  Catherine Zeta-Jones carefully prepares a meal in her new movie No Reservations. Zeta-Jones plays a workaholic chef whose life gets turned upside down when she must raise her orphaned niece and a new sous-chef threatens her kitchen.
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NEW YORK -- Catherine Zeta-Jones can fill a whole room with her energy. The vivacious actress, 38, is here promoting her new movie, No Reservations, and she is bright and funny in conversation.
In No Reservations, which opens Friday, Zeta-Jones plays a workaholic chef employed by a posh New York restaurant.
Her life is suddenly turned upside down when she must raise her orphaned niece (Abigail Breslin) and cope with a new sous-chef at work (Aaron Eckhart) whose zest for life threatens her control of the kitchen.
'Really terrifying'
To play chefs, both Zeta-Jones and Eckhart had a lot of training.
"The idea of being a chef, for me, was really terrifying," says the actress, who admits that prior to No Reservations, she couldn't really even boil an egg. "I had my little apron on, looking ever so professional, and I was looking at Aaron going, 'Oh God, my finger's coming off before you know it.' But after a few weeks of that, I felt quite comfortable in the kitchen. I still do."
So now she cooks at home?
"All the time," says Zeta-Jones, faking a saintly air and getting a big laugh.
She says she even pretended to be a waitress during her chef training.
"I went out on the floor, which was terrifying. I know a lot of actors have worked as waiters, but I never had. Then I started screwing up my lines, forgetting what sauce it was."
She was told by some diners she looked a lot like Catherine Zeta-Jones. "Yeah -- I get that all the time," she responded.
The Oscar winner and her husband, actor Michael Douglas, have two young children. Asked how she balances work and family, Zeta-Jones says, "I hate to say balance when it comes to my family and children, because at the end of the day that is my life and everything else is a bonus. What's changed for me since I've had my family is that the logistics have gone crazy. As opposed to me being offered a role in Romania for four months, and I'd say, 'What time's my flight?' and I'd pack my case and be gone. Now, I can't do that, and I try to schedule my work in between times when the kids can come with me, or when I know Michael's definitely not working and he's with them."
Zeta-Jones is an accomplished singer and dancer and was starring in musical theatre by the age of 15. A lead role in The Darling Buds of May made her a U.K. television celebrity by the time she was 21. She was in a handful of films before her role in The Mask of Zorro (1998) made her a household name; since then, she has starred in such films as High Fidelity, Entrapment, Traffic, America's Sweetheart, Ocean's Twelve and The Legend Of Zorro, among other movies.
She won an Academy Award for her performance in Chicago in 2002.
Healthy ambition
Zeta-Jones says she has a healthy ambition but is not as obsessed about work as is Kate, her character in No Reservations.
"I wouldn't say I was such a control freak, the way Kate is, or that there was nothing else in my life. I have my friends and my other life besides my career ... I don't want to say I'm a perfectionist the way she is, because it's borderline anal-retentive, and I'd hate to give myself that title!"
She continues, "There is a much shyer quality to me that most people don't usually see, and I could relate to Kate in that way, a little reserved, because I get perceived as: 'Ta-Da! Here comes the showgirl!' In fact, I have many insecurities and I'm a lot more reserved and quiet than I let on to be."
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