A PRESTIGE HONG KONG EXCLUSIVE
THE RELUCTANT ICON - CHLOË SEVIGNY
by Stephen Short

Do you make your merry way from New York to Los Angeles often?
Not merrily, more like miserably [laughs]. I live in New York, I own an apartment, and Los Angeles is just a place I come to work. Now I’m going to buckle down and concentrate on work. It’s been hard but I’m going to try and force myself to stay here and do something, but my life has always been more important than my work. But, you know, we’ve had writers’ strikes in New York, so I’ve been doing other things for the last six months and things came around . . . I was doing more work in fashion and whatnot because I wanted to be in New York and there wasn’t much work to be had. So everything is circumstantial as well. There’s no master plan.

So you actively dislike Los Angeles.
Yes. I have to drag me kicking and screaming, as a matter of fact, to LA.

Do you feel differently about your sexuality in New York and Los Angeles?
I was thinking about that just the other day. Whenever I’m here in LA, whatever kind of confidence I’ve gained in New York goes out the window [laughs] . . . because the city is built around the industry or something, I’m not sure what it is, but the town always does my head in and I’m trying to get over that.

Having lived as you did for a long time with the It-girl label, is it a good or bad thing?
I’m not sure. The It-girl concept has been around forever and people don’t have very long attention spans these days, so it’s out with the old, in with the new over and over again. I’ve tried not to let that dictate me and what I’m going to do, but do what I want regardless. I haven’t been like, “Oh my God, I have to be out there, I have to be present.” I’ve never really felt like that. As where, a lot of people when they become successful, that kind of bogs them down. Because once you get really big and on top, you have to try very hard to stay there, I think.

Who’s the current It girl for you?
Oh jeez, I don’t know [laughs].

You must.
Nooo . . . I guess Ellen Page is having a moment. She’s the girl from Juno. Who else? I feel like there must be others but they’re not coming to me right now.

You think Ellen merits her moment?
I like her attitude, although I haven’t really seen enough to judge her yet. But I like her . . . she’s okie [laughs]. She’s kind of in the vein of all those other sassy young actresses with “wise beyond their years” attitudes.

Talking of Natalie Portman, have you seen The Other Boleyn Girl [also starring Scarlett Johansson]?
I did and I have to say I was really impressed with Scarlett’s performance. Scarlett’s so attractive it’s distracting. I felt Natalie was a little young for that part. It was more casting than her, per se. We often say there’s no such thing as bad acting, just bad casting [laughs].

What about the style merits of the two?
I think in some ways they’re very similar. Acting is their main thing, so whether they’re style icons doesn’t really bother them. I think Scarlett maybe has more fun with it, more of a “who cares?” attitude, as where perhaps Natalie is very much more classical or timeless. I don’t think either of them really cares too much about anything else to propel them. They’re both so incredibly attractive . . . as where some others, maybe we need help [laughs].

What about Madonna’s daughter, Lourdes? Do you think she’ll become an It girl?
I think she’s too young. They’re not going to exploit her in that way. But she’s so beautiful. Maybe her mother will help her deal with that in some way . . . [laughs]. Her mum’s pretty savvy that way, no?

Just a bit. I see Wong Kar-wai’s My Blueberry Nights just premiered in New York. Did you see it?
I did see that. I thought the film was stunning visually and I thought Natalie was the best . . . she and Rachel Weisz [laughs]. But I was amazed by that one strand of hair that stayed on her face the whole time – how did they get just that one strand? [Laughs.] But overall I wasn’t crazy about the movie. Once again I felt Natalie was too young for the character. [Sevigny lets out a small scream.]

Are you okay?
There’s some crazy animal fight happening outside my room. Can you hear it? Gosh, my first night in a new house and there are raccoons screaming outside my window. It’s always kind of scary when you’re walking up the path at night and you’re thinking, oh God, these raccoons are going to come out and get me.