eCentral

Friday January 18, 2008

Pint-sized power

By MUMTAJ BEGUM

At 18, Hayden Panettiere has found her voice and she intends to be heard on matters close to her heart.

WHALES and dolphins have a champion on their side. And not just any hero ... but the invincible cheerleader from Heroes, Hayden Panettiere. Since her breakout role in the popular series, Panettiere has been even more active in her role as a spokesperson for the global conservation Save the Whales Again! Campaign. In October last year, Panettiere and five other activists from an anti-whaling group paddled out on surfboards to a cove near the town of Taiji in south-western Japan, to impede the townsfolk's annual whale hunt – a highly ritualised way of life in the whaling town of over 300 years.

Pint-sized Hayden Panettiere, famous for her superpowers on TV, turns out to be somewhat of a hero in real life too.

With the kind of bravery her TV character possesses, Panettiere and the small group fearlessly held their ground (in ocean waters turning red from the blood) hoping to grab worldwide attention.

“Fear was the last thing in the world I was feeling,” revealed Panettiere. “I could have let them knock me off. That was absolutely fine with me. I had no right to feel afraid.”

Her strong stance on whaling came through loud and clear in a recent phone interview with South-East Asian journalists to promote the second season of Heroes, which debuts on Star World next Tuesday.

The 18-year-old actress talked extensively about her experience in Japan and the incidents that brought her to tears first in Taiji, and then later during talkshows in the United States. According to Panettiere the Japanese government has issued a warrant for her arrest. This, however, is not going to stop her quest. The young star says she might go to Iceland and Norway next, two other whaling nations.

When asked if she was embarrassed that footage of her crying had been aired – forever calcified on the Net – she answered bluntly, “Was I embarrassed? No, absolutely not. If you saw what I saw, I think anyone with a heart would be in the exact same position that I was in. I mean I was out there; the thing that made me cry so badly was that we were there, not to stop anything that was going on ... just knowing that we couldn’t do anything about it and knowing that they were going to die, and we couldn’t break them free, it’s such a powerless feeling.”

Her involvement with this cause began a few years ago, when she first saw the footage of how these creatures of the seas are hunted and killed. She’s a vegetarian, for the same reason her new co-star and long-time friend, Kristen Bell, is one too – they are both big fans of animals.

Hence, it was an easy decision to sign up to be part of this cause, especially since it involves whales and dolphins – sea creatures Panettiere calls faces of beauty and friendliness.

Panettiere is the first to acknowledge that it is her Heroes involvement that has enabled her to reach a much larger audience on the whale issue.

“To be able to fight for something like what I did in Japan – what I have been doing with the whales – it’s a really big thing. To have a show like (Heroes) really takes you out there and makes your voice strong. People pay more attention and take notice like never before. It gives me a platform that I can really use to my advantage.”

Panettiere has been in the entertainment industry since she was 11 months old, when she starred in a commercial. Before she reached the age of five, she was cast as a regular in the soap opera One Life to Live for almost three seasons and then later in The Guiding Light for four years. Audiences also saw her growing up in various films including Remember the Titans, Joe Somebody, Bring it On: All or Nothing and Racing Stripes.

Today, she has blossomed into a style icon, showing off her youthful fashion sense and trendy hairstyles each time she steps onto the red carpet. Panettiere has managed to keep a squeaky clean image too, unlike many of her peers in Hollywood. Only recently, she has been criticised because of her “maybe/maybe not” relationship with the much older Heroes cast member, Milo Ventimiglia (see Out of Hiding on P7). During this interview, Panettiere refuses to discuss the issue, saying it was “not appropriate”.

According to Panettiere, she can thank her family for moulding her into a “tough chick” and giving her a solid foundation as a person – pretty much like her character Claire Bennet in Heroes.

However, in Season Two (which has already been shown in the United States) her character is caught in a drawn-out teen love affair, causing the Claire plot to take on a more whimpering note.

“It's true,” she agreed, when told her character's romance did not work in the new season. “I personally didn’t want to see my character do that, I want to be part of the action. I want to do what I did for the first season... I think (the relationship) was a little too apple pie. It should have been a little more hardcore than it was.”

No thanks to the insipid romance, attention in Season Two gets redirected to another blonde – the zesty Elle Bishop, played by Bell. “I think the third season would be much, much better,” Panettiere promised. (The second season was cut short to just 11 episodes due to the writers strike.)

While she has no idea what would happen when the show gets back on track again – if and when the writers strike is resolved – Panettiere theorised: “They will right their mistakes by definitely reconnecting a lot of us. We were really separated in the second season and I think people really like to see it together. So I am sure they’ll put it together, more characters together. I am sure I’ll meet other people. There’ll be a lot more characters. I think there’ll be a lot more high-energy action, like it was in the first season. Other than that I have no specific details at all.”

At the moment, Panettiere is busy recording her debut pop-rock album on Hollywood Records, which is slated for release this May (for more on that, you can check out her myspace page at www.myspace.com/haydenpanettiere). She's also designed a line of jewellery. And of course, there are always new films to be made and causes to be championed.

Whatever happens, one thing is for sure – Panettiere's life has forever changed thanks to Heroes. The impact of the show became clear when she was on the Heroes World Tour in Europe last year. “You hear people really like the show but to see it in front of your face like that and to see how many people admire it, it’s an overwhelming thing and it’s so much more than a pat on the back.”

  • Season Two of Heroes begins on Jan 22, at 9pm on Star World.

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