Exene Cervenka is the gold standard for what all punk rock musicians should be. She is uncompromising, self deprecating and a real renaissance woman. She of course came to fame in the 1970’s with the seminal punk band X. Since then Exene has had numerous other bands and her latest, Exene Cervenka &... more

Exene Cervenka is the gold standard for what all punk rock musicians should be. She is uncompromising, self deprecating and a real renaissance woman. She of course came to fame in the 1970’s with the seminal punk band X. Since then Exene has had numerous other bands and her latest, Exene Cervenka & Original Sinners, has just released their second album titled Sev7en. It features Jason Edge and members of the band The 7 Shot Screamers.

Buy Sev7en

Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you going to be doing today?

Exene Cervenka: Playing a show in Corona, California.

DRE: Is it a Sinners show?

EC: Yes, it’s a Sinners show. Before that I’ll be doing my taxes.

DRE: I’m doing them today too.

EC: At 1 o’clock I have a dental appointment.

DRE: What’s wrong?

EC: Nothing.

DRE: I read that you consider The Sinners album to have a surf kind of vibe, is that true?

EC: There are some songs that have that.

DRE: What made you want to do something like that?

EC: It’s an opportunity to play with my husband, Jason. I really like playing with him. We can write songs together and tour and whatnot. Then I found a really great band, called The 7 Shot Screamers, out of St. Louis that can play my songs the way I want them played. So we kind of married them. It’s just fun and it’s different from X or The Knitters. It’s harder because it doesn’t have the recognition that X has, but it’s still really fun.

DRE: Is it harder to get people to come to the shows?

EC: Yeah, people just love X so much that it has to be really separate from that, you can’t compare it. It’s just a totally different world. I need a lot of stuff to do.

DRE: Why is that?

EC: Because life is short.

DRE: Is getting people to come to the shows the most difficult aspect of The Sinners?

EC: I don’t find anything about it real difficult. We played our first show on this tour last night and it went fine. So I don’t know about people coming or not coming. I don’t know what to expect from this tour. We’re doing the whole country so anything can happen. I love going on the road.

DRE: How’s writing with your husband?

EC: It’s great.

DRE: You usually collaborate with the people you’re with, right?

EC: Sometimes. Most of the songs on these two Original Sinners records I wrote myself. But I work with John still. We’re working on an X record right now, so we’ll see if that works out. We haven’t sat down with the bass yet and really worked on vocals or anything. I’m really excited that there’s a possibility that we’ll be making an X record this year.

DRE: Cool. I think the label compares The Sinners to Chuck Berry. Do you see it like that?

EC: No. That was just something I said. You reach a point in your life where you’re the front person and you have this rockabilly band playing behind you. It’s just fun. I didn’t mean it like I was comparing myself to Chuck Berry musically or anything. I just meant that you reach a point.

DRE: Do you go to a lot of shows?

EC: Not really. I’m from St. Louis so I just happened to see them. Do you go to a lot of shows?

DRE: No, I get tired easily.

EC: Who have you seen that you really liked that’s kind of newish?

DRE: I don’t see a lot of them. I get sent a lot of CDs. So I listen to them.

EC: What about that band Arctic Monkeys that everybody’s talking about?

DRE: Yeah, everyone is talking about them. I think I have the CD around here somewhere. I got to pull it out and find it. Do people press a lot of demos in your hand?

EC: Yeah. We get a lot of records from people.

DRE: Do you listen to them all?

EC: We listen to them. I like stuff that’s really original. I don’t like anything where you can go, “Oh, that band’s from Orange County. Or that band obviously listened to this.” I’m not a big fan of the revival of 60’s garage rock. I think it’s good but I still have stuff that I have in my record collection from the 60’s. I want to see something totally unpredictable.

DRE: How often do you see that?

EC: Never.

DRE: A lot of people say that there isn’t as much punk anymore. It seems like there is, but just not a lot of them are signed or they’re not signed to big labels.

EC: Yeah, that’s part of the fun of touring because The 7 Shot Screamers are opening for me. They’re more rockabilly and they have an upright bass and stuff. When they switch over to our stuff, it’s like a completely different style. I really love that band so I’m not going to get tired of seeing them every night. Then there’s usually a local band so at least you get to see some of the scene. People do give you their records and that’s really nice too because sometimes there are some really good records.

DRE: But there’s nothing that you’re like falling in love with.

EC: No, not since The Blasters.

DRE: When was that?

EC: 1980 but I really did fall in love with The Blasters. Literally. It takes an awful lot to fall in love with a band and that only happens like a few times in your life. I think Dexter Romweber is also someone that I just love and I would love to see him play live. He’s been around a long time with the Flat Duo Jets and all that, but I don’t care. I still love him.

DRE: So will you be touring with X when the album comes out?

EC: X plays a lot of shows every year. The Knitters just put out a record last year and toured a lot. I’ll probably do some touring over the summer with The Knitters and X.

DRE: When I found out how old you are I was surprised, I always forget how young you started. Do you feel like you’re just hitting a certain stride?

EC: Yeah, it’s funny. When I was a kid, I couldn’t understand why older people couldn’t act their age. I was 15 and these 40 year old men would hit on me. I’d be like, “God. Yuck. How can you be that way? How can they be like that at that age?” When you’re 40, you don’t know you’re 40. You don’t feel like you’re 40. When you’re 50 you don’t feel like you’re 50. When you’re 70, you probably don’t feel like you’re 70 because you still like the same stuff, you still appreciate the same things in life and you still try to do the same things but not hit on young girls. Why wouldn’t I want to play music until I was 80? People do it because it’s something they love and you don’t want to stop doing it for any reason. So you feel like you’re really lucky when you’re in your 40’s and 50’s and you can still keep going. I think the age thing in rock and roll doesn’t really matter any more. I think U2 and the Rolling Stones and all those bands have kind of proven that. People just love what they love and they don’t care. I consider myself really lucky to still be alive and still playing music.

DRE: A lot of people are still in love with the music and who you were 30 years ago. What do you think of who you were back then?

EC: I’m the same person. I wear the same things. I sing the same songs. I act the same. I’m the same. I haven’t changed. It wasn’t a false persona. That was me then, that’s me now too.

DRE: Who produces The Sinners album?

EC: Me and Jason produced both records. What I really like is when the band is really tight and you get together and you play the songs and you work for about three days and get all the songs done and then they leave. They trust you because you can’t have five people asking you to change the way things sound. They have to trust that someone else is going to make it sound the way it’s supposed to sound.

DRE: Do you get asked to ever produce other peoples’ albums?

EC: I have been asked a few times in the past but I’m not really interested in doing that. It’s not my thing.

DRE: How have people been reacting to The Sinners shows?

EC: They listened and watched more than they would in an X show because they want to hear what the songs are. So it’s not as pandemonium as X. But people bop around. It’s different everywhere. I like all ages shows the best because I like it when kids come.

DRE: Are they all, all-ages shows?

EC: Some of them are, some of them aren’t. I like when they are because there’s a lot of young kids that are just finding out about X and want to come see us in whatever form.

DRE: The press notes say that The Sinners album is indicative of the peace that’s crept into your life. Do you really feel that way?

EC: Sure. I’ve done everything I wanted to do in life. You go through life and you accept challenges and you rise to the occasion or you don’t and then you pick up and move on. I’d like to make another X record, but other than that I can’t think of anything that I don’t have that I want.

DRE: How has that effected how you work?

EC: Well you can write a song when you’re having the worst day of your life and it’s really depressing and make this really depressing song. Then the next day just bounce back and be fine for six months. I usually write when I’m sad or mad. That’s X songs. We wrote a lot of stuff when bad things happened. It doesn’t mean you were desperate or that you that’s all you could think about every minute of every day. It just means that you looked around at everybody and went, “Wow. Life is hard. I’m going to get kicked out of my apartment if I don’t come up with the rent” and wrote a song. Those songs aren’t something you live every day. They’re moments that you get inspired by and then they become songs. But happy or sad doesn’t last. You’re always up and down.

DRE: Will you have to be mad to write to write the next X record?

EC: No, we’re not going to try to recreate the past, but musically I want it to sound like the first four records. Lyrically, it’s taken all different forms so we’ll see what happens when we get more into it.

DRE: Is your son playing music yet?

EC: Yeah, he plays. He does a lot of different things. He’s 18 and he’s about to graduate from high school and go off to college. He’s got a million things going on. I’m very proud of him. He’s a great student. That’s another thing that worked out. I have things that don’t work out sometimes, but most of the time I push things through.

DRE: What doesn’t work out?

EC: Little things. Having more money would be nice.

What I’d really like is a gold record for Los Angeles. We don’t have a platinum record for Wild Gift. We don’t have any of that. I know we’ve sold at least 450,000 copies of those records because people have told me a million times that they wore out their copy. I don’t understand where that fucking gold record is because I want one. I can’t believe Los Angeles isn’t a gold record. It’s been around forever. I think I’d be happy with that.

DRE: Did you hear about the Sex Pistols turning down going to the Rock and Roll Awards?

EC: Yeah. I feel differently about it. I’d go. I think it’s an American thing. Being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is being like The Ramones or Chuck Berry. I love all those people so I would want to be with them.

DRE: You deserve it. I’m sure they’ll get around to it.

EC: Yeah, after we’re dead. Why do they wait until everyone dies before they do that? Why don’t they pick people that are still alive sometimes? I know they do, but it’s not fair.

DRE: I agree. I think all these great bands that did such amazing stuff deserve to be in there. Maybe they should give them out more than once a year.

EC: Yeah.

DRE: I read you do art collages.

EC: Yeah. I did a bunch of art shows in the last eight months and I’m still doing that. I have a gallery in New York that shows my stuff. It’s really fun. I really love it. Making collages is just like gambling because when you’re gambling all you’re thinking about is the next card or the next roll of the dice. You can’t think about your taxes. You can’t think about your cat. You can’t think about anything else except if those things are going to line up. It’s a wonderful mental break from reality. It’s the same thing with making collages because all you’ve got is millions of little things that you’ve collected and all you’re thinking about is what to glue to the next piece. It’s this wonderful respite from reality. All that matters is this thing you’re focused on and making this beautiful piece of art. Generally it works out. Sometimes you make stuff and you go, “Well, that’s not so great.” But I’m really addicted to it because it frees my mind from other things.

DRE: Is it stuff you find on the street or junkyards or just everywhere?

EC: It used to be stuff I found on the street but America’s garbage has changed in the last 30 years. Now all you find is McDonald’s wrappers. The stuff is all the same. I remember going to Philadelphia or Chicago or someplace like that and finding these weird gypsy fortune teller fliers and stuff from the 70’s that now looks so cool. Now it’s more like building things out of what I already have. It’s hard to find stuff that’s distinctively weird. Also things that are really mundane, can take on this other aspect when it’s juxtaposed to something weird. Collages are neat because all the elements can be meaningless, but once they’re put together, then they can constitute something else.

DRE: How long have you been doing them?

EC: I’ve been collecting things and waiting. I started about five years ago, but last year I finally sat down and put everything together, which is really fun. I knew I would do it someday but I just never got around to it.

DRE: You must have some pretty interesting stuff if you’ve been collecting all this stuff for that long. Which gallery in New York is it in?

EC: It’s at DCKT Contemporary. I also had a show at this international art thing that they do every year in New York. After that I don’t really have anything up anywhere else, but we’ll see what happens.

DRE: I read about one piece that has a headless My Little Pony.

EC: Yeah. I ran over in the street. It says something but I’m not sure what. You should try it. It’s really fun. Go to some thrift stores and find some weird stuff and start gluing it together. You’ll see what I’m talking about.

DRE: I spoke to John Roecker about Live Freaky, Die Freaky. Did you have a chance to see it yet?

EC: No, I didn’t. Did you?

DRE: Yeah, I did. It’s really bizarre.

John told me that you and he did a book on tape of the Unabomber Manifesto.

EC: We did a little CD where I read some of the stuff from it, but it was inconsequential really.

DRE: He said the two of you own a record store.

EC: No. He had a retail store that I was kind of part of but it was more in name than anything else.

DRE: Would you want to open up a record store?

EC: No, I don’t want to do that. I think that that sounds really horrible actually.

DRE: Have you heard of SuicideGirls?

EC: Yes.

DRE: It seems like the new kind of thing to do is for girls to get naked on the Internet.

EC: Yeah, I think it’s destroyed any chance women have to build on the Feminist gains of the 60’s and 70’s. I think it’s really sad that women have decided that they’ve given into the whole sex object thing and have decided that that’s the highest level they can reach in life is to be in a porno film. I’m not a Feminist per se because I think it has bad connotations and I don’t believe in segregation. I think I’ve been an example of not having to do that and I’m proud of that. But on the other hand, perhaps that’s all women are. Maybe they’re just sex objects. Maybe that is the highest level they can reach in our society. As far as popular culture goes, maybe Paris Hilton is the most important thing to aspire to and maybe having a porno film of yourself and your boyfriend on the Internet is your goal in life and that’s a total accomplishment for you. Maybe men are just voyeuristic adolescent idiots. Maybe that’s who we really are. So if that’s the case, then fine. I’m not participating in it, nor would I if I was young, but it’s not my problem. My problem is making art.

DRE: You don’t mind that we’re doing this interview though?

EC: No, I know that billions of people tune into that stuff. I’m the oddball. I’m the one that’s not in the mix. I don’t care if other people get naked. I’m just not going to.

DRE: Was pornography something that you’ve always been against?

EC: I’m not against it, if that’s what people want to do. I don’t care what other people do. I’m just saying like in terms of the popular culture and me as Exene, I’d rather see women in bands writing really good songs and playing music and writing books and making art and being these really interesting creatures who do all of this wonderful stuff rather than being famous for taking off their clothes. It’s a little too easy to do that. It’s hard to make it in the world. I think people have a lot of fun with pornography, I just don’t.

DRE: Do you feel a lot of responsibility since you are such an icon?

EC: I do feel that. I also feel that since it’s been projected onto me by so many women over the years, I decided to go ahead and adopt that role. It wasn’t something I set out to be. You hear about this with sports figures all the time. When they get in trouble, they say, “I never wanted to be a role model for your kids. Don’t put that on me.” Or you take the responsibility and go, “Jesus. I’m a fucking role model for these kids.” It does give you some thought about what you do. People expect a certain level of integrity or something. It’s kind of who I am anyway. But when you know that people expect that from you and they’re very young, you figure, “Well, someone’s got to be there for those kids.” You don’t all want to be porn stars.

DRE: Dave Chappelle has been doing a lot of interviews lately; did you ever watch his TV show?

EC: Yeah, I’ve seen him live too.

DRE: He said that one of the reasons he stopped doing his show is because when they were taping they did a joke making fun of racism and there was one crew member that laughed weirdly, like he was enjoying the racism in the wrong way.

EC: He didn’t get the irony. Right.

DRE: It made Dave realize that with so many people watching his show, he has more of a responsibility than to just be funny. At what point did you have this realization for yourself?

EC: It was a long time ago. Punk was founded on this whole different cultural model than what we have today. It was against the excesses of rock stars and it was against the wealthy and had all these ideals about anyone who could get on stage and play an instrument. There was no sexism and there was no racism. That was the model. When the Go-Go's went on the cover of Rolling Stone wearing just towels, I think that model got skewed. I’m from a different time. I’m a time traveler and I come from a time when abortion was illegal. When the civil rights happened, I was around. When rock and roll started, I was around. I respect all those people that broke through some of those sexist and racist barriers because it was really hard to do and a lot of people died doing it. So I still have that model and the punk rock model that I live by and self-respect to me is really important and respect for other people is really important. Not objectifying people is really important and not degrading people is really important because it makes for a better culture and a better society.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

Dita Von Teese is one of the world's most dazzling women. The Swarovski-adorned mistress of striptease has done more to preserve and promote the hallowed art of burlesque than any other performer alive today. Her sexy and spectacular shows feature stunning costumes and larger-than-life props, but... more

Dita Von Teese is one of the world's most dazzling women. The Swarovski-adorned mistress of striptease has done more to preserve and promote the hallowed art of burlesque than any other performer alive today. Her sexy and spectacular shows feature stunning costumes and larger-than-life props, but are always grounded in the purity of the classic art form. Thus they have an innate dignity that never relies on the kind of bump and grind sleaze that many of Dita's contemporaries mistake for erotica.

In a league of her own, the Michigan born and Orange County raised girl, who once had aspirations of becoming a ballerina, is an international glamour icon. Celebrated both for her performance art and her impeccable vintage style, her world-class status was sealed in October 2006 when she became the first ever featured headlining guest performer at the legendary Crazy Horse in Paris. She returned to the prestigious cabaret club in February of this year for a limited two week run which was so successful that she was immediately booked again for another series of shows the following month.

The hottest ticket in town, Dita's run at the Crazy Horse attracted such luminaries as Jean Paul Gaultier, Kanye West, Kylie Minogue, and Stephen Spielberg, among others. Her performances are as rare as they are exotic however, in part due to the time and expense they take to conceive. Fortunately those who are unable to witness Dita in the flesh have two new options. The first is a DVD of Dita's Crazy Horse show. The second is Stripteese, a set of three miniature flip-books books which capture individual facets of her repertoire and come packaged together in a deluxe gift box.

We caught up with Dita to find out more about the books and DVD, her new Opium Den set which was 4 years in the making, her plans for shows in Paris and Vegas in 2010, and her life in the romance capital of the world.

Nicole Powers: From reading your last interview with SG (with Daniel Robert Epstein in 2006), I understand you're keen that people appreciate the history of burlesque. The format of this set of books harks back to vintage Victoriana. What inspired you to do the mini flip-book format?

Dita Von Teese: The photographer, Sheryl Nields approached me with this book idea, and we took it to my publisher. Sheryl and I had worked together on several occasions for magazines and ad campaigns. I always liked working with her a lot, and trusted her to shoot my shows, which is rare for me because with all the time and money it takes for me to build a show, I don't let just anyone shoot them. But I really love her as an artist and as a person, and I loved her idea for this book. I just showed up and did my hair and makeup and did my show for her as she shot it stop-animation style. The end result is fabulous. I'm happy with the way the three little flip books look tucked inside the velvet-flocked bookcase. It's been selling well for the holidays.

NP: What was the technical process to capture images that would move as you flipped them. Was it done on a still or video camera? And how long did it take?

DVT: It was shot on a still camera and on the RED camera. Each show was shot in its entirety and we used the one we liked best. I think we did two days of shooting for it, several months apart from each other because the first was just done for fun, before the idea for the book.

NP: The packaging is exquisite. Where you involved in the design of that too?

DVT: Actually, for this book, all I did was describe the kind of look I wanted, and then approve it. I've always had this obsession with velvet flocked wallpaper, because when I was little, like 5, I remember that the house I moved into has this gold flocked wallpaper in the dining room, and I was devastated that my mother had it torn down. So I always have this flocked wallpaper in my houses since I first moved out as a teenager, and the cover of the book is inspired by it too.

They did a great job. I've been working on my step-by-step how to beauty book, so I didn't have a lot of time to devote to the design of this flip-book, so I kind of left the design to them and was thrilled that it came out so beautifully. I just wanted to pose for the pictures and do the promotion and signings for this book this time around, because my other book Burlesque and The Art of the Teese was an arduous task because I insisted on being hands-on. This time I had to let go a little bit.

NP: Stripteese depicts three of your burlesque sets: Bird of Paradise, Classic and Martini Glass. What's the creative process you follow when you decide to create a new set?

DVT: The Bird of Paradise and the Martini are longtime shows of mine, but I wanted to do a third more intimate striptease for this too -- "the Classic" -- which isn't a stage show I do. I wanted to make one of the books more of an intimate striptease, and less burlesque-y. So I wore this beautiful magenta silk corset that Mr. Pearl made for me. I think it's my favorite of the three flip-books.

With regards to the process of actually making a new burlesque number, it's different every time. Some of the shows I make take about four to six months to create if it's a real rush, but most of them take much longer. For instance, my newest act, The Opium Den, took about four years to complete because the set is very elaborate, the costume was intense to make, the hand props were difficult, and I had a hard time deciding how I wanted the show to play out, so I kept procrastinating on finishing it.

And the music presented a whole new challenge. I have all my show music custom made for me these days, and so for this Chinese themed show there was a chance to do something really unique with the music. It's very traditionally cinematic at the start, somewhat dark, then turns ultra sexy, then turns somewhat humorous with some real retro burlesque Chinese music.

For one of the songs I took The Cure's "Lullaby" and had it turned into this powerful and sexy Chinese song. People go wild over it when it kicks in, because you recognize it, and it's very powerful. I have this incredible music guy that I work with, he always manages to pull off my absurd ideas. He has the patience of a saint, which is vital when you're working with someone like me who has absolutely no musical vocabulary.

But every show I make is different and presents new challenges. The three new shows I made for The Crazy Horse were really fun because I got to work closely with the dancers to create shows with them, which I loved. I also recorded two songs for those shows. Singing was a whole new thing for me, but I got offered a record deal from it, which is hilarious to me because I'm really terrified of singing, probably because I hate the sound of my own voice.

NP: I understand your longtime friend Catherine D'Lish designs your costumes. I assume this must be quite a collaborative process. How does that work?

DVT: Well, she's a fabulous costume designer, and it was fun all those years when we would work together because we both had this obsession with Swarovski crystal and we would like to see how far we could take it, how many crystals could we get on a costume. I'm sponsored by Swarovski, so we were able to order all these extravagant custom-cut rhinestones in any color, shape and size we wanted, and she would have this amazing team working for her, like a family. It was great because, as a fellow performer, she knows how the costumes have to work, and could figure out inventive ways for the pieces to come off. Catherine has been performing herself a lot more these days, so she's been shifting focus on her own shows, so this year I decided to work with some other designers for the shows that I did at The Crazy Horse.

I worked with Christian Dior and Elie Saab on the gowns, and Mr. Pearl on the corsets, Stephen Jones did my headpieces, and Christian Louboutin made custom shoes for me. It was amazing to work closely with Elie Saab, he did three gowns made in the haute couture atelier in Paris. There was one insane moment where I asked for a swatch of the fabric one of the gowns was made of, this very fine almost invisible tulle that had silver beaded stars all over it. It's this long trailing beautiful gown [which has] miles of this gorgeous beaded tulle...So they come back with two things -- a piece of plain tulle and a bag of the beads. I had no idea that each and every bead -- hundreds of thousands of them -- was embroidered on by hand. It was amazing. That's what true haute couture is. I'm baffled by the details in the workmanship, and of course, shocked that I get to wear them onstage.

Right now I'm working with Mr. Pearl on a new costume. He's meticulous in his fittings, and has incredible taste, so it's nice to let it go and trust everything to him. It's all Swarovski jonquil, which is a beautiful canary yellow, and it's got tons of yellow curled ostrich. It's been in the works about two years now because the beadwork is very fine, and the fit of his corsets is beyond anything. Somehow he gets the tiniest waist you can imagine, but he makes the corsets out of this very fine mesh, so it's hardly there, and is like a second skin. Honestly, no one knows how he does it. That's why Jean Paul Gaultier and all the designers in Paris enlist him. No one can do what he does!

I'm baffled by the feel and the look of his corsets. I know that when I'm long gone, those corsets he has made for me are going to be the most important pieces of clothing I ever owned. He's a very good friend, and my Paris apartment is very near to him, so we have fittings and sip violet champagne. Mr. Pearl is obsessed with violets. He always brings me a little bunch of them and he smells of violet perfume. He's the most elegant man in existence!

NP: You've been so influential fashion-wise, bringing vintage and burlesque style into the mainstream. You've also designed a super-cute T for H&M for their Fashion Against Aids campaign and have a limited edition Wonderbra lingerie line. Do you have any other future projects clothing-wise?

DVT: I love working with Wonderbra. It's been a really great collaboration the past two years. I also have a signature stocking collection. I would really love to branch out into a clothing line, maybe a line that looks at my own vintage clothing collection and recreates some of those amazing lost designs.

NP: Could you see yourself devoting more of your life to fashion design down the line?

DVT: I would definitely like to continue working with lingerie, and if the right opportunity comes along that I feel I can put my name on and my energy into, and feel good about, yes, I would like to do more. But I'm careful about which things I lend my name to. I've been offered jeans campaigns, and obviously, that wouldn't make sense for me.

NP: Your frequently go en pointe in your shows and are seen wearing pink/red point shoes in the Bird of Paradise images. This question's for the ballet geek in me (SG actually has a ballet group). Are you traditional in your choice of pointe shoe? Or do you go for a little comfort and modern day technology with a Gaynor Minden type shoe?

DVT: I haven't been dancing on pointe as often as I used to. Somewhere along the way I started having high heels made as backup for all the shows I do on pointe, because I would get so nervous over "real" dancers being in the audience. At The Crazy Horse, all the Paris Opera Ballet stars came to see me, and that was daunting! But I still dance on pointe from time to time onstage, especially for my Powder Compact and Carousel show, and of course for the burlesque Swan Lake [The Black Swan].

And yes, I go for the Gaynor Mindens. A friend of mine with ABT [American Ballet Theatre] told me years ago that they would change my life and make me more stable onstage, and she was right. I've been dancing on pointe since I was 11 years old. I learned the right way the hard way and at this point, at 37, I don't need the extra suffering, and I like the extra flex Gaynors. But I would love to see the SG ballet troupe someday! You would love the music I had made, it's all the most famous parts of Swan Lake re-recorded in striptease big band style. It's hilariously genius!

NP: Do you still take ballet classes?

DVT: Yes, I just started up again the other day. My friend Liz Goldwyn, who also has a fabulous burlesque book called Pretty Things, brought me to a bitch of a Balanchine class. My inner thighs are on fire still! I also used to take private classes with a Russian teacher. I love the flamboyant Russian style. I'm always looking for ballet classes with funny teachers and live piano accompaniment.

NP: What else do you do to keep in shape?

DVT: I do a lot of Pilates. I work out with Mari Windsor in LA. She's amazing. I do that about 4-5 times a week. She has this amazing DVD every girl should have. It's a 20 minute butt and leg workout with a rubber band. I do it when I'm traveling. Sometimes I do yoga too, and then I also have a little trampoline that I take out in my house, and I run and dance on that thing to my favorite obnoxious dance music. It's a killer cardio workout. I love to eat you see, so I have to work out. I believe that variety is the key to keeping up the momentum and having a successful workout regime.

NP: At his point in your career, how many people do you have in your creative team?

DVT: Well, still no glam squad, no stylist, no hair/makeup team. I like being self-reliant in that way. I have a few favorite makeup and hair people that I work with on certain shoots, but I don't use a team for red carpet things or anything like that. I think independence is vital. But I have a manager, publicist, a prop wrangler, a personal assistant and a pet sitter, and I guess I have about three attorneys that specialize in different things. I guess that's not exactly a "creative" team. My manager is really the only one I work with on a creative level. I can't live without her. I can count on her for everything. When I'm making a new show, creatively, I usually think about the show and research and hire someone. For instance, I hired trip ropers for roping lessons for my cowgirl show, and I hired a bull rider to teach me how to ride my mechanical-bull lipstick, and yeah, I smoked opium the traditional way to "get a feel" for my Opium Den show. Research!

NP: Your shows -- and the photos in Stripteese -- feature elaborate props. Who designs and builds them?

DVT: I work with a few different prop makers. I go to different people for different kinds of projects. I have my favorite welders, foam sculptors, etc... I'm very involved in the creation of the props, and I do a lot of the cosmetic work on them too. Most of the glitters and rhinestones I do myself. It's therapeutic.

NP: My singing teacher always said you should "f*** the lighting guy." I think he was being a little OTT (he was rather theatrical and flamboyant), but it sure helps if you're nice to them. In performance (and life) so much is about the lighting. Any tips?

DVT: Oh yeah, well I agree. Lighting is so important and I cringe when I see how little attention is paid to burlesque show lighting. I learned a lot at The Crazy Horse in Paris. They're the masters at lighting naked women to perfection. So when I was performing there, I would keep a sketchpad and draw diagrams of the lighting during rehearsals, and make friends with the lighting team and ask lots of questions. Lighting can make or break you, and beautiful, artistic light is what makes a show look grand and beautiful.

I get really excited when I'm at venues with exciting lighting rigs! And although I don't go so far as to "f*** the lighting guy," as your friend suggested, I have been known to send gifts and notes and to hang out with them and "ooh" and "aah" over their talents to show my gratitude. I did a show with someone recently who was dreadful to the crew, and I watched first hand what happens when you throw attitude. Those lighting guys aged her ass 20 years! So yes, make friends with the lighting guy!

The key is light that comes from all angles, especially from underneath and sides. You have to fill the ass with light. No white light, no red light, ever. And speaking of lighting, I always have good lighting in my house too. Dimmer switches in every room!

NP: You have a DVD of your Crazy Horse residency coming out. I know in the past you've said that you don't like to film your shows, but after watching the Bettie Page movie the other night it made me feel sad that so much of her work was destroyed under pressure from the government. Your work has been captured for posterity -- and, unlike Bettie, you own or get royalties from most of it. That's got to be a big upside right?

DVT: Yeah, I get funny about being filmed, for a few reasons. It's hard to capture the feeling that one gets when watching a live show, and also I'm not so willing to just hand over these shows that I put all my own money and time and heart and soul into, so it's rare that I come to an agreement that works for me and makes it worthwhile. But I've been filming more of my shows lately. Besides the Crazy Horse DVD, I filmed some shows I did at the Casino de Paris too, which is the big stage Josephine Baker and Mistinguett danced on. I filmed my Opium Den act and some others on that grand stage, and will probably release some of that footage next year.

NP: Burlesque is shrouded with such a rich history, and performing at such a historic venue must add a whole new dimension to your work. What have you learnt while working at The Crazy Horse?

DVT: The Crazy Horse is amazing. It's so cool to be backstage with those girls, they're incredible talents, and they work so hard. They're like racehorses! So beautiful. The Crazy Horse has been open since 1951, and the list of famous people that have been there to see that show is just mind-boggling. Everyone from Marilyn Monroe, Gypsy Rose Lee, Salvador Dali, Mae West, lots of US presidents.

It's a very special place. The girls are so disciplined. They get weighed in weekly to keep their ideal weight that is set for them. They're drop-dead gorgeous, and insanely talented dancers. And the best part is that they all get along, like a team. I spent a lot of time working with them and I love them so much.

It was daunting to go in there the first time. I was the first guest star ever to come in there, so they were rather suspicious of me at first. But I insisted on not having special treatment, and I worked hard, and we discovered a mutual admiration for each other. I don't have nearly the kind of dance training they have, but they would come to me for advice on other aspects of performing, and they would always come to see my other shows around Paris. I have great friendships with many of the girls. I think they are extraordinary, and I'm glad that The Crazy Horse is seeing a revival. I'm their biggest fan. I think it's the best show ever!

NP: Will there be more Dita shows at the Crazy Horse in 2010?

DVT: I'm most likely going to bring the show I did in Paris, the one that's on the DVD, to the Las Vegas Crazy Horse at The MGM Grand sometime in 2010. It's a much different show than the one I did there a few years ago. It's much more elaborate and I do three full numbers instead of just one. And I am also in the process of thinking of the new acts I want to do in Paris for another run.

The thing is that none of my existing shows fit on that intimate stage, so I have to create special shows for their stage. The Crazy Horse is like being in a movie. The audience can see every little gesture. It's much different than the burlesque I usually perform on big stages, and most of my stage props are too tall to fit on that stage. The Crazy Horse stage is a little more than 6 feet tall to make the girls look very tall. They're all between 5'8 and 5'10.

NP: I understand you've recently moved to Paris. Is it really one of the most romantic cities in the world?

DVT: I love it. It's beautiful. I've traveled the world and I still can't find anything nearly as beautiful. I love the architecture and the pride that Parisians have in their city. I've been living there part-time, and I love the challenges that being in a new country presents. I love the ways that it also makes me appreciate America too. There are great things about both places. It's changed my life to have a place in Paris in addition to my place in Los Angeles. I'm really happy that I finally did it. I realized one day when I was talking to an old friend from 15 years ago; I mentioned I wanted to live in Paris and he reminded me I said that way back when. So I was like, "What am I waiting for? Why am I afraid?" I just did it. And it's not always easy, but I like the independence it makes me feel.

NP: What are some of your favorite haunts? And why?

DVT: In Paris? There are so many restaurants I love. There's La Perouse, which is probably the sexiest, most romantic restaurant ever. It's a very old, antique historic place. You can book these private little rooms, and the waiter rings a bell before entering the room, so you have total privacy in this plush little antique salon. The antique mirrors are still on the walls that bear engravings where ladies checked to see if the diamonds they were gifted were authentic. It's the best place to seduce and be seduced, and the food is delicious too.

I also frequent a restaurant and bar called Mathis. I saw Yves Saint Laurent there before he passed away. It's the place to be in Paris, very elegant and the food is divine. I also love to go to a brasserie called Bofinger where I order plates of oysters and bulots. For bars, I usually go to a place called Montana, or The Hemingway Bar at The Ritz. I love to go buy my tea and have lunch at Mariages Freres in the afternoons, and for late night dining after shows I go to a place called Poule Au Pot. They have a gold plaque with my name at my table because I was there every night after The Crazy Horse!

In LA, I don't go out very often. I go to Chateau Marmont sometimes, but mostly I'm a homebody. I go to bed early and wake up early. I like having the days in LA. I also spend a lot of time in my favorite traditional Korean spas in Korea town. My favorite one is open 24 hours and I go there for three hour long massages and scrubs. It's cheap and fabulous. And I love to just disappear and sit there with all the girls and watch Korean soap operas.

NP: You wrote a chapter on stripping in my friend Carrie Borzillo's book Cherry Bomb in which you wrote that when stripping one-on-one for someone special you should also "tease him with your words." Are you a fan of sexting too? And, if so, has it ever got you in trouble?

DVT: Oh yes, I love sexy-texting! But I'm also a good a love-lust letter writer. I write with rose-scented red ink on my personal stationery. A stranger recently tried to blackmail me to buy back some love letters I wrote to a boyfriend 15 years ago, and I said, "Feel free to sell them on eBay if you want. What do I care if people find out that I'm romantic!"

That's one downfall of fame, I get lots of people that want to extort money from me to buy things that they think -- hope -- will be scandalous for me. Really, what could be scandalous for me? I'm a burlesque dancer!

I really don't write anything I would be embarrassed of anyway, and I only sexy-message with my beau, and he's even more discreet about his privacy than I am. I never sexy-texted with guys I was casually dating. Trust is important. And again, I don't think it's a big scandal for a burlesque dancer to get caught sexy texting!

NP Being sexy is a lot of fun, but as we peel the layers off we all just want to feel secure and loved. What makes you feel loved and secure?

DVT: My very closest friends, the friends I've had for twenty years. And my family. It's nice to be around the people I don't have to keep up any image for, that I can trust with everything.

NP: Having had a romance very much in the public eye, are you keen to keep your private life private at this point? And how possible is that?

DVT: It's really difficult. There's only so much you can do. Right now, I'm trying to preserve the privacy of a fairly new relationship, but it's not easy between relentless journalists that won't let you get away with not discussing personal things, and then there's paparazzi. Sometimes pictures pop up on the internet and we had no idea whatsoever that we were being followed and photographed, and that's an odd feeling.

But I accept that people want to know. I know that personally, I don't like reading endless interviews from actors that refuse to discuss anything but their acting craft. It's boring. You have to give a little something.

NP: I interviewed your ex, Marilyn Manson, recently. We had an hour-long conversation, during which he repeatedly talked about the loss he felt after past relationships and the trouble he's had dealing with it. I also have another friend going through a tough divorce right now. What advice would you give when it comes to moving on and the mental adjustments you need to make to make that happen?

DVT: It's funny because I've been some kind of divorce counselor for a few of my girlfriends that are going through it now. One of my friends wants me to write a book with my little mantras and pearls of wisdom. I'm full of them! I guess the best advice I have is to accept the pain and to know that it's part of the risk we take in loving. Inevitably we learn from heartbreak and we recover, and hopefully emerge ready to become a better partner for someone new.

In the midst of a hellacious heartbreak, I work my ass off to stay occupied, and I try to imagine myself further down the line when I'm right again, and in love again. I've been through enough heartache to know that we don't ever die from it, and we always find someone better suited to us. And I personally force myself to think hard about what I did wrong and try to get my revenge by being a better person for someone new. My revenge is always based in living well and trying to be better. It works every single time!

NP: What do you look for in a relationship now? And how has that changed as you grow older and wiser?

DVT: I guess I've just realized that I want to be with someone that inspires me to want to be a better person, and that feels the same way. No one is perfect, so it's up to us to choose the things that are OK and the things that are not. I'm not perfect. I'm just looking for someone who can accept my crazy, and I can accept theirs. I know which things I will no longer accept in my relationships, and I'm not afraid to say no anymore. I know that I'm wiser about a lot of things in love, and I'm grateful for all the experiences, good and bad.

NP: How do you find new inspiration and happiness in your life?

DVT: Well, I enjoy what I do for a living, and I like to keep trying new things and challenging myself. I don't have trouble finding inspiration, it's just finding ways to execute the ideas. That's usually where the frustration lies. As far as happiness, well, I think of it as being like the weather, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, [but] you can't appreciate the good weather without the bad.

NP: You have an upcoming film project, Mata Hari (written by Martha Fiennes). Can you talk a little about this?

DVT: Well, it's just a script right now. It's not actually in production. It's an amazing script, and I would love to play Mata Hari, especially because the other Mata Hari films were hardly factual, and this script sets the record straight on her. I don't really have any interest in acting unless it's in films I would actually like to see, so I pass on most of the acting projects that come my way. I really like being true to myself and doing what I do. I have no problem being content to be a burlesque dancer. I didn't do it as a stepping stone to "bigger" things, I did it because I love it.

NP: Stripteese will make an excellent Christmas gift. What's on your Xmas list?

DVT: Mostly I love Christmas because I like seeing my friends and family, and being home for a change, and baking cookies and entertaining. But when it comes to gifts, I really like sentimental gifts, or things I use all the time, like teacups and martini shakers, vintage picture frames, scented candles. It's easy when you look around my house and see all the stuff I collect. Just stop by an antique store and pick up some silly trinket and I'm happy!


Stripteese is available from Amazon.com and all fine booksellers.

Meet Dita at her two Los Angeles book signing events: Friday December 18 @ Hennessey and Ingalls at Space 15 Twenty (7 PM), and Sunday December 20 @ at Revamp Vintage (2 PM).

For more information on Dita's appearances, performances, books, DVDs and lingerie go to Dita.net.

Terry Gilliam movies are hard to explain anyway. Try to encapsulate 12 Monkeys in a logline about time travel, or pose The Fisher King as as simple drama about grief. The lengths Gilliam had to go through to finish what tragically became Heath Ledger's final film take things to the next level. The... more

Terry Gilliam movies are hard to explain anyway. Try to encapsulate 12 Monkeys in a logline about time travel, or pose The Fisher King as as simple drama about grief. The lengths Gilliam had to go through to finish what tragically became Heath Ledger's final film take things to the next level.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is about a traveling street show. Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) lets audiences inside his magic mirror into a weird fantasy world that keeps their souls. Dr. Parnassus's theater troupe rescues Tony (Ledger) from a dire situation and he joins their show.

Here's where things get complicated. Ledger only filmed scenes in London before his passing. To make the film work, Gilliam hired Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to play Tony on the other side of the mirror. So when Tony steps into the Imaginarium for the first time, he looks like Johnny Depp. The next time, Jude Law, and so on.

You'd think he's try something easier next but instead he's making another attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. If you want to see how badly that went last time, check out the documentary Lost in La Mancha. Gilliam's spirit got Dr. Parnassus finished, and not just as the Heath Ledger memorial. Gilliam exuded a mellow vibe just lounging around talking about film and art, not about death or disaster. Everything just seems like pure potential with Terry Gilliam.

SuicideGirls: Was there ever a case for not finishing Dr. Parnassus?

Terry Gilliam: Yeah, that lasted for a day. A bit. Almost two days. Very much so. But again, Amy, my daughter said, “'we're going to finish it.”' And I said, “'No, this is not possible. You can’t finish this.'” That was the hardest thing for everybody to beat me up to the point that I was willing to start thinking about what we could do to actually salvage the film.

SG: You were on the side of letting it go?

TG: I was being like a reasonable, experienced human being because I didn'’t know how you could finish it. Your star dies in the middle of the shoot. There’'s still half the movie to be made. How do you fix that one? Nobody was coming up with any answers. “Oh, we can get another actor to replace Heath.” I said, “Oh, grow up. Stop talking like that.” We have a situation here where the money is running away right now because they'’re sensible people. They know we can'’t finish the film. You'’re supposed to go and find another actor of his caliber and that person is going to be available and we’re going to do it? Just not practical.

SG: Was it by design that Johnny Depp was the briefest Tony?

TG: We almost didn'’t get Johnny even though he'’d said he was there. Literally, this is where the luck happens. Literally, at the last moment, Public Enemies was delayed by one week. That’s how we got Johnny. The point was it wasn'’t that he was the briefest. He had to be the first one because if he worked, then Jude and Colin, the whole idea would work. So Johnny'’s job was basically to take the audience into this other world with a different face on Tony. I thought it had to be him and that'’s how it worked.

SG: Even though the Imaginarium is CGI, it looks like Terry Gilliam animation. Were you thinking of doing CGI as the aesthetic for that world?

TG: Yeah, there was a bit of that. It was more of a painterly approach is what we were doing but it fell into something that was closer to my animation, except in the 3-D space, it’s much more elaborate because I had no desire to try to be naturalistic. I wanted it to be painterly but at the same time a totally believable world that you'’re actually in it. It’s much closer to my cartoons than anything.

SG: Are you able to adapt your style to new technology?

TG: Yeah. It’s easy. The main thing is to be able to present images to the effects guys so they can do it. Then I’'m sitting there with them saying, “No, that’'s wrong.” I’'m there every day practically in the effects house. So it’s just trying to get people to do it the way I think it should be. It'’s strangely odd. It should be much simpler but in fact, most of the computer guys are used to doing naturalistic things and I'’m trying to do something that’s not naturalistic.

SG: Still, cops dancing on a tongue seems like something you'’d draw.

TG: Well, I mean, I storyboarded all of that stuff so my drawings start it. Then we do pre-vises and we do more elaborate drawings. We build this whole thing up. That’s just what I do. The advantage of being a drawer as I am, it’s easier to communicate ideas to everybody because film is so much about imagery.

SG: Outside of movies, do you use computers?

TG: Yeah, I’'ve got my Mac. I’'m completely victimized by it. I’'ve become too dependent on it. It’'s very bad.

SG: Does it never fuel any creativity?

TG: No. It just fills my day with stuff that I don'’t need to be doing but I do.

SG: When you look at your set designs, would it be fair to say your films seem cluttered?

TG: Yup.

SG: How does that aesthetic come about?

TG: I'’m I guess a magpie or a packrat when it comes to design. I like filling it up with stuff. It'’s partly because I know people are going to be watching the films again and again and again because it’s so easy to do this on DVD now. I just want to have a lot of stuff in there for them to keep discovering so each time they watch it, they'’ll find something new.

SG: What goes on in your brain?

TG: Most of it’'s just trying to stay awake. I'’m good at staring at things. I look out and I just say, “That’'s beautiful out there.” I could stare at those trees for quite a while. I think that’s what I do. I become a starer. I don’'t draw that much anymore. That’'s what was interesting doing storyboards on this. It just got me drawing again. And most of the time, I'’m trying to control my imagination because the likelihood of it actually getting on film gets harder and harder so I stopped trying to imagine things.

SG: Wouldn’'t technology make it easier to make movies?

TG: It does. In many ways it'’s easier. The problem is getting the money to make it. That’'s where the problems lie.

SG: But kids are shooting DV movies now and that's where all the new indies come from.

TG: That'’s great if you want to shoot that. I could shoot all day but I don'’t want to do that. I want to make these other worlds and they take more money and time and I want to do them to a level of quality that is not about making a home made movie. I don'’t do home movies. I'’ve never done them. They don'’t interest me. It’'s like okay, I'’m going to do stuff that’s going to be up on a big screen and it’'s going to be very elaborate. I’'m kind of stuck doing that. Probably the most simple film I’'ve done was Tideland. Very simple and it was kind of interesting that we could still make it look stunning, without having to create too much expensive stuff.

SG: What will the new Man Who Killed Don Quixote be and what won'’t it be?

TG: None of the things you saw in Lost in La Mancha will be in the film. So they'’re all gone. It’s a much, much better script. That’'s the main thing because the distance of seven years from it just gave me a chance to look at it with very fresh eyes. I said, “I don'’t like this character. It'’s got to be changed. We'’ve got to give reasons for things.” I don't know, I think I’'m that much older and I'’ve been through these things and I think I know how to make the character more sympathetic, make him more pathetic, all sorts of things. So I’'ve written about 2/3 of it. Only about 1/3 of the script is different. It’'s not even that much different. It’'s not even 1/3. Very strange but it actually has altered it considerably. So you have the same scene now but it means something very different because of what we'’ve done before.

SG: So the fish scene we saw with Johnny Depp we saw in Lost in La Mancha?

TG: The fish won'’t be there. The fish is gone, unfortunately.

SG: Is it still a time travel story?

TG: Nope, no time travel. It all takes place now in the 21st century. Still many of the same things happen. Most of the same things happen.

SG: Will you end up doing more CGI in this version?

TG: Less. In fact I'’m trying to simplify a lot. I cut a lot out. Again, what happens with me when I’'m trying to get films off the ground, I get very focused and I start packing too much stuff in. It’'s the kind of visual clutter, I start cluttering with too many things, ideas at the time. In the end when I make a film, usually the limits of time and budget make me cut a lot of that stuff out. Well, I’'ve cut a lot more out this time just to try to trim it before we started shooting. I used to be very greedy. I want all these things in. It was only when we started shooting that I started cutting them out. Now this time, I want to be even more pragmatic, cut them out before we even begin. I'’ve really simplified it. There’'s much less going on now. There'’s one major sequence that hasn'’t changed. I'’ve got to rethink, not rethink it but think it very careful so we can do it for reasonable budget. Other stuff, it’s pretty simple.

SG: Have you learned anything about dealing with weather concerns?

TG: That you can'’t deal with. That was a freak moment so hopefully it won'’t happen again. We’ll try for a different time of year anyway just to be safe.

SG: Will you continue to just shoot anyway no matter what happens?

TG: That'’s always going to continue. That’'s just the nature of working with very tight budgets. You have to shoot. You can'’t wait another day or two. I’'ve never been able to do that in my life. It’'s always you shoot, you shoot, you shoot. Hopefully you adjust to what you didn'’t get the way you wanted it.

SG: If it goes badly again, would you give it up?

TG: Maybe. Maybe. Here’'s what I discovered. I was going through my old location photos before. I was in Spain a couple months ago. I suddenly realized, this will be the fourth attempt to make that movie. Boom.

SG: Which two didn'’t we know about?

TG: There have been two earlier versions. I’'d forgotten it. When I was looking at these different location scout photographs, I realized there was one way back earlier.

SG: Are you proceeding Without Johnny Depp this time?

TG: We are. He’'s not available. Johnny'’s out.

SG: Who might you be looking for?

TG: I’m not going to tell you. Until I get them. Once I’'ve got them, I'’ll announce it but until then, I’'ve become very superstitious about saying things.

SG: What is a windmill to the 21st century?

TG: Oh, it'’ll be like the old windmills. They still exist in Spain, the old ones. But there are also modern ones in there as well. Wind turbine farms. They’re windmills, aren’t they? The old ones are good. That’s the good thing about Spain. There’'s plenty of history still alive and well there.

SG: With many of your films now available in high definition on Blu Ray, how do you like letting people see everything you did put in there?

TG: I know. Blu Ray’s amazing. It suddenly reveals all the work we were doing. It'’s dangerous sometimes. You know The Thief of Baghdad, the Michael Powell film. It'’s one of the fantasy films that I loved as a kid. There’s a flying carpet sequences with Sabu on it. Suddenly now I'’m seeing, not on Blu Ray but a high def version, there’s 27 wires on it. The studio didn'’t do the decent thing of just spending a little money and painting them out. They’re all there. So the whole illusion is completely ruined.

SG: Sometimes it's cool to see the seams.

TG: Well, do that on an extra, as the extras. Extras are fine but I don'’t want to see when I’'m watching a movie. I want to go into the movie. I don'’t want to see technicalities. I want to be lost in the movie. I love DVDs, like on this one, we’re already starting work. You'’ll see certain scenes where we’ll start with the storyboard, you'’ll see the previs, then you'’ll see the blue screen shoot and then we’ll see it done. So everybody can see how it’'s done, but I don'’t want anybody watching the movie to have to sit down and go through that until they’'ve seen it.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus opens December 25.

Like them or not, you can't deny that Editors have achieved a rare combination of critical and commercial success. Their debut album, The Back Room, went platinum and earned the band a 2006 Mercury Prize nomination. They followed that with 2007's An End Has a Start, which hit #1 in the UK and... more

Like them or not, you can't deny that Editors have achieved a rare combination of critical and commercial success. Their debut album, The Back Room, went platinum and earned the band a 2006 Mercury Prize nomination. They followed that with 2007's An End Has a Start, which hit #1 in the UK and landed Editors on the US charts for the first time.

Now Editors are back with In This Light and On This Evening, a strong third record that might just help them conquer America. They've changed things up quite a bit, dropping their trademark guitar sound and putting synths front and center. Editors also brought on legendary producer Mark "Flood" Ellis‚ (known for his work with Depeche Mode, U2 and many other huge acts) and the result is something very different, yet still immediately recognizable as an Editors album.

Bassist Russell Leetch talked to SuicideGirls about the new record.

Russell Leetch: Hello, Jay, how are you?

Jay Hathaway: I'm good. I wish they'd put your album on the hold music, instead of whatever I was just listening to.

RL: Was it shit? There's a lot of shit at Sony, they've got some terrible acts.

JH: [laughs]

RL: I can't vouch for all acts on the label. [laughs]

JH: Before I ask you any serious questions ... I was just reading your Wikipedia page. Are you still growing a beard? What's the deal with that?

RL: [laughs] You know, the problem with Wikipedia is that your friends can edit it, and they can put stupid shit in place of what's supposed to be there. It becomes very miscellaneous. I can't actually grow a beard. Maybe on my 30th birthday I'll have a beard. I don't know.

JH: Cool, cool. So, you're living in New York now, right?

RL: Yeah.

JH: I've heard a lot about how the new album was influenced by London. Did New York have an influence on it as well?

RL: I went out to more smaller shows, and got back into watching bands and being excited about music again. For a while, because we've been a band for quite some time, and we've played so much, I just got a little bit tired of certain things. Being there, I felt quite refreshed. I guess it did rub off on us in some ways.

JH: Is your outlook on the future as dark as this album might suggest?

RL: I don't know what it suggests, really. All kinds of things come through. At the end of Bricks and Mortar, there's a nice sentiment of "I hope life's good with you." I think if you go into a city at nighttime, any city, you're bound to see a lot of the things that are touched upon. It can be such a hedonistic, good experience, but then you can come out of a bar and witness some really horrible violence. It kind of feels threatening, but also good at the same time. It's the same everywhere.

JH: There are a lot of references in your lyrics to guns and God. What's the story behind that?

RL: All of us are atheists, we just don't think there's anything really there ... how could there be so many problems? The modern world relies a lot on people going on about religions to justify wars. How does that work? I think that's troubling to a lot of people in our generation.

JH: So, you all had to sing on this album ...

RL: Yeah, on the backing vocals. Flood [Producer Mark "Flood" Ellis] made us! He was like, "So, Tom does all the backing vocals?" and we were like, "Well, yeah, 'cause he can sing the best." He said, "Well, you all sing in tune, and it'll sound like someone else's voice. That's what you want for the backing vocals." When we started singing, we'd be laughing and going "We are really bad at this!" But the Boxer vocals are from all four of us, and they sound quite nice and eerie. It was opening us up to the fact that being a bit shit can be to your advantage.

JH: It's not going to sound like everything else, at least.

RL: There was a lot of freedom with that kind of thing on the record. It's quite a different Editors record from the first two. I really like the sonics of it. I think it's got a really nice, warm tone. It's quite an inviting record, I think.

JH: And then the really big change was that you used so many more synths. It seems like the dance music side of Editors came out a lot more obviously on this record ...

RL: I think that's exactly right. Everyone's going "Oh my God, you just suddenly got synthesizers." Well, no. They're on both of the previous records, but they're as backgrounds, rather than at the forefront. Having a riff on a keyboard is quite different from having it on a guitar, but it was just more fun writing on the synthesizers. We've always loved 808s and 909s and drum machines generally. We're much bigger fans of New Order than of Joy Division, by a long way.

JH: That says a lot right there. So, you end up getting remixed a lot more, too, since you're going in that direction ...

RL: Yeah, remixes can be really good. The Tiesto one for us has been pretty big across Europe. It's been a big dance hit. It's kind of cool that your band can get integrated into the dance world and people might discover you that way. I quite like that.

JH: Have you heard your songs in a club yet?

RL: Yeah! We were in club in Paris (this was a couple of years ago) the Sebastian remix that happened for us got played. I just thought that the production on it was absolutely immense. He did a really good job.

JH: Do you miss playing bass, though?

RL: Not at all. It's nice to roam about and play different instruments and stuff. I grew up playing the piano, so that's my main instrument. I just play bass in the band, really. That's kind of fun, just being more varied.

JH: So you guys already had the musical expertise to play all the synth parts for the album?

RL: We knew what oscillators and waveforms were, so we kind of understand what synthesis is. And we like a certain type of synth. We like something with a bit of grit. Something with a bit of power. There's a lot of modern synth music which can be a little bit wet. We wanted it all to be kind of played on, like analog synths. Still to be a band. Kind of how people saw it in the '70s, when these things were invented and people started making bands out of them, especially the Krautrock influence. Something like Neu! That's a big part of this record for us.

JH: Are you planning on directing any more videos?

RL: Oh! I didn't direct that Bones video. I compiled a load of footage that was off a video camera, that's the best explanation for it. I wouldn't class that as directing, it wasn't good enough.

JH: Well, are you going to have another go at doing some video stuff? Did you enjoy doing that?

RL: I didn't really enjoy it, no. We just got asked to make a video diary of what we were seeing each day. Sometimes it's a little bit tiresome. Like, today, all we're doing is playing cards. It's like, "That could be a music video for 4 minutes, but it'd be a bit rubbish. Find something a little bit more inventive." We've got Arni & Kinski, who did the video for Smokers, doing our new video for You Don't Know Love, which I'm really excited about seeing. Some videos, I really love, and others I really don't like. For example, the Papillon video, I'm not a fan of it. Some of our fans are, some aren't. But when someone does a video, we pass it over to the director and they can have their artistic license.

JH: Did the other guys in the band like it?

RL: [laughs] Uh, the majority didn't, actually, for that one.

JH: Interesting ...

RL: Well, it became too late in the day for us to get a video that we would all like. It got to the release date without a video, so some favors had to be pulled in. Things like that happen. People liked it. That's cool. It's just funny how sometimes people take it that it's us, that we've decided the video. We try to have as much control over it, but sometimes it's just not our idea.

JH: What was it like working with Flood?

RL: It was fun. It was really good. I think everyone would have an idea or a preconception of what he's going to be like. He's a very ordinary, nice guy, who speaks a very straight-talking, non-highbrow kind of talk. He's made some amazing records, from Nick Cave to Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, U2. You'd imagine that someone that's got a big repertoire to be a bit of an arsehole, but he just wasn't. He joined Editors very well, and we're looking forward to working with him again pretty soon.

JH: Since a lot of people know Flood for his work with U2 ... how do you guys feel about U2?

RL: I guess some of us like them and others don't. They've never been one of my favorite bands. I'd leave that to R.E.M. or Radiohead or Spiritualized. I've never been into getting all of their albums and listening through. I'd go and watch the 360 Tour, it'd be a fun night out. As a band, I don't know ... they're just there, aren't they? They've been around a long time.

JH: Do you guys ever want to be the biggest band in the world? Like U2, but cooler, or something?

RL: I think if you want to be absolutely massive, you definitely lose cool. I don't think you can be like ... I don't know who's done that well. Maybe R.E.M. a few years ago? They were still pretty cool when they were huge. It's hard to do. We're not cool enough in some people's books anyway.

JH: What's the biggest rock star moment you guys have had? Ever smashed any hotel rooms?

RL: No, I think it's stupid when people trash hotel rooms. There's cleaners who have to clean, and yeah, you can pay some money, but that's pretty scummy, I think. If you're going to be extravagant, I think it's best to go to really nice restaurants and blow some money on some really nice wine and food. Do it that way, rather than being a dickhead. If anything, we'll go and spend a large amount of money on some fine dining.

JH: What was living in Birmingham like?

RL: I think the equivalent in the US is Pittsburgh. There's not that much there. It's a post-industrial city. It's a bit a grey. There's not a lot going on. It doesn't invite people to go and visit it, that's for sure.

JH: That's fair. It's sort of a post-industrial album, in a way ...

RL: I think we've definitely always had that vibe, and I guess that stems from where we're from. The big grey canvas of concrete definitely rings true. We definitely weren't brought up in the country, that's for sure.

JH: What were you guys like in school?

RL: We were all good, I think. We were just regular kind of guys. Not too mischievous, but not like the brightest bunch. [laughs] Got on with people. Grade C students. Maybe Bs, actually. Good Bs.

JH: Since this is for SuicideGirls, I feel like I should ask: does anyone in Editors have tattoos?

RL: Yeah, Chris does. Chris has got three roses on his arm.

In This Light and On This Evening is out on iTunes now, and in stores January 2010.

When Nelson Mandela was released from prison and won South Africa's free election, he began making profound inroads in the country's battle against Apartheid. The worldwide news may have covered the broad strokes of his efforts, but you might not know the details of how he did it. One of Mandela's... more

When Nelson Mandela was released from prison and won South Africa's free election, he began making profound inroads in the country's battle against Apartheid. The worldwide news may have covered the broad strokes of his efforts, but you might not know the details of how he did it.

One of Mandela's unorthodox initiatives was to rally behind the country's rugby team. The Springboks had been a symbol of racist Apartheid policies, but Mandela saw a political opportunity. If the black and white South African's could come together to support the team, it would be the first step toward a united nation.

The film Invictus portrays the 1995 World Cup. Morgan Freeman plays Mandela and Matt Damon plays Springboks captain Francois Pienaar. Clint Eastwood directed the film, showing how both players and fans slowly came around to each other over the season, while Mandela's advisors pleaded for him to focus on other affairs. Freeman has already been named Best Actor by the National Board of Review for his performance.

Freeman and Damon gave a press conference to support the film. For those who haven't read many Morgan Freeman interviews, you might be surprised by how playful he is. Perennially cast as the wise old sage, the real Freeman likes to mess with interviewers. The profound nature of this story didnt prevent him from joking around. Damon offered a little sarcasm too but otherwise stayed on point about the story of Pienaar and Mandela, often referred to as Madiba.

Q: Morgan, congratulations on the NBR Award.

Morgan Freeman: Thank you so much. Anybody know what NBR means?

Q: Of course. National Board of Review.

MF: Hey, hey, hey. And do you know why he's congratulating me?

Q: Well yes, you won.

MF: Hey, hey, hey.

Q: Is it true you've been considering playing Mandela since 1993? What took until now to find the right opportunity?

MF: This started out with Madiba naming me as his heir apparent so to speak when he was asked during the press conference at the publication of his book, Long Walk to Freedom, Mr. Mandela, if your book becomes a movie, who would you like to play you? He said, Morgan Freeman. So, from then on, it's like okay so Morgan Freeman is going to be Mandela somewhere down the line. We spent a lot of time, Lori [McCreary] and I, my producing partner at Revelations. We were trying all this time to develop Long Walk to Freedom into a script. Couldn't happen. Then, in 06 I believe, we got this book proposal from John Carlin and it was perfect. We bought it. We got a script written. And, this was the role to play to give the world an insight into who Mandela is and how he operates. It was perfect.

Q: Matt, what did you get from the real Francois Pienaar?

Matt Damon: Well, the first thing I did when I read the script was, I called Clint and I said, I can't believe this happened. I can't believe this is true. And he said, I couldn't either, but this is true. So, I went immediately and looked up Francois online and I said, Clint, this guy is huge. We've never met but I'm 5'10". I told him on the phone and he started laughing and he said, Oh hell, don't worry about that. I said, Alright. He said, You go worry about everything else. And I said, Alright, Ill worry about everything else. You worry about the fact that I need to grow 6 inches to play the guy. I had about 6 months to get ready. I worked hard on the accent and on training physically to build myself up to try to pull off the illusion of being the captain of a South African rugby team. Ultimately, I just try to look at every possible pitfall. When I'm way, way out, say 6 months away, I look at what could possibly blow this illusion? What are the things? And then, I start thinking about ways to solve those problems before I really get into it. So, I kind of made my little checklist of things I had to do and just planned it out and then I got to South Africa. The very first day, Francois invited me over to his house for a gourmet dinner that he was cooking. He invited me to meet his wife and two boys. Morgan and I went. I just remember I rang the doorbell and he opened the door and I looked up at him, and the first thing I ever said to Francois Pienaar in my life was, I look much bigger on film. And he laughed and laughed and he gave me a big hug and then took me into his house and that was it. We were off and running and he was just an invaluable resource for me the whole time. I was constantly asking him questions, everything from what color is your mouth piece to whats your philosophy on the captaincy and on leading a team and life in general. He just was incredibly available and a very articulate guy and he was incredibly helpful to me.

Q: In doing your research for it, did that include the accent?

MD: Yeah, well Francois's accent has changed quite a bit because he went and played in England for so many years. All of his closest friends and his wife, everybody says, Well, you know, his accent has changed quite a bit. Listening to any existing interviews from that day, you can hear how its changed, but there was a good key to that. Tim and I, the dialect coach, talked a lot about [how] a lot of people, when they do a South African accent, really overdo it and end up making somebody sound like Frankenstein. Its actually a quite beautiful accent. We talked about smoothing it out because Francois speaks quite smoothly and borrowing some of that and trying to make it so that its subtle, so that its not so over the top where you're just like "Wait a minute. Thats a little big."

Q: Morgan, I've had the privilege of interviewing you several times over the years.

MF: Yes, you have.

Q: You've always described acting as playing, which is nice to hear. I was wondering, when you play Nelson Mandela, does it become more than that?

MF: No. It might have become more than that were I playing or working with someone other than Clint Eastwood. He is so enabling. He is so out of your way as an actor and he likes to watch actors play. I don't think I do anything other than that when I'm working. I'm just playing. Work is something else. Work is maybe what you do.

Q: Matt, in 1990 when Nelson Mandela came to Boston and there were hundreds of thousands of people on the Common, do you remember that?

MD: Sure. I remember the Boston visit. I remember the whole world tour. I remember he just went all over the place. In fact, in my high school, we had the Free Nelson Mandela ribbons. Remember the black ribbon with the writing? Kids were wearing those before they knew who he was. In fact, I have an old scrapbook that I was looking through. This is the photo album that my mother put together for me to go to college. She gave me a photo album of pictures from my whole childhood that progressed. And, I saw recently that the Free Nelson Mandela ribbon was in there from 1986 or 1988, probably 1988 when I graduated high school and all the kids were wearing those ribbons. So I remember. It was very big. My freshman year at Harvard in Fall of 88, I remember the Divest Now marches and everything that was going on. College campuses are usually the places where a lot of that stuff is cooking and people are talking about that stuff. So yeah, it was a very, very big deal, the Boston visit, and really that whole kind of coming out tour that he did.

Q: As you became good friends with Francois, what did you pay attention to and incorporate into your performance from your observations of him?

MD: There are the more obvious physical things that I have to do to try to pull off that magic trick, and then, just talking to him philosophically about certain things, you know, leadership. That's really if you look at the structure of the script, its the greatest world leader of our time appealing to this other type of leader and forging a bond with him and basically saying, I need to use you to do this and the guy saying, I understand exactly why and his team exceeding its expectations. They've been asked to exceed their expectations and it's a metaphor for what the country needs to do because everybody is expecting them to not be able to heal. Those were the things. It was Francois's integrity and leadership, but those were the kind of things that I needed to get across with the role and then the obvious kind of attendant physical things, lifting weights and stuff.

Q: How does a fight scene in, say, The Bourne Ultimatum compare to playing rugby?

MD: Oh, I was in better shape for this movie. I mean, I was in the gym every day and with Francois who came with me to the gym a few times. This is his life. I don't want to embarrass him. I can't. If Jason Bourne looks a little flabby, thats on me. [Laughs] This is the fictionalization of somebody's actual life. I didn't want to let him down. It wasn't going to be for any lack of effort, which really was what that team was famous for actually. They were known for going the extra mile and for knowing themselves well enough to say okay, we might not be the most talented team, and the line is even in the movie. The coach says, We might not be the most talented team, but were going to be the fittest. Francois talked me through their training regimen. It was just unbelievable what those guys did, all of them, every single guy. Its that great thing about a great team. Its like when every single person commits to something and sublimates their own personality for the greater good of the whole team and thats basically again the metaphor for that whole country.

Q: Have you played rugby since you came back?

MD: Hell no!

Q: Did you do this film before or after The Informant!?

MD: After. So, I had a good time putting the weight on and then a tough time reshaping the weight.

Q: How much did each of you know about the sport of rugby and do you still know the rules?

MF: Nothing. I know American football. I know just a little bit about soccer. I know baseball. I know basketball. But rugby is foreign language.

MD: And you know golf.

MF: I know golf.

MD: Same. I'm with Morgan. I knew a little bit about rugby but very, very little. But I do think it helps in terms of an American audience, the game is enough like football in the sense that its a battle for field position and you score by running across, running into what looks like an end zone and putting the ball down. I think in terms of the nuance of the game, obviously Americans won't get that stuff but in terms of the peanut butter and jelly version of what you need to know, I think its pretty clear.

Q: Why is this an important film?

MD: I'd say the film is telling a story that I think is a wonderful thing to remind everybody of, in South Africa and all over the world. If we listen to the better angels of our nature, there are creative and good solutions to serious problems. It's just an incredibly uplifting movie, and from the moment I read it, I was excited about just being a part of the ensemble that told this story. I think its a good thing to put out there, particularly now. There's not a lot of good news so this is a nice thing to put out for the holidays.

Q: Morgan, If you'd been contemplating this since 1993, what was the most important thing you wanted to get across in portraying Nelson Mandela?

MF: When he said that he would prefer that I be the one to play him in 1990 or whenever that was, I had to start then preparing myself to do it. So, I met him not long after that and I said to him, If Im going to play you, Im going to have to have access to you. Im going to have to be close enough to hold your hand. And, over the years, while we were trying to develop Long Walk to Freedom, that is what happened. Whenever we were in proximity, like a city away for instance, I would know about it and I would go to him and have lunch, have dinner, or sit with him while he's waiting to go on stage for whatever, and during that time, I would sit and hold Madibas hand. Now that's not for camaraderie. I find that if I hold your hand, I get your energy, it transfers, and I have a sense of how you feel. That's important to me trying to become another person. I have a lot of pressure to bring a character like that to life in any kind of real sense. The danger, of course, is always at caricature, sort of indicating what the person is like. The biggest challenge I had, of course, was to sound like him. Everything else is kind of easy to do: to walk like him, he has a few tics and things that I noticed and I picked those up. I didn't have any agenda as it were in playing the role other than to bring it as close to reality as I possibly could. The agenda is incorporated in the script and all I had to do was learn my lines.

Q: Matt, you do a number of films that have some kind of social consciousness to them, and you also have The People Speak on TV next week. Can you talk about doing projects that have some kind of social value and what that means to you?

MD: Sure. I think actors, we react to the material that's out there and I probably just react more strongly to things that I feel will have some social value. I think this movie is a great example. I think this is a really wonderful message to put out. It's a completely non-partisan message incidentally. This is about healing and coming together and it's an incredibly uplifting story. I think thats why it appealed to me. It wasn't that I went and said, I want to make a movie that's about this. It's that I read this terrific script and it was about the greatest world leader of the past 50 years and he was being played by Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood was directing. It was a pretty easy decision for me. And The People Speak, Im really proud of. It came out really well. It's going to air on the History Channel on the 13th and that we just stumbled on a way to tell history that I think is great because it's factual. It's just the actual documents. It's the speeches and diaries and journal entries, all of these great speeches. In fact, there was the anniversary of John Brown's execution I saw a couple days ago and the Times did a whole thing and we have that David Strathairn reading John Brown in The People Speak, the last thing he said on the public record before they executed him. He was just 150 years ahead of his time. Its just incredible to read his words. There's a whole movement to pardon him that I saw in the paper the other day.

MF: Not too late, they say.

MD: Yeah, exactly. It's never too late. Because look, I mean, he ends up getting arrested by Robert E. Lee who leads the Secession force two years later over this issue of slavery and John Brown predicted. He said, This is only going to be solved with blood. This is the only way. This is a slave nation and we can't permit it anymore. So there are these great inspirational speeches and have a website where teachers are going to be able to access them. If you're teaching about Frederick Douglass and you can bring a reading by Morgan Freeman into your classroom, I have a feeling high school kids are going to be much more interested and be able to connect to these voices and that was the thing, looking at all of these readings, you connect to them much more than when you read them on the page, when you see these actors speaking the words. There's just something very powerful about it.

Q: Thank you both.

MF: Before you go, let me just say this. In a movie like this, in a project like this, actors, directors, producers, we all get so much attention and so much credit but I want you to see, whatever happened to Tony, I want you to see the young, unassuming man who actually wrote this script. Because no word on the page, nothing happens. Tony Peckham, that is the man who gets kudos from all of us. Thank you all so much.

Don't worry, Viggo Mortensen is not quitting acting. He sent his fans into a scare when he suggested he was finished with his craft. Reports of his retirement have been greatly exaggerated, Mortensen now says. Somebody I think wrote that because they asked me and I just gave them an honest answer,... more

Don't worry, Viggo Mortensen is not quitting acting. He sent his fans into a scare when he suggested he was finished with his craft. Reports of his retirement have been greatly exaggerated, Mortensen now says.

Somebody I think wrote that because they asked me and I just gave them an honest answer, What do you have lined up next as far as a movie? Mortensen said in a roundtable interview. I said, I don't. There isn't anything right now. I could've said, Oh, theres a bunch of things I'm not at liberty to discuss at this time or something like that, like people say, but it was the truth. I didn't have something lined up. They say, Ah, he's quit! The next thing I'm going to do is a play which is as terrifying as doing The Road to me because I haven't done a play in over 20 years.

Purgatorio by Ariel Dorfman is coming to Madrid in February but Mortensen's latest bravura performance has been committed to film for worldwide audiences to see. In The Road, based on Cormac McCarthy's book, Mortensen plays The Man. Several years after an apocalyptic event, The Man is one of few survivors. He and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) search for whatever food remains in the burnt out wasteland, and there's not much of it.

When you commit to a role so deeply, you should brag about it. Mortensen deprived himself of minimum daily calories to wither down to The Man's bone thin appearance. It's not about credit though. He just wants to talk about the films message, as he did so nonchalantly while he hand rolled his own cigarette.

Suicide Girls: Why do you think The Man doesn't just give up on this world?

Viggo Mortensen: I don't think he has a clear answer at first. She asks him that, doesn't she? [His wife] says in the flashback, Well, how are you going to do that? Survive no matter what, how are you going to do that? He doesn't know so he doesn't say much. He just looks kind of perplexed, at a loss for words. She also asks him, Why? Most importantly, she says, I don't want to just survive. No culture, no humanity, whats the point? Apart from all the threats they've had. He doesn't really have a clear answer for that either. By the end, he does though. I think he understands, that kindness in and of itself just for it's own sake is worthwhile. Also, you never know. As you see in the story, just by keeping going until the very end, it provides an opportunity that he could never know about for his son, that his son wouldn't have had had he not kept going. He makes mistake along the way but that's not a mistake, wanting to keep going. That's hopeful I think.

SG: Have you always been a nice guy in real life? Is there a certain spirituality that leads you that way?

VM: Well, like anybody else, I have bad days, I get worn out or I get short tempered with myself or with other people. Generally, its not that I'm nicer than anyone else but I do try to make a conscious effort just because I've learned that in the long run, it's better. It's always better, you have less regrets if you've treated people fairly and give people a chance because if you don't, you're going to regret it later. You can't really go back. You can apologize, that's true, but you can't undo certain things. So its better to think twice before acting, or speaking rashly. Not that I don't do it once in a while but I try to be careful about it.

SG: There's a lot of writing out there about positive thinking or just being present, like The Secret or Eckhart Tolle. Has that informed you?

VM: Well, Eckhart Tolle has written some interesting things and he's had an interesting life. His journey to get to the point where he could actually help people in some way was a hard journey.

SG: Are you in an elite club of actors who have been through extreme weight loss like Tom Hanks for Cast Away and Christian Bale for The Machinist?

VM: I don't know. I know that it wasnt a big deal. I mean yeah, it was something I had to be disciplined about in order to get there, but it was not some whimsical choice on my part. It was obvious to me that I had to look the part. Looking the part meant being thin the way Kodi is thin for it to be credible. If I looked like I do now, like I'm well fed, unless I lost a certain amount of weight, there's no amount of makeup that's going to make me look like I'm starving I guess. So I had to do that. It wasn't the hardest thing. The hardest thing was the emotional challenges that Kodi and I had.

SG: Do you seek out roles where you have to do something extreme, like also the tattoos and physicality of Eastern Promises?

VM: One of the things about the movies is you get to travel a lot, you get to learn to do things that on your own you'd either be too lazy to do or it wouldn't occur to you to even try, like learning to speak a little Russian, physical skills. There's just things you wouldn't try. In the case of The Road, it was putting myself through I guess a certain emotional test, a journey that I wouldn't have embarked on willingly. Why would you want to feel that badly and think so much about things that are difficult to think about, people in your family that have passed away, all those kind of things. This movie evokes how fragile life is, how important it is. I did get something really good out of it. I became refocused on something that I think we all have inside anyway, an appreciation of life, people we know and understanding that life is relatively short and it's worthwhile paying attention.

SG: Most actors get into this business because they like attention. Are you an anomaly for an actor in that you usually keep to yourself?

VM: Well, I'd be dishonest if I didn't say that I'm pleased or I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it was satisfying to hear from you or anybody else that they were touched in some way by this movie and that they felt that my performance was believable and effective. After all, just as an actor, as a professional or an artist, my job is to contribute to the storytelling team. It's a team sport and I have to pull my weight. If I feel like I did that or a certain amount of people tell me they feel that I did then I'm obviously pleased and flattered. In that sense, if that's attention, I guess I'm not immune to being attracted to that or to being flattered. As far as the things that go with it, just being famous for being famous's sake like some people seem to be into even more than doing the job properly when it comes to what they're famous for in the first place - unless it's just looking nice which is something that some people are just concerned with, or getting prizes for what they do - in the end, that might serve as some kind of encouragement but its not really going to help you do your job well. I find that a lot of that attention is distracting. It's counterproductive for me to doing a good job so I just instinctively try to mind my own business.

SG: Are you in an interesting position where youre bankable enough to carry high profile films but directors know you can do difficult roles?

VM: Well, it's not like they're going to offer me any old part but it has to be things that they think I'm right for. If I really feel strongly about a part that they don't think I'm right for then I have to really fight for it, just like I would've when I was first starting in this career. I am aware that I've been lucky. There are a lot of actors who work just as hard as I do and they just dont have the same luck. Im lucky in that I'm part of a relatively small group of people that are at this time sometimes given the privilege of playing a lead role in a good story. There's not that many people that the people that make movies, that finance them would say, Oh yeah, that's bankable or That's an okay investment or We can count on him. It's like saying, I'll recommend this plumber to you because he does a great job and he's very efficient, he doesn't make a mess and you wont have to call him to come back and fix it. At least they know that even if I'm terrified and not sure I can do it, they think I can because they've seen me do it before. So it's nice to feel like people trust you with their stories.

SG: Do you expect The Weinstein Company to make a big push for Oscar nominations for you and the film?

VM: I don't know. Time will tell. We're getting close to the release. We're certainly speaking to you and others who write about the movies but you can't make people like the movie. They have to like it and I'm encouraged, and I think they probably are, by the reaction we've gotten in screenings. For me, its a relief because I'm going to be working hard doing my interviews and meeting my obligations because I think it's a good movie. Its something I don't mind at all doing.

SG: Have you spoken to Guillermo del Toro about The Hobbit at all?

VM: Ive never spoken to him about it. I know theres a lot of speculation out there. I think he's a great filmmaker and I'd obviously rather finish the job than see another actor do my role, if in fact they make a second movie to tie the two books together.

SG: It would have to be The Hobbit 2.

VM: Yeah, because The Hobbit, I'm not in it.

SG: Back when you did Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, did you give that your all like you do A History of Violence or The Road?

VM: Absolutely. They cut a lot of that out. The humor, being that kind of movie, was tied to some pretty horrible things, events and so they were all cut out. It's a movie that barely makes any sense. That movies 60-something minutes long. It was New Line who made that movie but that was back when they were a very small horror movie sort of company. People tend to think that the censorship system or the rating system for movies where you get an R or an X or a XXX or a PG, PG-13, that that's fair and objective. In reality, it's just a bunch of guys who are not beyond being influenced by major studios. At least that's how it's been historically. At that time when we made Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part III, they submitted the movie several times and it kept getting XXX and XX. It was unreleasable in theaters in the opinion of the ratings board because there were so many gruesome things in it. In reality there were no more gruesome things in it than you would see in Friday the 13th or those sorts of movies that were coming out from big studios, Paramount or whoever at the time.

The Road opens November 25.