Interview articles from April 2002

Interview archives from April 2002

Letters.
April 1, 2002... MORE KIDMAN CALLBACKS Dear Interview, I was so happy to discover the new Interview magazine in my mailbox when I got home. I saw from the coverlines that Nicole Kidman was supposed to be in the issue, but I could not figure out who was...

Ben Curtis: So who is this guy who's got everyone talking about those Dell Ads? (One to Watch).(Interview)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Not only has his ad copy slogan--"Dude, you're gettin' a Dell"--become part of the American lexicon, but since Ben Curtis' ubiquitous TV commercial character Steven jumped onto our screens, the computer company has reported a sales increase of...

Blush hour: It's spring, and here's a look that says, "You Give Me Fever." (Look of the Month).(Peggy Lee)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Back in the '50s, when Senator Joseph McCarthy was yelling, "Better dead than red," Peggy Lee was, in her own way, extolling the opposite virtue. Her 1958 hit single "Fever" was all about turning red--only with passion, not politics. (Back...

Alexandra Ansanelli: a ballet mega-star introduces the next one. (This Month's Mover and Shaker).(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 1, 2002... At 21 Alexandra Ansanelli is already astonishing audiences. She joined New York City Ballet at 16, was promoted to soloist at 17, and today is the dancer to watch. Ansanelli's dramatic repertoire already includes roles ranging from the...

Shana Morrison: From risk management to a risky business. (Music News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... "I always sang in choirs in school, and I liked singing," says Shana Morrison. "But I didn't like the idea of people saying, Oh, you're going to be like your dad.' I mean, what teenager wants to do that?" So instead of pursuing a music career,...

Clinic: Doctors for those sick of Retro Rock. (This Month's Music Explorers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Radiohead may be everyone's favorite band, but who is Radiohead's favorite band? The answer: Clinic, an iconoclastic foursome from Liverpool whose latest album, Walking With Thee (Domino), is a masterpiece of innovative sonic mayhem. If rock...

Vanessa Carlton: How she found the black and white keys to her bright, bright future. (Music That's Taking Off).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... "Silent All These Years" would be a great title for the piano-pounding wunderkind Vanessa Carlton's life up to this point. And not just because it's the name of her musical forebear Tori Amos' first hit. After studying at Manhattan's...

Kenna: Urban music goes to outer space. (Music Trendspotting).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... While Kenna hails from the same Virginia Beach 'hood that produced visionary hip-hop icons the Neptunes, he's no rapper. Instead of beats and rhymes, New Sacred Cow--recently released on Limp Bizkit front man Fred Durst's Flawless label and...

Elton John's Tip Sheet. (Music Opinion Page).(the musicians he is listening to)(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 1, 2002... INTERVIEW: So, Mister Crystal Ball, what should we look out for music wise this spring? ELTON JOHN: My favorite album of the moment is by Miss Kittin & the Hacker, and it's called First Album [Emperor Norton]. It was made in Switzerland,...

Diana Krall: the woman with a whale of a voice talks to her favorite fish. (Jazzing it Up).(Interview)
April 1, 2002... LAURENCE FISHBURNE: Hello. Diana. DIANA KRALL: Hello, Laurence. LF: How are you? DK: I'm very well. How are you? LF: I'm very good. It's nice to be back in New York. I haven't been here in a long time. Are you on a break now?...

Nina Nastasia: The Blackened Air (Touch and Go Records).
April 1, 2002... Nastasia is the rare artist who creates a new form from which others will copy. Her songs begin with passion and empty space into which she adds drums, violins and saws. No wonder Nirvana knob-twiddler Steve Albini decided to engineer this...

Bonnie Raitt: Silver Lining (Capitol).
April 1, 2002... For her 16th album, the bottleneck blues-pop queen recruited a potpourri of friends old and new. Her magic touch remains intact, as Raitt offers a blend of spongy grooves and relaxed blues that link her personal brand of honky-tonk to the grit...

Andrew W.K.: I Get Wet (Island).
April 1, 2002... If it's true that exuberance is beauty, then Andrew W.K. is a total knockout. What this rock 'n' roller lacks in finesse, he makes up for with all-out, Ramones-style, party-hard jams that have not one apparent iota of irony. Even though he's...

Patti Smith: Land (1975-2002) (Arista).
April 1, 2002... When it came to choosing which songs to include on her first-ever compilation, the woman who wrote "People Have the Power" was true to her word: Half of the material was chosen by fans, while disc two is packed with demos, outtakes and live...

John Trudell: Bone Days (Daemon Records).
April 1, 2002... John Trudell's extraordinarily untrendy new release, executive produced by Angelina Jolie, combines spoken-word rambling with Native American chanting, tinkling bells and bluesy electric guitars. While his deep and sometimes impenetrable...

Medeski Martin & Wood: Uninvisible (Blue Note).
April 1, 2002... After last year's piano-based Tonic, this trio returns to their trademark combination of avant-garde jazz and fleshy hedonistic funk. And guest appearances by a score of extra musicians makes you think of a late-night party where every...

Cornershop: Handcream for a Generation (Beggars).
April 1, 2002... Five years ago, Cornershop proved it was possible to hit number one without sacrificing quirky individualism. On Handcream, they update their eclectic appeal. With iconoclastic choices including a 14-minute track with Oasis guitarist Noel...

Caitlin Cary: While You Weren't Looking (Yep Roc).
April 1, 2002... Her former bandmate Ryan Adams may be generating all the buzz at the moment, but ex-Whiskeytown fiddler Cary delivers her own knockout debut with this soulful, earthy delight. With her sturdy, graceful delivery and clear, bell-toned voice,...

Johnny Cash: Carryin' On With Johnny Cash and June Carter (Columbia/Legacy).
April 1, 2002... Recorded in 1967 with the woman who would become his wife, and now available on CD for the first time, this vintage album showcases Cash's undiminished vibrancy. The black-clad troubadour's earnest baritone soothes the soul as he testifies...

Carry on: Pocketbooks that'll have people saying, "That's My Bag, Baby! Yeah!" (What's Swinging).(Brief Article)(Illustration)
April 1, 2002... Some people say that you can tell a lot about a person from the contents of their handbag, but this spring, it seems like you can tell a lot from the bag itself. Where there used to be a rather limited range of standard shapes, standard...

Whoopi Goldberg: The host of the Oscars chats with the greatest talk show host of all time. (Oscars and More - Two Terrific Talkers go at it).(Interview)
April 1, 2002... DICK CAVETT: Whoopi, I don't know if I ever asked you, but I've wondered: When you're looking out over the glittering Academy Awards audience, do you ever get that "How did I get here?" sensation? WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I get it every day, Dick....

Diego Luna: Named for the moon, the sky's the limit for this actor. (Movie Spotlight).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Actor Diego Luna first met writer-director Alfonso Cuaron at the age of six. At the time, Luna's father, Alejandro, was working with Cuaron on Luis Mandoki's Gaby--A True Story (1987) and Diego was visiting the set. "Alfonso threw me into a...

Aaron Stanford: Fear, terror and a panic attack - welcome to the acting business. (Movie Scoop).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Aaron Stanford's first rehearsal for his first movie, the Sundance hit Tadpole, was a tad intimidating. "I had to kiss Sigourney Weaver," recalls the 25-year-old Westford, Massachusetts, native. "I had a little heart attack, and after that I...

Agnes Bruckner: From Hollywood pics to Indie flicks, she's in the mix. (Movie Buzz).(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 1, 2002... "Don't scrunch your forehead when acting," director Barbet Schroeder told Agnes Bruckner during her audition for this month's film Murder by Numbers. Schroeder apparently wanted to get a good look at the actress, something audiences will get an...

Preview: Blade 2.
April 1, 2002... PREVIEW: BLADE 2 Directed by Guillermo Del Toro Wesley Snipes returns as Blade, a half-human, half-vampire, leather-clad enemy of evil. Here he teams up with a gang of vampires to fight a new breed of monsters who prey on humans and...

Preview: Changing Lanes.
April 1, 2002... PREVIEW: CHANGING LANES Directed by Roger Michell Ben Affleck plays a contemporary New Yorker who's involved in a minor traffic accident with Samuel L. Jackson and then selfishly flees the scene. All would be forgotten, except...

Preview: Big Trouble. (Movies: Reviews, Previews, Our Views).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... PREVIEW: BIG TROUBLE Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld Remember a long, colorful trailer from last summer with nearly every working actor in it? Then you remember Sonnenfeld's latest, pulled so fast from its original September release date...

Review: The Piano Teacher.
April 1, 2002... REVIEW: THE PIANO TEACHER Directed by Michael Haneke Isabelle Huppert is enigmatically brilliant as a martinet at the Vienna Conservatoire who cruises porn stores, mutilates her genitals and embarks on a masochistic relationship with a...

Review: Human Nature.
April 1, 2002... REVIEW: HUMAN NATURE Directed by Michel Gondry A video director best known for his collaborations with music's eclectic genius Bjork, Gondry's hooked up with the movies' idiosyncratic in-crowd for his feature debut. Being John...

Preview: Showtime.
April 1, 2002... PREVIEW: SHOWTIME Directed by Tom Dey Love recycled ideas? If so, you'll want to rush to see Showtime, a riff on the familiar reluctant buddy/police partner genre, starring Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy. With the reality TV trend on...

Review: Time Out.
April 1, 2002... REVIEW: TIME OUT Directed by Laurent Cantet Cantet follows the outstanding Human Resources (1999) with an even better drama about the traumas of the workplace-though here the workplace and the job itself are the fabrication of an...

Review: National Lampoon's Van Wilder.
April 1, 2002... REVIEW: NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VAN WILDER Directed by Walt Becker In this lowbrow comedy fueled by testosterone and beer, Becker takes us to the one place where both are found in unending supply: college. Lead actor Ryan Reynolds is a...

Book 'Em: Five first-time authors to bookmark. (Writer Forecast).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... In these strange, unsettling times, the world needs fresh literary voices--writers who can illuminate and inspire as well as entertain. That's why we've chosen the five debut novelists and short-story writers featured here. Their visions are...

All the dish: It's back!...going out is in again.(restaurants, Manhattan, New York)
April 1, 2002... Each year, a week or so after the first official day of spring, an occasion rolls around to remind us that brighter days and warmer temperatures are only part of what marks the end of winter. The event, April Fool's Day, serves as a kind of...

Winning and losing. (View Column).(CAMILLE PAGLIA)
April 1, 2002... INGRID SISCHY: We're in the middle of awards season, so I wanted to talk to you about the ideas and social politics that revolve around winning and losing. In the arts, one can follow trends both pro and con. Not so in sports, where winning is...

Shots in the dark: a new movie shows that fascination with celebrity shenanigans is nothing new. (Movie Column).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The Cat's Meow speculates that on a weekend cruise aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht, Oneida, in November 1924, the press magnate (Edward Herrmann) fatally shot pioneer producer-director Thomas H. Ince (Gary Elwes). According to legend,...

Letter from the editor - April. (View).
April 1, 2002... This issue was one of those that fell together so naturally it was really a joy to work on. The big music story on John Mayer happened because Elton John, who contributes a regular music opinion column to the magazine and who has the finest ear...

Edward Norton & Robin Williams: In this month's killer comedy Death to Smoochy they play rivals. Here, they play together.(Interview)
April 1, 2002... EDWARD NORTON: Hey, boss. ROBIN WILLIAMS: Hey, daddy. What's up, baby? EN: Just on a lunch break on the set of my new movie, Red Dragon. RW: Oh, yay. A four o'clock lunch break. EN: All right. I thought given the nature of our...

Weather or not.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Swimmers hitting New York beaches in February? Tropical fruit twinkling with frost? Its become clear that the deities that control the sun and rain have a sense of humor. Or else theyve just gone nuts. Of course, when dancing with a madman, one...

Jennifer Connelly: How holding out for something that mattered paid off.(Interview)
April 1, 2002... INGRID SISCHY: So first tell us the bare facts. JENNIFER CONNELLY: I was born in upstate New York, in a town called Round Top. We lived there until I was one, when we moved to New York, to Brooklyn Heights. When I was about six or seven, we...

John Mayer: How do you find a real guitarist? Ask a real pianist.(Interview)
April 1, 2002... ELTON JOHN: The first thing that struck me when I heard your album [Room for Squares, Aware/Columbia] was the musicianship involved in it. Your guitar playing, and the high quality of all the musicians' work on the album, immediately endeared...

Ms. Mystery. (This Month's Big Show).(Julian Schnabel )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Last summer, after a period of being consumed by Before Night Falls, the movie he directed about writer Reinaldo Arenas, Julian Schnabel was ready to return full force to his first devotion--painting and sculpture. He picked up a small painting...

The Rock: Can the king of wrestling pin Hollywood?(Dwayne Johnson)(Interview)
April 1, 2002... Climbing out of the ring and onto the screen, Dwayne Johnson, better known by his World Wrestling Federation moniker, The Rock, is April's biggest breakout story. In fact, measuring 6'5" inches tall and weighing 265 pounds, Johnson may be the...

The Whitney Biennial: The art event that gets people so riled, they can only do it every other year. (Show Time).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Hype and hope, enthusiasm and derision: These are some of the feelings that seemingly every installment of the Whitney Biennial evokes in its participants and viewers, and the current show (which is on view through May 26) is no exception....