When one thinks of modern independent female film actors nowadays my guess is people like Maggie Gyllenhaal, Parker Posey and Christina Ricci pop up. But back in the day the bomb diggetty independent actress was Lili Taylor. She appeared in some amazing films in the 1990's, playing a murderer in I Shot Andy Warhol, a vampire in The Addiction and the art dealer who discovers Edward Furlong in Pecker. Taylor mentions that a turning point in independent film was six years ago which is right about the time she dropped off the radar.
But she never went away but now she's working on some high profile projects with amazing people. Most recently she got nominated for an Emmy award for the HBO show Six Feet Under. But the big project is her part in John Sayles' latest film Casa de los Babys. She plays a heavily accented New Yorker who comes down to a Latin America country to adopt a child even though she has no partner to raise it with. Her character is often at odds with Marcia Gay Harden's Midwestern character. It just goes to show that the third coast doesn't hold up to New York. The experience of working with Sayles taught Taylor about how she might want to direct a film sometime soon. He is unique in that he gives his actors bios of their characters often before they even read the script.
Taylor is much prettier and sexier in person than I ever imagined. At the young age of 36 she has so much experience to impart and is happy to do so even if it's only in short quick but meaningful answers.
Check out the website for Casa de los Babys.
Daniel Robert Epstein: What appeals to you about playing these outsider type roles?
Lili Taylor: I guess I'm attracted to the underdog, to the story we don't get to see much and I want to tell those stories.
DRE: Did you know much about adoption before doing this movie?
LT: I didn't know about [foreign adoption]. My views of this definitely got more complicated as we made the film. There are no easy answers. John [Sayles] brought up a lot of great issues. I think it's also so personal that it's hard for me to come up with a moral judgment when I haven't walked in their shoes.
DRE: What was it like working in Mexico for the first time?
LT: Acapulco is a funny place. It's all tourism so it's hard to get a sense of it.
DRE: I think it was just eight years ago when you played a high school girl in Girl's Town. Do you feel that Casa is your most mature role?
LT: No I've done a few things that haven't come out yet. This character does take on a lot of responsibility.
DRE: Do you know why your character wanted a child?
LT: I think it was intuitive and not intellectual. How she was going to go about it was intellectual though. I think that on principle she wanted to adopt. She wanted to save one of the kids.
DRE: Your character has a bit of ambiguous sexuality. Did you and John discuss that?
LT: I don't know if her sexuality was ambiguous as opposed to her relationships might have not been so positive. I got that idea from within the bio I got from John. John had asked me to do the role months, after that I got the bio and then the script. The bio was everything to me and that informed the way I read the script. John set the parameters for me and then I just wanted to work within that.
DRE: Are you a New Yorker?
LT: I think the rule is once you are in New York for 11 years you are [laughs].
DRE: Your character in Casa is also a New Yorker. What made that important?
LT: I don't know. I guess maybe it made her a little bit worldlier for lack of a better word, because that's kind of judging the others. But she has a little more exposure than the Marcia Gay Harden character, let's put it that way.
DRE: How was it living with all the other actresses during shooting?
LT: It was great. We all started out in a hotel which if we had stayed there we would have had a totally different experience. It was Mary [Steenburgen] who organized us living together. When it came through she told us we were moving. It changed everything because we were in this crappy hotel high up, all isolated then we moved to this beautiful villa. It was like paradise. It was fortunate for the film because I think a lot of that work happened at that villa.
DRE: Did you and Marcia Gay Harden not get along because your characters didn't like one another?
LT: Thank god there wasn't a loose cog in the bunch. Marcia and I fought in another film [Gaudi Afternoon released in 2001] and I think we slapped each other. So we love fighting. I love Marcia and we get a kick out of each other. We joke a bit at the villa about not liking each other.
DRE: Do you still not have a television?
LT: Yeah I never really got one. It's because I probably wouldn't be able to turn it off. If I watch too much TV it doesn't feel good.
DRE: How do you watch movies?
LT: I never really did. When I was little I just wanted to do theatre. I don't know where I got the snobbery about film at such a young age but I loved reading about all the theatre actresses.
DRE: How would you compare John Sayles to other directors you've worked with?
LT: Each director has their own special thing but John does have a filmic sense. I learned a lot from him about film, editing and to how envision the story. I think he's probably aware of all the pitfalls he could fall into. It's really his unique vision and the commitment to his vision.
DRE: You've done a few ensemble films like Short Cuts and now this. What do you like about that?
LT: Ensembles are usually a lot of fun and I've been lucky to do them with great people like The Imposters with Stanley Tucci and Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. They're fun but they are actually harder because you have to find your place. It's hard to anchor whereas if you are in every scene you are totally anchored in.
DRE: What's the ensemble of Six Feet Under like?
LT: It is an ensemble but to me it doesn't feel like that because I'm really with Nate [played by Peter Krause].
DRE: You mentioned that doing Casa informed you about foreign adoptions. What did you take away from I Shot Andy Warhol and The Addiction?
LT: With The Addiction I really had a lot of respect for [director] Abel [Ferrara]. I really feel like John Sayles and Abel Ferrara are two pure independent filmmakers. Talk about an independent spirit, on The Addiction we would shoot illegal shots from a van without permits or if the shot doesn't feel right Abel will take apart the whole dolly. There's no shot list and it's all very on the fly. I loved working with Abel.
With Mary Harron [director of I Shot Andy Warhol] it was such a complex character. Mary had done so much research so we had a great give and take relationship. It really felt like an intense worthwhile satiating experience.
DRE: John Sayles has such a feminist touch to his work and you've worked with so many amazing female directors. How did he do?
LT: I've been saying lately that there are a lot of women I wouldn't want to work with. But John is not afraid of his feminine side. The atmosphere that John creates is very serene. His crew completely knows what he wants. When you come on set it is completely silent which is hard to do especially in a foreign country with the language barrier. On one level he is very concise and if you ask him to expand he'll completely share with you. Some nights I would ask him something and we would talk for an hour. I found that freeing. He has a very unique style.
DRE: You've played some real people. Is there anyone from history you really want to play?
LT: Not off the top of my head. I don't really think role wise even though I should. I was going to play Janis Joplin for a while, it would have been a great role but who cares if it's not in the right context. I could dream about all these roles but if the director or the story isn't going to support it then who cares.
DRE: Is that the kind of movie you would want to direct then?
LT: I've directed some theater and I would like to direct film someday. If I was going to direct the Janis Joplin movie it would be in the style of Christopher Munch's The Hours and Times [about the relationship between John Lennon and Brian Epstein]. It would be about one aspect of Joplin's life and not a lot of her music.
DRE: What made you want to appear in The X-Files [in Mind's Eye episode 5.16]?
LT: When they asked me, I was like, TV? Then the script was great. It had an independent spirit. They shot within ten days, the crew was fantastic and it was a great experience.
DRE: What are your feelings on the commercialization of independent film?
LT: I've gone through a lot in the past six years because it's changed so much. It was sad at first when it was changing because it was this niche. I kept finding people I liked working with and then when Pulp Fiction came out and people realized they could make money from independent film. That was it, its over. I'm trying to see the pros of it. Like Boys Don't Cry would never have been in the Academy Awards six years ago. People are getting to see more complicated works but I find a lot of directors are hampered by it.
The rules have changed a little bit. With I Shot Andy Warhol no one thought of my stock price. It was just like; hey do you want to do it? There was no worry about the name value and now the bankers are calling the shots.
DRE: Seen any good movies lately?
LT: Capturing the Friedmans was amazing. I loved Spellbound and Swimming Pool. Lulu Forever is my favorite movie of the year though.
DRE: A lot of people still love Say Anything [released in 1989]. Do you have fond memories of working on that movie?
LT: Yeah I do. People still sing the songs. It's really hung in there.
DRE: Is that the movie people recognize you the most for?
LT: Its funny it can a lot of them, Mystic Pizza, Dogfight, I Shot Andy Warhol.
DRE: When you were doing Mystic Pizza how did you envision your career?
LT: Kind of like it is. I just thought that I would steadily keep working. The work is what is important to me and good projects seem to happen when the money isn't so high.
DRE: You have a big following amongst the Goth and punk crowd.
LT: Oh cool.
DRE: Have you encountered those fans?
LT: Not really. But when I'm doing a play there are a bunch of high schoolly kids who seem rebellious and doing their own thing who follow me around a bit [laughs]. They're really sweet.
DRE: They protect you?
LT: Yeah [laughs].
by
But she never went away but now she's working on some high profile projects with amazing people. Most recently she got nominated for an Emmy award for the HBO show Six Feet Under. But the big project is her part in John Sayles' latest film Casa de los Babys. She plays a heavily accented New Yorker who comes down to a Latin America country to adopt a child even though she has no partner to raise it with. Her character is often at odds with Marcia Gay Harden's Midwestern character. It just goes to show that the third coast doesn't hold up to New York. The experience of working with Sayles taught Taylor about how she might want to direct a film sometime soon. He is unique in that he gives his actors bios of their characters often before they even read the script.
Taylor is much prettier and sexier in person than I ever imagined. At the young age of 36 she has so much experience to impart and is happy to do so even if it's only in short quick but meaningful answers.
Check out the website for Casa de los Babys.
Daniel Robert Epstein: What appeals to you about playing these outsider type roles?
Lili Taylor: I guess I'm attracted to the underdog, to the story we don't get to see much and I want to tell those stories.
DRE: Did you know much about adoption before doing this movie?
LT: I didn't know about [foreign adoption]. My views of this definitely got more complicated as we made the film. There are no easy answers. John [Sayles] brought up a lot of great issues. I think it's also so personal that it's hard for me to come up with a moral judgment when I haven't walked in their shoes.
DRE: What was it like working in Mexico for the first time?
LT: Acapulco is a funny place. It's all tourism so it's hard to get a sense of it.
DRE: I think it was just eight years ago when you played a high school girl in Girl's Town. Do you feel that Casa is your most mature role?
LT: No I've done a few things that haven't come out yet. This character does take on a lot of responsibility.
DRE: Do you know why your character wanted a child?
LT: I think it was intuitive and not intellectual. How she was going to go about it was intellectual though. I think that on principle she wanted to adopt. She wanted to save one of the kids.
DRE: Your character has a bit of ambiguous sexuality. Did you and John discuss that?
LT: I don't know if her sexuality was ambiguous as opposed to her relationships might have not been so positive. I got that idea from within the bio I got from John. John had asked me to do the role months, after that I got the bio and then the script. The bio was everything to me and that informed the way I read the script. John set the parameters for me and then I just wanted to work within that.
DRE: Are you a New Yorker?
LT: I think the rule is once you are in New York for 11 years you are [laughs].
DRE: Your character in Casa is also a New Yorker. What made that important?
LT: I don't know. I guess maybe it made her a little bit worldlier for lack of a better word, because that's kind of judging the others. But she has a little more exposure than the Marcia Gay Harden character, let's put it that way.
DRE: How was it living with all the other actresses during shooting?
LT: It was great. We all started out in a hotel which if we had stayed there we would have had a totally different experience. It was Mary [Steenburgen] who organized us living together. When it came through she told us we were moving. It changed everything because we were in this crappy hotel high up, all isolated then we moved to this beautiful villa. It was like paradise. It was fortunate for the film because I think a lot of that work happened at that villa.
DRE: Did you and Marcia Gay Harden not get along because your characters didn't like one another?
LT: Thank god there wasn't a loose cog in the bunch. Marcia and I fought in another film [Gaudi Afternoon released in 2001] and I think we slapped each other. So we love fighting. I love Marcia and we get a kick out of each other. We joke a bit at the villa about not liking each other.
DRE: Do you still not have a television?
LT: Yeah I never really got one. It's because I probably wouldn't be able to turn it off. If I watch too much TV it doesn't feel good.
DRE: How do you watch movies?
LT: I never really did. When I was little I just wanted to do theatre. I don't know where I got the snobbery about film at such a young age but I loved reading about all the theatre actresses.
DRE: How would you compare John Sayles to other directors you've worked with?
LT: Each director has their own special thing but John does have a filmic sense. I learned a lot from him about film, editing and to how envision the story. I think he's probably aware of all the pitfalls he could fall into. It's really his unique vision and the commitment to his vision.
DRE: You've done a few ensemble films like Short Cuts and now this. What do you like about that?
LT: Ensembles are usually a lot of fun and I've been lucky to do them with great people like The Imposters with Stanley Tucci and Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. They're fun but they are actually harder because you have to find your place. It's hard to anchor whereas if you are in every scene you are totally anchored in.
DRE: What's the ensemble of Six Feet Under like?
LT: It is an ensemble but to me it doesn't feel like that because I'm really with Nate [played by Peter Krause].
DRE: You mentioned that doing Casa informed you about foreign adoptions. What did you take away from I Shot Andy Warhol and The Addiction?
LT: With The Addiction I really had a lot of respect for [director] Abel [Ferrara]. I really feel like John Sayles and Abel Ferrara are two pure independent filmmakers. Talk about an independent spirit, on The Addiction we would shoot illegal shots from a van without permits or if the shot doesn't feel right Abel will take apart the whole dolly. There's no shot list and it's all very on the fly. I loved working with Abel.
With Mary Harron [director of I Shot Andy Warhol] it was such a complex character. Mary had done so much research so we had a great give and take relationship. It really felt like an intense worthwhile satiating experience.
DRE: John Sayles has such a feminist touch to his work and you've worked with so many amazing female directors. How did he do?
LT: I've been saying lately that there are a lot of women I wouldn't want to work with. But John is not afraid of his feminine side. The atmosphere that John creates is very serene. His crew completely knows what he wants. When you come on set it is completely silent which is hard to do especially in a foreign country with the language barrier. On one level he is very concise and if you ask him to expand he'll completely share with you. Some nights I would ask him something and we would talk for an hour. I found that freeing. He has a very unique style.
DRE: You've played some real people. Is there anyone from history you really want to play?
LT: Not off the top of my head. I don't really think role wise even though I should. I was going to play Janis Joplin for a while, it would have been a great role but who cares if it's not in the right context. I could dream about all these roles but if the director or the story isn't going to support it then who cares.
DRE: Is that the kind of movie you would want to direct then?
LT: I've directed some theater and I would like to direct film someday. If I was going to direct the Janis Joplin movie it would be in the style of Christopher Munch's The Hours and Times [about the relationship between John Lennon and Brian Epstein]. It would be about one aspect of Joplin's life and not a lot of her music.
DRE: What made you want to appear in The X-Files [in Mind's Eye episode 5.16]?
LT: When they asked me, I was like, TV? Then the script was great. It had an independent spirit. They shot within ten days, the crew was fantastic and it was a great experience.
DRE: What are your feelings on the commercialization of independent film?
LT: I've gone through a lot in the past six years because it's changed so much. It was sad at first when it was changing because it was this niche. I kept finding people I liked working with and then when Pulp Fiction came out and people realized they could make money from independent film. That was it, its over. I'm trying to see the pros of it. Like Boys Don't Cry would never have been in the Academy Awards six years ago. People are getting to see more complicated works but I find a lot of directors are hampered by it.
The rules have changed a little bit. With I Shot Andy Warhol no one thought of my stock price. It was just like; hey do you want to do it? There was no worry about the name value and now the bankers are calling the shots.
DRE: Seen any good movies lately?
LT: Capturing the Friedmans was amazing. I loved Spellbound and Swimming Pool. Lulu Forever is my favorite movie of the year though.
DRE: A lot of people still love Say Anything [released in 1989]. Do you have fond memories of working on that movie?
LT: Yeah I do. People still sing the songs. It's really hung in there.
DRE: Is that the movie people recognize you the most for?
LT: Its funny it can a lot of them, Mystic Pizza, Dogfight, I Shot Andy Warhol.
DRE: When you were doing Mystic Pizza how did you envision your career?
LT: Kind of like it is. I just thought that I would steadily keep working. The work is what is important to me and good projects seem to happen when the money isn't so high.
DRE: You have a big following amongst the Goth and punk crowd.
LT: Oh cool.
DRE: Have you encountered those fans?
LT: Not really. But when I'm doing a play there are a bunch of high schoolly kids who seem rebellious and doing their own thing who follow me around a bit [laughs]. They're really sweet.
DRE: They protect you?
LT: Yeah [laughs].
by
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
great interview.
good job dan.
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