Can you play guitar or any other instrument?
I can play guitar a little bit, but I learned how to play bass guitar just
before starting filming. I wasn't going to do the movie so I had to learn
really quick. I learned and was really good at it. Someone else is actually playing in the movie, but I wouldn't do it unless I looked like I knew how to play. They never show the bass player much in videos so you don't really see me playing that much.
Is it an actor's dream to play strung out and not very glamorous
characters?
I think it's an actor's dream just to be able to play a character, period.
In "The Sopranos," [I'm] such a character - all the hair and makeup transformation and all of that. I prefer that than just having to look like myself and act normal.
What do you think about your wardrobe and make-up in this movie?
I wouldn't do the movie unless they allowed me not to have makeup, hair and wardrobe. I didn't want them to make me look like this glamorized Hollywood version of someone in a band. Once I got to know the people who were doing hair, makeup and wardrobe, I wouldn't have cared if they had done it. But I was real adamant about not looking too fancy and wearing cool clothes. I was just a slob in the film.
What was your first exposure to this project?
This started a long time ago and nobody was involved. It was just me, Robin Whitehouse and Cheri Lovedog. Robin, my partner, kind of found Cheri [and] developed the project through Fat Chance Productions in Manhattan. That's a company where we find new writers and give them a voice. So it was just the three of us. Cheri was playing the role of Jacki at CBGB's and then I had to fall out the last minute to film a movie, so I kind of
backed out. Then they got funding for the film, Gina [Gershon] came on, they wanted me to do it so I said yes, then I said no, then I said no, then I said no (laughing).
Do you think the audience might be surprised by how serious this film gets?
Yes. They're definitely going to think it's more a fun, cliché rock and roll chick film, which is one of the reasons I didn't want to do it originally. I was really afraid it would be corny.
So how do you think it will win audiences over?
I think it will definitely appeal to young girls more than anybody. A lot of guys will go because it's Gina. But I never think about the film after I act in it so I don't know how people will respond to it.
You went to school to become a director? How did you end up an actor?
I grew up at HB Studios. I swore I would never do what they did so I did the anti-theater and went to film school. Underneath it all, I am probably
the shyest kid you'd ever meet. I really did want to act. I thought it was way too indulgent to say that I was an actor. It was embarrassing. I still think it's embarrassing.
Your mother is involved in the industry, isn't she?
My mother was Robin Whitehouse's screenwriting teacher, and Robin developed this with Cheri. [My mother] was in it from the onset of the
play telling them what was wrong with it and when she saw it, she was
pleasantly surprised because we weren't sure... We thought it was going to come out a little corny.
Page 2: Drea de Matteo on Future Projects and "The Sopranos"
