Chloe Sevigny - Brief Article - Interview

SHE'S ONLY TWENTY-FIVE, BUT IT'S ALREADY HARD TO IMAGINE THE MOVIES WITHOUT HER

[telephone rings)

NIGRID SISCHY: Hi, Chloe. How are you? Where are you?

CHLOE SEVIGNY: I'm okay. I'm at my mom's house in Connecticut. For some reason I can't sleep in New York City, so when I come home I have to catch up. I slept twelve hours last night.

IS: Well, you're going to have to learn to sleep in New York. Didn't you just sign a lease for your own place in the city? That's a big step, madame.

CS: Yes. Up until now I've either lived with Harmony Korine [scriptwriter for Kids (1995), director of Gummo (1997) and Julien Donkey-Boy (1999)] or with friends. I've actually been living with my mom in Connecticut for the past two years. I signed the lease during the photo shoot for your story. But I haven't been approved by the board yet. The apartment is in an artists' residence building, but now they've become sort of wary of artists-you know, "Do we really want some young actress in the building who's gonna be loud and rambunctious?" [laughs]

IS: For many people I bet It's a shock to hear you've never had your own apartment. Here you are, basically synonymous with New York hipness--you've done all these movies, and are so worldly--yet you're just beginning to officially go out on your own.

CS: [laughs)

IS: So, now I take it you're going to become one of these "new, young Park Avenue socialites."

CS: [really laughs] Actually, the apartment is downtown. It's just nineteen feet by twelve feet.

IS: Sounds like one of my first apartments in New York. Has It been good for you to live with your mother? Like an anchor in a time of many changes?

CS: I've been living here because I'm always traveling so much, either promoting a film or working on one, but it's nice to be with my mother and in the house that I grew up in. Still, the more I'm around the more annoyed I get.

IS: I'm sure it's mutual [laughs].

CS: Sure. When you're twenty-five, it's pretty much time to go. But even when I move into Manhattan, I'll come back every weekend to Connecticut. I've lived in this town my whole life, so every time I go out I see people I know, mostly parents of people I grew up with.

IS: And what do they have to say?

CS: [High-pitched voice] "Oh, it's so exciting. I saw you in Vogue." And a lot of them see my films, which kind of freaks, me out, especially with Boys Don't Cry.

IS: When I first met you, it was in the summer of '95, around the time Kids came out, when we did the cover story on you. Does It. feel like a long time ago to you?

CS: It does, yes. A lifetime ago, almost.

IS: Since then, your movies have been-

CS: Kids [1995], Trees Lounge [1996], Gummo [1997], Palmetto [1998], The Last Days of Disco [1998], A Map of the World [1999] with Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore, Boys Don't Cry [1999], American Psycho [2000] ...

IS: You did the costumes for Gummo too, right?

CS: Yes. I wish I could do more. But right now I'm focusing on acting.

IS: Tell me how you choose a part.

CS: When I get sent a script, I see who's involved, and if there's someone--the writer, the director, another actor, the producer--that I know and who has done good work before, then I'm immediately intrigued. And if the film involves someone whose work I don't respect, I have a hard time reading it and I usually can't get past the fifth page. Of course I'm still not at a place where I can necessarily get the parts I want--but I don't know whether anybody ever is.

IS: Tell me about a part you've gotten that you didn't think you were going to get.

CS: I guess the one in Boys Don't Cry, because they offered it to two other actresses before me, and I thought for sure one of them would have done it. I've wanted to be a part of telling that story since the first time I heard it.

IS: What was striking about your performance was that you never seemed to feel the need to signal to the audience, "Hey, I'm really an actress, not a girl in love with a boy who's really a girl." You just gave the part and the plot all the realness and authenticity it deserved.

CS: Thank you.

IS: And then when the film took off, and you were nominated for an Oscar, you really kept your perspective. [remember reading somewhere that you said, "I don't even think it would be a good thing If I got it; it feels too early."

CS: I did say that.

IS: Anyway, during the whole Oscar hoopla, did a lot of directors come up and tell you how much they love your work?

CS: A lot of directors' wives did.

IS: And were you doing the whole Hollywood thing while you were out there?

CS: I spent a lot of time with my friends Tara Sub-koff and Matthew Damhave.

IS: How did you become friends with them?

CS: Tara and I worked on The Last Days of Disco together. It's really rare that you keep any friends from a film, and for some reason we really clicked. She's from Westport, Connecticut, and I'm from Darien, so there's just something there. We've maintained this relationship for years now. We met Matthew at a rock show, for a band called The Champs, in L.A. He's the guy I brought with me the other night when we all went out. Anyway, we started talking to him and hanging around with him. Eventually they decided to start a clothing business together. It's called Imitation of Christ.