Chloë Sevigny, Teacher’s Pet!

The 'Big Love' star instructs on Hollyweird, potato bugs, ‘obnoxious lesbian’ neighbors, and those pesky sex scenes with 'Bill.'

BLACKBOOK: Did you have style while you were growing up?

CHLOË SEVIGNY: Absolutely! Pretty much from kindergarten on I wouldn’t let my mother dress me. I had very specific tastes, and refused to put on anything she wanted me to wear. I was really into clothes, often kind of outrageous, not quite typical kid-wear, like hats and things. My father used to take me into the city, to Macy’s, or Saks, to go shopping—I was Daddy’s girl, so those were really important days. He’d been a military man, so all of his outfits were very crisp. And beyond that he had some serious style. Fedoras, trenchcoats—very classic. He even wore those straps [garters] that hold your socks up. There was just something about that generation. He used to tell me how much he liked women in hats, so I would wear hats more and more often, because I knew he liked me in them.

BB: Chloë Sevigny for Opening Celebration?

CS: Yeah, not all that clever, I know—but the logo, I like. The line itself is very body-conscious, and kind of a mish-mash. It grew out of what I was into as a kid—Depeche Mode, but also A Tribe Called Quest, so it’s this alterna-girl meets fly-girl kind of thing [laughs]. And it’s by no means high fashion; it’s daywear. Casual, absolutely—a lot of cottons, comfortable fabrics. I still wish it were cheaper; it’s in the $100 to $400 range, because we used Liberty of London for the printing. They did an amazing job, of course—that’s why you get them. But I’d still like a high school girl to be able to afford it.

BB: Well, some can.

CS: Yeah, but just the rich ones for now. The difference with it, for me, is that I really thought about it as a commercial product. I really thought about the consumer, which is something that, well, I just don’t normally do. I really want it to be successful. I want people to buy it, and to like it. So I thought about a lot of the more universal aspects of the clothes: Does this work if a tall girl wants to buy it? Or a skinny, skinny one? And if the answer was no, we just didn’t make it, and moved on.

BB: Why so long for a fashion line?

CS: Well, it’s the first time somebody offered [to back it]. I was always thinking about it, of course, and everybody was always asking me why I hadn’t done something. For a little while, I was in talks with this Japanese company to do a one-off, just one piece with them, but every time something like that would come up, I was always under contract to some other company that involved restrictions. A deal with one company meant I couldn’t go out and do anything to promote another, so it never worked out. Like now, for example, this deal I have with Coty [fragrances] has some unbelievable rules, like I can’t do nude shots, or any sex scenes. And in my personal life, basically, I’m not allowed to do anything… untoward. And anyway, I don’t want to do any more sex scenes on “Big Love.” Bill [Paxton] is just the nicest guy in the world, and does a great job making us feel as comfortable as possible. But there’s just no way that a sex scene is going to be comfortable, with the crew in the room, and everything else. With me, those scenes are always forced. You know, I did so many topless scenes during the first season, I got really tired of it. [Co-stars] Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin don’t have to do any nude scenes. [“Big Love” producers] tried to put pressure on me at first, and they said, “Well, you know, Jeanne shows her behind,” and I said, “What? Any girl would rather show her behind than her boobies.” You know what I mean?

BB: I’m not a girl.

CS: Well, trust me.

BB: Naturally.

CS: So I said, “If they’re not showing their boobies, I’m not showing my boobies.” Ultimately, they were pretty good about it. And truth be told, I think our viewers were uncomfortable with [the show’s nudity and sex]. I mean, all in all, our show is very clean—no cursing, and it’s not violent or anything. Of course, our show is about relationships, and sex is a very important part of a relationship—of any marriage, and certainly a huge part of my character’s motivation had to do with her sexuality. But I don’t think the people who watch our show want to see that stuff. That’s not why they’re watching. The next season, when I came in, they handed me this storyline that had my character being a total prude, always concerned about the immorality of it all. They never really explained it; it was just done. They thought it was this brilliant storyline that had brought her through all these changes and everything, and I just kept thinking that’s not the “Nicki” from last season! Maybe part of it is that HBO now has a lot of shows depicting sex and some pretty racy things on it, and I think that satisfies them, quenches their thirst.

BB: What’s it like working with venerable character actors like Harry Dean Stanton and Bruce Dern?

CS: My favorites! So great, both of them. The funny thing is, I’ll see Harry Dean at whatever Hollywood event, red carpet thing, and walk up to him wearing some crazy, sexy dress, and he’ll be shaking my hand and going, “Now, who are you again?” And I say, I play your daughter! And sometimes I don’t think he knows what I’m talking about. He never recognizes me. [laughs] But, whatever, he’s 86 years old. And he still likes to party—very hard. Frankly, I think he comes to the set sometimes straight from the party, but you’d never know it. Bruce Dern is definitely different—just one of these poetic, worldly types. He always takes my hand and says things like, “Chloë! Chloë, it’s your eyes! You have it, and it’s in your eyes!” I admire them both so much. Without sounding full of myself or anything, I hope, in some way, that I’m carrying on the torch for guys like that—that kind of actor.

BB: New York vs. Hollywood?

CS: I lived in Los Angeles for a while, West Hollywood, and it was just miserable. I had these loud, obnoxious lesbian neighbors, who were always playing Trivial Pursuit, yelling answers to each other out the window, screaming. My friends thought I was nuts: “Why are you living there? West Hollywood is for actors who are struggling to make it. You need to get out of there,” which was true. I guess it’s like some actor
stepping-stone-something. Anyway, I was miserable. I rent a house in Los Feliz now, while we’re shooting, a guest house—very small, smaller than my New York apartment. It’s a cabin, really, like 200 square feet, and it has no heat. I’m still paying for it right now actually, because I didn’t want to deal with storage. The house is set into a hill, so I get all these weird underground insects. They come in from the walls. Very, very creepy.

BB: Unacceptable.

CS: Unacceptable. One night I found this… thing. It was in the bathroom, which is downstairs [it’s a two-story house], and it was… it was like something from a David Cronenberg movie, and huge—huge! Or, I thought, maybe an alien had stopped in, and then gone into my bathroom to have a miscarriage. It’s probably not something you say in an interview, or maybe ever, because it’s incredibly embarrassing—but it’s pretty funny, so I will. I was so, so scared, I mean utterly terrified, that even after it was gone, for so long I wouldn’t go in there, and in the middle of the night, rather than risk it, I would pee off my upstairs porch. Turned out it’s called a potato bug. It’s the size of my fucking… hand.

BB: The potato bug is a goddamn nightmare.

CS: They just gave me a raise on the show, and my mother says, “You have to treat yourself.” You know, as mothers do.

BB: Your mother is right.

CS: Yeah, I know. I guess I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and get a bigger place. God—the silverfish! All those little legs flapping… but I love Los Feliz. It’s a great, great, great neighborhood. I go out sometimes—the Cha-Cha, Little Joy, Echo—in those places I can relate to people. It’s more like being in New York, East Village, or wherever. There aren’t so many movie people, fancy-pants morons who are climbing and clawing their way up the social ladder—basically, to nowhere. In Los Feliz, there are grungy kids, and normal people who are just comfortable with what they’re doing, and being who they are. I feel like that’s where I am.

BB: How about the line that separates “actor Chloë” from you.

CL: “Actor Chloë?” You mean “Nicki” versus me? Because I don’t think that I’m anything like “Nicki.” Or do you mean like trying to play the Hollywood game, by putting on an expensive dress and doing myself up and going around to movie premieres or whatever, and that whole thing that’s so disgusting to me? That?

BB: The second one.

CL: Well, I’ve been playing that game, whatever it is, for a while, and it just hasn’t gotten me anywhere. I mean, I don’t get it. I take all kinds of “meetings” with studio people, because everyone’s always saying, “Let’s get her for this,” or, “Oh, we love your work,” and, “We’re so excited about working with you.” And then they don’t give me any parts. I want to make a big studio film, but maybe I’m trying too hard. Maybe if I don’t try so hard, it’s better—or it’s a better kind of trying. Maybe it’s because I’m not available enough. Who knows, really. I’m just rounding the horn, realizing I just have to do my own thing, and see what happens.

Photography by Marc Hom
Styling by Ryan Hastings