The late actress gushed over seeing a reflection of herself in one of her former on-screen daughters.
If Anne Heche's life were a movie, she knew just who to put in the lead role. In a posthumously-released podcast interview clip, Heche opened up about the possibility of putting her life on screen and which actresses she'd want to play a younger version of herself.
"Miley Cyrus or Kristen Bell. I've already thought about it," she said on the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast in a video released on Monday.
Heche said that "the two of them share a personality ability to face the world in a way that ... I feel like I have, and I would want portrayed."
The Wag the Dog star called Cyrus "a great f***ing actress" and said she was particularly enamored with her Hannah Montana portrayal, while noting that she also began working at a young age doing dinner theater in New Jersey.
"I've seen her Hannah Montana. To be able to do that, to be able to express that, to be able to be as bold as she's been -- going from Disney into, you know, 'Wrecking Ball,'" Heche gushed, "the way she moves, the way she sings, her voice, her compassion -- she f**king loves everyone. Her ability to get out on stage and sing a cappella! That would be the way that I would see a pure artist engaging with the world."
As for Bell, she and Heche previously shared the screen in the 2004 Lifetime movie, Gracie's Choice.
"Kristen Bell gave me my second Emmy nomination," Heche said of the collaboration, in which the pair played mother and daughter. "Kristen, again, felt like a reflection to me ... Her ability to tell story, do it through joy, do it with her personality, charm, gorgeous timing, and humor -- I see myself a lot in her. I don't think it's any mistake that I played her mom, and now I want her to play me."
A lightbulb practically lit up in real time as Heche mused that she could now play her own mother in the hypothetical film. "Ooh, b***!" she exclaimed. "That would get some ratings."
Heche talked extensively about writing a follow-up to her 2001 memoir, Call Me Crazy, with a new book, Call Me Sane, which would chronicle her journey of moving beyond trauma and abuse while helping others to do the same.
"You go, 'OK, how can I get into a system of reclaiming my identity, helping others to find theirs, and giving us some steps and some processes and practices that could help us reidentify with ourselves more quickly, with a little less pain, and with support around you that can answer some questions?'" she said. "That's who I am."
Calling it "the flip side" of Call Me Crazy, she explained, "It's the practice of how to get over abuse and how to start the process of living in love with yourself that engaged with others, and living in love with kindness so you can bring yourself to others in a full capacity."
The interview comes shortly after Heche's Men in Trees co-star, Emily Bergl, paid a touching tribute to the actress -- who was declared dead on Friday, a week after a fiery car crash. In a lengthy post on her Instagram, Bergl honored Heche, who was often described as “crazy.”
“You worked with crazy Anne Heche?” “So how crazy was she?” I worked with Anne Heche for two years on the TV show Men in Trees, and this line of questioning was usually the first out of people’s mouths,” the 47-year-old wrote next to a photo of the late actress.
“She elicited more curiosity than any other famous person I’ve ever worked with. I’d like to give you the answers to the questions I most received about Anne, answers that I gave many, many times. Anne was not only a genius, but one of the most astoundingly focused and prepared actors I’ve ever worked with. I don’t think I ever saw her miss her mark. I imagine she may have called for her line once or twice but I can’t recall her ever needing it."
She shared stories of their time together on set, concluding with a poignant sentiment about Heche's memoir.
“It’s no wonder Anne titled her brilliant memoir Call Me Crazy, she beat everyone to the punch. She was talking about mental health before it was acceptable to talk about those struggles,” the actress added. “She was raped by her father, her brother killed himself, and her mother told her she would burn in Hell for loving a woman. But despite a sometimes harrowing life, she was so much fun to be around. She was insouciant, joyous, insightful.”
Bergl ended her tribute, “We so rarely investigate the abuse, the gaslighting, the misogyny, the homophobia that drives people to finally take up the 'crazy' mantle that’s been placed upon them. I would tell you to read Call Me Crazy, but it’s now $200 on Amazon. I paid it because I want to read it again. She was a true genius, and I miss her. #ripanneheche.”
The post prompted loving responses from Heche's former partner, James Tupper, Amanda Seyfried, and more.
On Aug. 5, Heche was rushed to the hospital with severe burns after she crashed her blue Mini Cooper into a home, shortly before 11 a.m. P.T.
Heche was declared dead on Friday at the age of 53. On Sunday, a rep confirmed to ET that the actress was "peacefully" taken off life support, as her organs found recipients for transplants. In the week following her accident and death, Heche was flooded with tributes from her former co-stars, friends and Tupper -- who is the father of her 13-year-old son, Atlas.
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