anderswolleck

Talking to Lili Taylor in person is so different from seeing in her movies. She came in eating hard-boiled eggs strangely enough. In many of her films, such as I Shot Andy Warhol and Ransom, she plays a tough talking broad who even the toughest guys wouldnt want to mess with. Talking with her at the Bryant Park Hotel I found her to sweet and very gentle person with an eagerness to talk about her latest project, A Slipping Down Life. In it she plays Evie Decker a shy young woman from the south that falls in love with a popular guitar player after hearing him on the radio. As she pursues the singer she begins to break out of her shell

Check out the website for A Slipping Down Life.

Daniel Robert Epstein: When we spoke previously you mentioned that doing low budget movies is tough because sometimes they dont get released or dont come out for many years. A Slipping Down Life was finished in 1999. Was this one of those films?

Lili Taylor: Yeah, it's kind of amazing that it's come out. So I'm just kind of like that kid who didn't get any presents for Christmas for a few years in a row and is just happy to get one. This film was taken over by the bank. It was in a bad situation. So it's amazing that it got out from under the bank.

DRE: Some actors don't like looking at work from five years ago, do you feel that way about this?

LT: No I like the movie a lot and I loved watching it. I was like, 'God, I'm so glad that it's coming out.'

DRE: When you have a movie that's been sitting on the shelf for so long, do you have to go back and watch it before you can talk about it?

LT: I do actually, totally, absolutely. I mean with movies you move on a little bit and you've forgotten everything. Five years, forget it.

DRE: Do you worry that people will perceive you differently considering what you're doing at the moment?

LT: Well, it's I mean, it's five years, and I'm in my thirties. It's not like I'm fifty and I did it when I was twenty. So, it's not quite that. I look a little different. So no.

DRE: You've been based in New York for a long time; did you have to get into a different mindset to do a southern regional film?

LT: Oh, yeah, definitely, but that's most of the time. I just played this character onstage from England. You've got to somewhere else from who you are.

DRE: What is your regional soul?

LT: Probably Chicago. It creeps in there because whenever I'm working on accents, the Chicago comes in a little bit. That's what I have to watch out for.

DRE: Do you feel more comfortable playing a character that's close to where youre from or do you want to be something completely opposite?

LT: Oh, I think outside of my own, definitely. If I get to play a character from Chicago, that's great too because it's easy. It's just like my own backyard or something.

DRE: Is it strange to play a character that's so sort of in her herself and not expressive?

LT: It's a challenge. I mean, I think that each role is a challenge really, and the main challenge is to get out of my own way and listen and then kind of bring myself back in.

DRE: Where did you study acting?

LT: I studied kind of piecemeal. I was kicked out of college. So, that didn't work. I was hoping to have conservatory training, but that wasn't in the stars for me. I studied with Joyce Piven who was in Evanston, Illinois.

DRE: Jeremy Piven's mother?

LT: Yeah. Aiden Quinn, Joan and John Cusack's teacher and a bunch of others studied with her.

DRE: Did you like studying acting?

LT: It depends on the class. There've been some classes that I was in that I felt were unhealthy and I wasn't sure what I was learning in them. There've been other classes where I'm working the muscles. I think that the actor just has to trust their intuition. If they're feeling in the class that it's a toxic environment or that it's kind of squelching their intuition, then get out of the class. I've felt that sometimes, yeah.

DRE: Did you try and make the character true to the book, A Slipping Down Life, or did you interpret it beyond that?

LT: I like Interpreting beyond. I find with books that it's best to let the book go because sometimes if it's too literary, it doesn't always translate to film.

DRE: Did you create a backstory for her?

LT: Oh yeah, but I do that on every one of them. I usually work six weeks on the preparation. That's an intense thing for me.

DRE: Was it different working with a female director?

LT: No, not really. There are women that I don't want to work with, you know what I mean? There are some men that I find more sensitive than women.

DRE: Do you find that people want you for the tough girl?

LT: Yeah, a little bit. I do find that the characters are usually tougher. There've been a few things like 'Julie Johnson' that I had done but it never came out. She was on the gentle side.

DRE: Casa de los babys is an important movie but not that many people saw it?

LT: I mean, I understand the deal and John [Sayles] does too. You just try to have a good experience. Some days I get sick of it. Other days, I just say, 'Well, that's the way it is.' Keep on keeping on.

DRE: Youve directed before. Are you working on something now?

LT: Not yet. I'm meeting some writers and stuff and thinking of ideas. I feel like I'm about a year or two away from directing.

DRE: What about theater?

LT: I've directed a couple of things downtown, nothing big at all. Theater, I might even be more comfortable starting with theater. But I feel like I need to get more educated with film. I know how to work with actors. It's more the technical stuff.

DRE: What kind of roles do you want to play that you haven't done?

LT: What do I want to play? I'm actually working on this idea of a woman who's an assassin. That's interesting to me. I can't say it's my number one choice that I'm dying to play an assassin. What am I interested in playing? I'd love to play a cop. I'd love to see a female cop movie.

DRE: Have you ever commissioned writers to do something for you?

LT: That's not a big commission [laughs]. I just started talking to some writers, definitely. We're still talking. We haven't gotten to the, 'Okay, I'm going to start writing now. Lets work something out.'

DRE: Who are you playing in The Ballad of Bettie Page?

LT: No, no. I'm playing the woman who took all the pictures of her, Paula Klaw. Gretchen Mol is playing Bettie Page and she's great.

DRE: Mary Harron is definitely directing it?

LT: Oh, yeah. We're shooting right now. I was just shooting last night, late.

DRE: Where?

LT: We're shooting all over New York. It's set in, New York in the '50's. It's black and white. HBO is doing it.

DRE: Bettie Page involved at all?

LT: I don't know. I know that they've talked to her, but she's not on set.

DRE: Did you do a lot of research for that?

LT: Mary did. Mary Harron does a lot of research. Mary gave me tons of interviews that she had transcribed. She's really into research.

DRE: Do you see yourself as having had some direction in your career, or has it all just happened?

LT: I would say that I'm proactive with seeking out good material, but not like calculated proactive. Well I take that back because now, I'm like, 'I want to meet some writers.' That's being proactive, but I'm not saying, 'I want to have a film that's going to do this for me.' I try not to play around with stuff that's out of my control.

DRE: Do you ever think about having the opportunity to develop characters beyond just one movie or do you like doing so many different characters?

LT: I think that I'm more the latter. I think that's more of what I'm meant to do in a way. I feel like I'm not passive. I feel like I haven't just sat back and let things fall into my lap or I wouldn't have done what I've done because a lot of it was saying no, actually, which is being proactive in another way.

DRE: Do you think that staying in New York has made you a better actress rather than having gone to LA?

LT: Well, I think it's affected me differently as a person, which affects me as an actor. I think that in the '90's, the independent films were happening here. So, that affected me very much. Theater is also very important to me. So, I think that being in New York has affected me a lot.

DRE: Financially, doing independents like you've done, are you able to get by, can you get the things that you need?

LT: Yeah, definitely. But what I tried to do from the beginning. I knew early on that the things I like to do aren't going to bring me a lot of money. So, I just acted as if I didn't have much money. If I got a job that paid a little more, I didn't act like I had more money because I always knew and I still feel that I don't know what's next. Next year, I may just do all plays and those don't pay much.

DRE: Do you see another trend in film coming that might benefit you more?

LT: Well, I mean, it was looking like digital was going to be in a different place by now, and that's not quite there. High definition video is pretty good, but I think that distribution needs to be revamped. I'm curious to see how that's going to change. If movies get easier or cheaper to make, so what if the distribution hasn't likewise revamped itself.

DRE: did you enjoy the opportunity to get back in touch with the people from this movie?

LT: I've been seeing her [writer/director Toni Kalem], but Guy [Pearce] is in Australia. So I haven't gotten to see him much, but it was great seeing Guy. I just saw him now. That was neat.

DRE: Do you see yourself working with the same people on a regular basis, are there actors that you'd like to do that with?

LT: Most people that I've worked with, I would work with again. I've worked with Stanley Tucci and Oliver Platt or [Steve] Buscemi. I mean, those are a couple of the New York guys.

DRE: Are you going to be in anymore of six feet under?

LT: Yeah.

DRE: Would you do like a network cop show on TV?

LT: Not network, I think. I think that it'd have to be cable and I don't think that there's a ton to chose from.

DRE: Do you ever see yourself moving elsewhere to live and work?

LT: No. This is it. I pay my taxes here and this is where I will continue to pay taxes. I love this city.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

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