"We all have reputations, whether they're true or not," he admitted, insisting that Heigl was the picture of professionalism during their shoot.

"She was not only not all of those things mentioned in the article … 'Oh she was late and never came out of the trailer,' nothing," he says. "She showed up, worked her tail off, super funny, super gracious, great to the cast, great to the crew, and was a total pro. Someone that's been doing it forever. You walk away and go, well that's a great actress and a great person to work with."

Heigl had been accused of making outrageous diva demands in the piece. She's also been slammed for criticizing her first big film, Knocked Up, as sexist, and pulling herself out of Emmy consideration for Grey's because, she said, the writing wasn't good enough.

But could she have learned her lesson? In a recent statement about her upcoming NBC show, which features Heigl as a CIA liaison to the president, she went out of her way to praise her collaborators, and her writer in particular.