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

A great metaphor for the industry in Los Angeles. You only just arrived in LA, yet you were training with a choreographer for Barry Munday today.
Yes. There’s a scene in the movie where the title character goes to a strip club and he thinks he sees my character dancing there. And my character is like a real “goody two-shoes” in the movie. You know, the family jewel, the favourite child. I can’t really give anything away, but I have to do the dance . . . so I had to learn some moves.

Are you not a great mover?
No, I’m awful [laughs]. The choreographer was very patient with me. My character is quite sexy and attractive, and as such I’ve never really played a sexy girl. They’re always kind of frumpy or . . .

Damaged?
Yes. And she’s very confident, and it’s a comedy. That’s great for me because I haven’t really done anything comedic in film. Big Love has its comedic moments, but it’s nothing like this.

That interests me about you. You’ve always played dark characters, yet there’s a feeling you have more to give. While your films have been interesting, they haven’t explored your full range. I’d love to see you do more comedy. I think you’d do it well.
Thank you. My friends agree with that [laughs].

What are you reading?
Right now I’m reading a biography of Judy Garland, who I’m obsessed with, so I’ve been watching a lot of her films and listening to a lot of her records. I’ve been reading about fascinating women. Before that I was reading about Nancy Cunard, who was a socialite, a champion of equal rights and dated black men in the ’20s and was very controversial, so I’ve been in kind of a “bio” moment . . . Oh my God!

The raccoons again?
Yeah.

What’s your politics? Where do you stand on Clinton versus Obama?
I’m undecided. I tend not to get political in magazines. But I’m definitely left-leaning. The problem is, I like Obama’s policies but I like Hillary’s personality a little more. Not that one outweighs the other, but yeah . . .

What was Woody Allen’s perception of you when he cast you, and did it change?
[Laughs] Woody Allen probably said about four words to me the entire time we were shooting. I read something about Judy Davis, who said she’d worked on a bunch of his films, maybe four or five, and he’s probably said four or five words to her, so . . . I felt like I was in good company. I thought at least if he doesn’t say anything to me, he must be happy with what I’m doing.

Are costume and wardrobe crew on film sets scared by your style credentials?
Nooo. I hope not. But I did have one director who said to me, “Do you know what I find works for me, Chloë? When I focus on my own job.” [Laughs] But I’m just obsessive-compulsive sometimes and it happened to be that the set dresser was trying to dress the set and put more stuff there and I was making suggestions, but I guess he didn’t like that. So, you know, what can you do? I couldn’t help it. Film is a collaborative effort and I’m trying to keep my mouth shut or not, you know . . . [laughs].

If you were me, trying to “package” you in this cover story, what’s the angle, what would you say?
I think a lot of people probably assume with the fashion that I love it, that I court it, but I don’t necessarily. That’s not something I’ve really admitted before in the same way. Some people know me solely for that and it’s frustrating, but at least more people are watching Big Love and I think opinions are starting to change.■