Helen Hunt gets great reception at Plaza Classic Film Festival

Academy- and Emmy Award-winning actor, director and Astros fan, Helen Hunt received a warm El Paso welcome Saturday night at the Plaza Classic Film Festival.

About 900 El Paso fans, including one overzealous fan who shouted his affection for Hunt, filled the Plaza Theatre to see Hunt at a pre-movie screening interview with program director Doug Pullen at the beautiful Plaza Theatre. Pullen bestowed Hunt with a Plaza Classic Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hunt then proceeded to talk about her career and working with Jack Nicholson in one of her biggest hits, "As Good as It Gets." She will appear for another pre-screening interview Sunday, July 30, at 1 p.m. for the 1996 blockbuster movie, "Twister" at the Plaza Theatre.

Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in "As Good as It Gets."

Hunt said she really wanted to work on the film and with director James Brooks even though she knew she might not be the right age to play a mother. At the time, she was already busy with her popular sitcom, "Mad About You."

The film initially was called, "Old Friends," with the same characters - a woman who worked in a restaurant (originally a diner, not a high-end one), a man who said challenging things who would later have an actual diagnosis (obsessive compulsive disorder), and an artist.

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"Jimmy Brooks, who you know from 'Terms of Endearment,' and 'Broadcast News,' took it and really took what was really beautiful about it and made it completely his own and then I really wanted to be in it," she said. "And he didn't think I was right for it. I was too young which was true."

Hunt said the director, however, pushed to have her be able to audition for it and she worked really hard on it and got the role. She said she had to ask the producer to make a decision because she was still shooting "Mad About You," and they would need to make a lot of concessions for her to do both.

Hunt said she was a bit intimidated to work with Nicholson, but they had a similar approach for how they prepared for roles.

"I had been in acting class since I was 8; it's a way of approaching work. There are people who can catch lightning in a bottle without a lot of training and I'm not one of those people. So it makes you approach work a certain way and he approached it the same way.

"So even though he was this exotic, brilliant creature that I was intimidated by, when we talked about the scenes, it was very much like acting class," she said.

In the movie, Nicholson's character, Melvin, is interested in Hunt's character, Carol, but he is often "ackward and weird" in trying to connect with her.

And that is why, Hunt said, she probably didn't socialize a lot with Nicholson, thinking distance would be better for their work on screen.

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Since Brooks wrote it and was on set, Hunt said she just wanted to take direction and do what was asked of her. She did bring an accent to the role and made some subtle suggestions, such as her character living with her mother.

However, she said she appreciated that Brooks would take as many takes as needed to get the right scene.

"There is this big sobby scene in this movie, and we did 100 takes and he pulled it through all the time. And it's not that he doesn't like what you're doing. He believes this is why we are here. We've gathered; we've raised this money and we show up and so we work."

Sunday is the last day of the 16th Plaza Classic Film Festival. For the last showings, go to plazaclassic.com.

María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150, mcortes@elpasotimes.com and @EPTMaria on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Helen Hunt talks 'As Good as It Gets' at Plaza Classic Film Festival