Holmes played the first daughter the same time Hager was serving as the first daughter in real life.
Jenna Bush Hager missed a very important phone call. On Wednesday's Today With Hoda and Jenna, the host opened up about the moment Katie Holmes reached out to her -- and she didn't pick up.
While talking about doing research for roles, Hoda Kotb asked Holmes if she remembers the time she reached out to a particular first daughter, ahead of playing one in her film, First Daughter.
"I believe I did," the actress playfully responded when asked if she called Hager, who along with her sister, Barbara Bush, was the first daughter as their father, George W. Bush, served as president from 2001-2009.
Hager went on to explain exactly how the moment went down.
"I was with my college roommate, we were watching Dawson's Creek, I'm not joking, and we turned it off," Hager recalled. "I lived in Texas and I was like, 'Who called me from L.A.?' and I listened to the message and it was Katie. And I was too embarrassed."
While Holmes laughed the moment off, Hager assured her that she didn't miss anything by not doing firsthand research.
"Also, if you would have come and done research, you would have been like, 'Wow, this is quite boring,'" Hager said.
She added about her life not reflecting the film, "I never fell in love with a Secret Service man, but I did have a friend make out with one."
"I'm sure you did," Holmes quipped. "That seems like a job of a friend."
In the 2004 film, Holmes plays the daughter of the U.S. president (Michael Keaton) who attends college and wants to experience life away from the watchful eye of the Secret Service.
Though Hager didn't have the chance to speak with Holmes, she did give her performance in the movie her seal of approval and offered another apology.
"I'm sorry I didn't call you back," she said. "My real life didn't really match the movie. The research you would have learned would have been kind of gross."
Holmes echoed Hager's sentiments, telling her that she admired her as a first daughter.
"It was such a fun movie to do," Holmes said. "And I was looking to you, I mean, I was just like, 'What was that like, to carry that?' And you carried that so beautifully."
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