Starring E! movie dude Ben Lyons

Pain Is Good—and Other Acting Lessons from Aaron Eckhart

Sun., Jul. 15, 2007 4:00 PM PDT by Ben Lyons

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Aaron Eckhart will never look at a clothespin the same way again. I found that out today when I interviewed him for his latest film, No Reservations, a chefs-in-love romantic comedy with Catherine Zeta-Jones. See, a few years back when he made The Pledge, director Sean Penn told him that attaching a clothespin to a "very sensitive body part" is a good way to help portray pain onscreen. 'Cause chances are, you'll really be in pain.

So, while making the upcoming film Bill (with Jessica Alba), Eckhart used Penn's clothespin trick—and it worked! He tells me he can't have kids now, but he nailed the scene. Priorities, right?

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The rest of the No Reservations cast had plenty of knowledge for me, too:

Young Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine herself, who is a big fan of The O.C., got to visit the set and meet the cast, and is devastated it's been canceled. Now, she watches American Idol and thinks Ryan is cooler than Simon. Hey, who doesn't?

And Catherine Zeta-Jones told me the story about how she met her husband, Michael Douglas. They were at a premiere and realized they both have the same birthday, Sept. 25—his, of course, is 25 years before hers. He said to her, "I want to father your children."

Can you imagine? If I did that, I'd get a drink poured on me! She blushed, thanked him for the compliment and walked away. Just when he thought she was out of his grasp, she turned around and said, "Yeah, and I'm good at golf, too," and winked at him. The rest, as they say, is history.

No Reservations hits theaters July 27.