Letter from the editor July

This month we open the issue on page 16 with an artwork of fireworks, created especially for Interview by artist Chris Johanson. Not only are the fireworks symbolic of America's big July holiday, Independence Day, they also could be thought of as a metaphor for many of the dynamic, individualistic, outspoken people who we cover this month.

Particularly the women. As you'll see when you read the interviews with Emily Mortimer (page 46) and Samantha Morton (page 82), these actresses truly embody what it means to be independent, and even courageous, in their work. Then there's artist Jenny Holzer, whose revolutionary approach to art, language and technology has never let up in over 20 years. In her interview, which starts on page 32, Holzer says something about America that really epitomizes why a holiday like the Fourth of July means so much to so many of us who live in this country, whether we arrived as immigrants, like myself, or whether we were born here. Holzer says: "In this country. . . people have been able, even encouraged, to see things in the round--to describe events from every point of view. If this is lost, it's a shame and it's dangerous." She is, of course, talking about the importance of freedom of expression, something that our cover subject, Kate Bosworth, also discusses, but from a completely different angle--surfing, the spo rt that has always been identified with freedom.

It would be dumb to say that surfing's back, because it never went away. But it is true that there is a kind of explosion around surfing right now in the popular culture, be it in movies, music, style, the growth of the sport, etc. Some of this explosion, no doubt, is because of what surfing stands for--this includes a sense of freedom, independence, individuality and even the feeling of being carefree. In fact, these are the very things that have been so spotlit as endangered and at stake ever since the events of September 11, 2001, so it makes sense that surfing and its lifestyle seem to have so captured people's hearts these days.

Thinking about all this, and wanting to give you the early scoop on Kate Bosworth, way before she turns up on the cover of every other magazine, we decided that the much-buzzed-about star of Blue Crush, this summer's entry into the long history of Hollywood surfing movies, was just the ticket for our July cover story. The film itself isn't scheduled to open until next month; and, by the way, nobody is pretending that this is a film that claims to get to the core of the American subculture that surfing is (for a discussion on that and on the all-time top 10 great surf songs, see the special sidebars by Lynda Obst and Greil Marcus that are included with the cover story). Unlike the upcoming Step Into Liquid, Blue Crush is a Hollywood movie, a piece of pop culture--not a documentary. And Bosworth gets the difference between the real thing and the Hollywood thing; but she also clearly understands the power of entertainment. In our issue, talking to her famously fiery interviewer, Michelle Rodriguez, who's also i n Blue Crush, Bosworth explains why the part meant so much to her:

"What I identified with the most reading the script--because I hadn't surfed before--was how strong and independent my character, Anne Marie, was. And that's a priceless thing, to be able to play a person like that and show that kind of example to the world."

The day we were laying out our cover story on Bosworth and surfing movies and music, there was sad news-that Kevyn Aucoin, once described in this magazine as the "Matisse of makeup," had died at the age of 40 from complications of a metabolic disorder. Aucoin, who created a number of truly memorable stories for Interview, was adored by the actresses he worked with. A few years ago, when he was being interviewed for us by Courtney Love on the occasion of the publication of his second book, Making Faces, he gave away a clue to the secret of what made people trust him so. He showed how much he himself understood problems of self-esteem. He said:

"I was hoping that through helping people see the beauty in themselves, I could try and find it in me. Growing up, I was shy and effeminate and was therefore considered ugly. Other kids threw that word at me a lot. . . So my perception of myself was hideous. When I walked around, peopIe would laugh. I spent much of my life hiding."

Well, Kevyn stopped hiding and, like a flower to the sun, he was attracted to the limelight. He not only found his own place in it, he truly made his mark, which is a rela accomplishment in the world of beauty. When I was rereading the interview he did with Love for us, I came across this extraordinarily prescient story he told about himself and a teacher he'd had:

"She told us this allegory about the seven-year locusts, who had a boring, boring life, and the moth, who lived a very short life and flew toward the flame. Our teacher wanted all of us to be safe and boring. I was the only one who said I'd rather be the moth. And she gave me this lecture. She basically told me that I was the devil because I wanted to have an exciting life. But I never believed her. I always knew I was right."