Nearly every article written about Chloë Sevigny recalls the 90s New Yorker profile which christened her “the coolest girl in the world.” The title still rings true, but “it-girl” status often connotes a kind of flash-in-the-pan appeal, or fading style rather than enduring substance. Sevigny has radically defied this notion, again and again and again. From Dogville to The Last Days of Disco, A Map of the World to American Psycho, Big Love to Boys Don’t Cry, she has made brilliantly bold choices as an actor, and wholly committed herself to each of the vastly varied roles she’s played.
“I love losing myself in the moment and creating something,” Sevigny told Eugene Hernandez, deputy director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, during a conversation at last weekend’s Provincetown International Film Festival. Sevigny was honored with the PIFF’s Excellence in Acting prize, a well-earned testament to the two decades she’s spent shaping independent cinema in front of the camera. Recently, she’s challenged herself to step behind it.
Sevigny’s newest film, Beatriz at Dinner (one of a reported six she’s appearing in this year alone) screened at the PIFF, as did her directorial debut, the short film Kitty. On the horizon: starring in her first leading role ever, and directing her debut feature film. In a pair of milk-white Margiela Tabi boots, the native New Englander sat down with Hernandez to discuss film, fashion, and what her future holds. Here are five things we learned from the revealing conversation.
Sassy wasn’t really Sevigny’s start.
Chloë’s origin story is the stuff of New York City legend: spotted on the street by Sassy editor Jane Pratt, teenage Sevigny landed an internship and modeling gigs with the magazine, a job at rave boutique Liquid Sky, spots in Sonic Youth videos, and her first-ever role in Kids. All of this is true, but Sevigny had resolved to become an actress long before she was hanging out downtown. After her mom took her to see Annie on Broadway at five years old, “That was kind of it for me.” She did summer theater camps, school productions, modeling and catalogue work, even a few commercials. One of them was for Voltron, “the poor man’s Transformer. ‘Go Voltron Force!'” she laughed.
Kitty has been over 20 years in the making.
Sevigny first met Harmony Korine — the Tennessee native who famously wrote Kids at just 19 years old — hanging out in Washington Square when she was a high school junior. “We were fast friends,” she explained. “He liked thick Puerto Rican girls, and I was this really skinny blonde girl from Connecticut, so he wasn’t really interested in me. Eventually, I won him over.” They started dating after Kids wrapped, and work on Gummo began at their Prince St. apartment. In addition to starring in the film, Sevigny designed its costumes, and went down to Nashville with Korine to work on pre-production and casting. “It was the first time I’d ever really been privy to the whole process, and it was really exciting to be a part of.”
Around that same time, the couple developed a fascination with Mohammed Mrabet, Jane Bowles, and Paul Bowles. “Soon after we made Gummo, Harmony and I went to Morocco just kind of following in their footsteps.” Sevigny read Bowles’s story at 19, and said it’s always stood out. “It’s a perfect little short. I’ve always been interested in fantasy and fairy tales. [Kitty’s] relationship between the mother and daughter, the mother not recognizing something in the daughter, and loss, really connects,” Sevigny explained.
Working with directors discouraged her from stepping behind the camera.
Though she’d been interested in adapting Kitty since the beginning of her career, “the more sets I was on, the more directors I worked with, the more intimidated by the process I became,” Sevigny told Hernandez. “Especially working with the kind of directors I was working with — people who were so accomplished, and, for the most part, insane.” A lifelong cinephile, Sevigny said she grew up on Jim Jarmusch films like Down By Law and Stranger Than Paradise. “Fassbinder was a favorite early on because of his strong female characters,” she said. Working with writer-directors was something “that was really important to me when I started off acting.”
Throughout her career, Sevigny has collaborated with some of the most iconoclastic writer-directors of the twentieth century, including Korine, Werner Herzog, Woody Allen, and Lars Von Trier. (During the audience Q&A, John Waters asked Sevigny about her work with the controversial Danish director: “I hope you had a better experience than Björk,” a reference to 2000’s Dancer in the Dark. “I did,” said Sevigny. “I think Lars tortures the main actresses, and the supporting players get a free ride. We had a funny rapport, but he was harder on Nicole [Kidman].”)
“I backed away from the idea of directing,” Sevigny admitted. “Then I turned 40 and returned to it.”
She wants to keep shooting on film, but is learning to deal with the digital world.
Sevigny shot Kitty using 35mm celluloid film — an expensive decision these days, but one that still yields the most stunning visual result. “I grew up with [celluloid], and I just think there’s a magical quality to film,” Sevigny explained. And yet, she’s coming to realize it won’t be able to be projected in 35mm glory everywhere, and lo-res downloads are a way of life. “My friend Natasha Lyonne just directed her first short. She said, ‘I’m watching every cut on the phone, because that’s how everyone’s gonna watch it.’ I’m like, ‘God damn, I never did that! What’s wrong with me!'”
Yet Sevigny says she’ll shoot film as long as she can. “I bought all the short ends off Nocturnal Animals,” she told Hernandez (short ends are unused and undeveloped film stock cut from reels and resold after a film has wrapped). “I’m writing another short and then will hopefully develop a feature.”
She’s ready to lead.
Sevigny has played and can play any part, from a shopaholic sister-wife to a transgender assassin. Yet, looking back, “I feel I was more focused on the filmmakers instead of the parts,” she said. “As in the early fashion days, I was working with creative minds I was drawn to who were doing things I thought were interesting. I focused on ensemble films most of my career, and I wish I had more opportunities to carry a picture.” No time like the present. One of Sevigny’s newest projects sees her play Lizzie Borden — the figure of a macabre New England legend — alongside Kristen Stewart. “It’s my first lead role ever, and I’ve been working in the movies for over 20 years.” Here’s to 20 more.
Credits
Text Emily Manning
Photography Marcelo Krasilcic, 1994