Jenna Bush Hager Says Katie Holmes Called Her Before Filming 'First Daughter' — and She Didn't Call Her Back

"I never fell in love with a secret service man," Bush Hager said of the plot of First Daughter, which sees Holmes' character fall in love with a member of her protective detail. "But I did have a friend make out with one."

When Katie Holmes was prepping for her 2004 film, First Daughter, she drew inspiration directly from the source — via first daughter Jenna Bush Hager, the daughter of then-President George W. Bush. And as Holmes explained in a Wednesday interview on Today, the actress even called Bush Hager to learn more about what life as a first daughter was really like — but Bush Hager never called her back.

"When you research a role, you research a role," Today co-host Hoda Kotb said in her interview of Holmes Wednesday. "And I don't know if you remember back when you played a First Daughter ... I want to bring you back cause that was very important. So here it is. Jenna so happened to be a first daughter during this time. And Katie, in your research, did you ever reach out to a young lady named Jenna Bush? And try to get a little intel?"

Related:Jenna Bush Hager Recalls When Now-Husband Got Caught Sneaking Out of White House One Morning

Holmes told Kotb that she did indeed reach out to Bush Hager, even calling the then-First Daughter in an effort to connect on the phone.

Recounting the moment she received the phone call, Bush Hager said she was in her dorm room, watching Holmes on the television.

"I was with my college roommates," Bush Hager said. "We were watching Dawson's Creek — I'm not joking — We turned it off and I'm like, 'Who called me from…' and I lived in Texas, I'm like, 'Who called me from LA?' "

She continued: "And I listened to the message and it was Katie and I was too embarrassed. I mean also, had you come and done research, you would have been like, 'Wow, this was quite boring.' "

And while Busher Hager said the movie version of being a First Daughter didn't resemble her real life, she acknowledged there were some slight similarities.

"I never fell in love with a secret service man," Bush Hager said of the plot of First Daughter, which sees Holmes' character fall in love with a member of her protective detail. "But I did have a friend make out with one."

Related:Jenna Bush Hager's Funniest Stories About Life in the White House

After Bush Hager apologized to Holmes for not returning the phone call, Kotb asked why she didn't: "Why, because you were embarrassed?"

"Well, my real life didn't match the movie," Bush Hager said. "The research would have been… gross."

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And while they never connected ahead of the making of the film, Holmes said she was inspired by Bush Hager as a first daughter nonetheless.

"Well that was such a fun movie to do. And I was looking to you ... I just felt like, 'What is that like?' To carry that — you've carried it so beautifully," Holmes told Bush Hager.

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