche also recalled being challenged by Washington on the set of their 2002 drama John Q, calling him "a pusher."
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"I say this with the utmost respect. I had to play a woman in that movie that I did not want to play, an administrator who was telling him that his son could not have a heart transplant," she explained. "Denzel Washington looks across at me and goes, 'Go further! Become that bitch.' And I go, 'Okay, that is a hard thing to say no to. Okay, Denzel. I will!' "
Heche's film 13 Minutes, which stars Trace Adkins, follows four families as they only have 13 minutes to seek shelter from the largest tornado in history
13 Minutes, which also stars Peter Facinelli, Amy Smart and Thora Birch, hits theaters this Friday.
