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Does it feel strange to be starring in two films released on the same day?
“I wanted to call Cate Blanchett because she has three movies all coming out around the same time. I saw this interview with her and they said, ‘What do you do when you find that out?’ And she’s like, ‘Try not to panic!’ No, I think actually it’s cool because the films are targeting such different audiences.”
Your characters in The Astronaut Farmer and The Number 23 couldn’t be more different.
“If I was doing Astronaut Farmer and a romantic comedy, that would be a bummer because they’d be in direct competition and I’d get all my stories mixed up. There’s definitely a big difference between Jim Carrey going insane and Billy Bob going to the moon.”
Was it fun to play two very different characters in The Number 23?
“It was great.”
You’re so sexy in that film. Why haven’t we seen you play the femme fatale in a while?
“That’s what mostly everybody knew me from, from the ‘80s. It’s been so long but I thought it was a great opportunity to take those two images of me that people have and have them collide in one movie.”
That femme fatale role really suited you. Would you take on a part like that again?
“Oh yeah, I’d love to do it again. Actually, that part of the movie it was great to be Fabrizia for like the first three hours. First of all, it took me a long time to get there, you know? I’m jeans and sweatshirt girl, and I’m modest. It’s in my nature. I’m not embarrassed or shy about myself, but I’m modest. So to put on lingerie and like strut around publicly like I own the place and to be that sexually powerful, it’s like I had to ask myself some pretty serious questions. Like, ‘Why isn’t that okay? Why isn’t that okay to overpower the men with your sexuality?’
I would walk on and I wouldn’t wear a robe. I would walk around the set and oh man, it was so cool and the guys would just be like, ‘Ooohhh…’ They would stop what they were doing. They couldn’t speak to me. They couldn’t even look at me – only secretly. And then the women wouldn’t talk to me either. They’d suddenly look at this or find something they had to do. And Jim wouldn’t talk to me. We didn’t even realize this till the other day when Joel [Schumacher] was saying we were like two boxers when we were in the dark roles, the dark characters. We’d be in our separate corners and Jim would be having the 23 stuff in his ear, or hanging out with the guys. (Laughing) I’d be off alone and then after a few hours of being like this I’d see myself in the mirror and I’d be like, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
How tough was that for you to deal with?
“I felt really alone, and then after I was like laughing at myself. Fabrizia would sort of start falling off me in pieces, because it was such a limited time. It was just this one aspect of me. It was such an extreme character because she’s not a real person, she’s a male fantasy. Then by the end of the day I just felt embarrassed. I felt like I wanted to put on a robe and go home. It was easy for me to do those kinds of scenes.”
What are you going to work on next?
“I don’t know. I haven’t read anything that I really like.”
You must get a lot of scripts now, especially with the success of Sideways.
“It’s great. I get a lot and I still read everything I can. Somebody sent me a movie that a 15-year-old old was going to direct and they had zero dollars. I mean, it would have cost me money to do it, but I still read their script. I still read TV scripts. I read just about everything that comes in. Now it takes me longer though because I have so many (laughing).”
That’s a nice feeling, isn’t it? To feel appreciated for the work you do?
“Yeah. I feel really blessed. I still feel grateful, you know? I still feel like when they send me a script I’m like, ‘Wow, it’s mine? Oh my God, that’s so cool. Somebody offered me a job!’”
Have you received any scripts from writers who say they’ve written a part specifically for you?
“I actually have. I’ve got one that I’m trying to produce and it was a director that I did three movies with, a guy named Marty Davidson. He did like Lords of Flatbush and Eddie and the Cruisers. We made this great baseball movie called Long Gone. His wife was always the costume designer and now she designs restaurants and stuff. I met them around the Sideways time and I said, ‘You know, we were a really good team. Why don’t we do it again? Would you write something for me?’ And like weeks later, I had a script. He wrote something for me. I love it and I can’t get it financed.”
Studios won’t buy into it?
“No. It’s not commercial to them. I think it will be in the end, but it’s a problem - I’m the central character. I’m 45, you know? And it’s about a woman and her father who’s dying and her son. It’s just one of those wonderful relationship movies.”
Do you think studios will ever catch on to the fact audiences are interested in films aimed at adults that feature women as the central characters? Look at the success of The Devil Wears Prada…
“I know. And nobody thought Sideways would work. I thought after Sideways that there would be a whole series of Sideways-style films, or those attempting to be or even bad versions, but just something. Movies that had a good story and they certainly are going to the Academy Awards, some of those, but it hasn’t happened. I’m not exactly sure why that wasn’t proof enough, but I understand it’s a business. But if you make a good movie, you’re going to sell it.”
