Interview articles from August 2007

Interview archives from August 2007

Pay the rent.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... Dear Interview, I thoroughly enjoyed your diverse "The New Pop A-List: Interview's 50 to Watch" [June 2007]. Some of those young artists, however, seemed a bit too accomplished for the title on your story. Personally, I'd add Englishman...

Mickey Mouse, rock the house.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... Dear Interview, I've been a fan of Keri Russell's since her Felicity days, but reading the cover interview with her, I was surprised to discover a fun fact I didn't know: She is one more graduate of The Mickey Mouse Club who went on to...

Here's to True Colors.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... Dear Interview, If you ask me, Cyndi Lauper should have been on the cover of the June 2007 issue. Something like her True Colors Tour is so long overdue, and it is fabulous to see such a beloved artist getting so many others involved in it...

A call to action.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... Dear Interview, I've just read a letter to the editor in your June issue that deals with the subject of AIDS and the toll it has taken on the creative community. The writer asked what they could do to help. If he or she is serious about...

Fly on the wall.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2007... Dear Interview, I read with delight Carl Reiner's interview with Ellen Barkin [June 2007]. There is such easy fun in their conversation as they navigate a tale of family and career. Reading the piece, I felt as if I were watching them,...

Correction.(LETTERS)(Correction notice)
August 1, 2007... In the June issue's "The New Pop A-List: Interview's 50 to Watch," the piece on lawyer James Grimmelmann incorrectly states that he recently joined the faculty of New York University's Law School. In fact, Grimmelmann is now a faculty member at...

Sunset strip: blue skies are overrated.(LOOK OF THE MONTH)(makeup palettes, eyeshadows)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Even the most spectacular sunsets seem to defy capture by both description and photography, but they have successfully been paid tribute by summer 2007's makeup palettes. Used to create a bold sunset of an eye that sails across the color...

Charlie Cox: scoundrels, pirates, witches, and thieves--welcome to the movie business.(MOVIE BUZZ)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... With his role in the new film Stardust, British actor Charlie Cox can claim the distinction of being one of the few people ever styled onscreen by Robert De Niro. In the new fantasy epic, from Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn, the elder actor...

Nikki Blonsky: hair she is: musical comedy's new star.(MOVIE BREAKOUT)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Fifty years ago, the life story of Nikki Blonsky from Great Neck, New York, would have made a great let's-put-on-a-show musical: A plus-size 17-year-old girl who works at the local ice cream parlor is told that she has landed the lead in a big...

Hugh Dancy: an English actor on the rise talks about chemistry between co-stars and doing interviews in the bathtub.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... Like a lot of young, good-looking British actors, Hugh Dancy has spent some time in tights. In the Helen Mirren-led TV movie Elizabeth I (2005) he was the Earl of Essex, and in King Arthur (2004) he played the noble Sir Galahad. He's also spent...

Kat Dennings: giving vapid portrayals of teenage girls the high-heeled boot.(MOVIE HEAT)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... "My youth is slipping away," Kat Dennings says just days before her 21st birthday. "My adulthood is upon me!" Dennings can't help but crack jokes. Self-deprecating and droll, she is probably best known for playing sassy adolescents akin to her...

Aaron Yoo: how bombing at Shakespeare has led to a career filled with "to be or not to be" moments.(MOVIE TIP)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... For Aaron Yoo it took a heavy dose of humiliation before he realized the actor's life was for him. Born in Texas, Yoo headed to the University of Pennsylvania to pursue writing, but a summer Shakespeare workshop changed everything. "I...

Ana Ivanovic: growing up, she had to dodge bombs to practice her tennis game. Now her explosive strokes are giving the competition reason to run and hide.(ON AND OFF THE COURTS)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... "As a girl I never played with dolls," 19-year-old Ana Ivanovic says. "For my 5th birthday my father bought me a small tennis racket, and a month later I started playing. I fell in love with it straightaway." Of course, when you live in...

Flight of the conchords: they crashed and burned as a fledgling folk-rock band and were condemned to opening for stand-ups. But now these musical mischief-makers are having the last laugh.(COMEDY CORNER)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... "One of our earliest songs was about three people being lost at sea on a boat and being forced to eat each other. That was our take on a Russian folk-waltz," says Bret McKenzie, one half of the musical comedy act Flight of the Conchords. The...

JoAnn Verburg: a trend-bucking photographer gets a show at the museum of modern art in New York City--and its curator provides some background.(SHOWTIME)
August 1, 2007... BRENDAN LEMON: JoAnn Verburg is an American photographer who has been working in still lifes, portraits, and landscapes for 25 years. What is it about her work that compels your attention? SUSAN KISMARIC: The museum has been following her...

Paul Rudd: a funny thing happened to Paul Rudd on his way to becoming the movies' next all-American leading man: he discovered his inner weirdo.(LOOK WHO'S TALKING)(Interview)
August 1, 2007... JUDD APATOW: We've never really had a great conversation, so this will probably be pretty average. PAUL RUDD: You know, if we could just beat out Paulina Petrzocova interviewing Gisele Bundrick, then we'll be fine. [both laugh] JA:...

Dalia Sofer: as a child she fled her homeland. As an adult she returns--in the pages of a debut novel.(THE WRITE STUFF)(The Septembers of Shiraz)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... It's been 25 years since a 10-year-old Dalia Sofer fled Iran. Despite that absence the pages of her debut novel, this month's The Septembers of Shiraz (Ecco), radiate rich, evocative, often painful details of her homeland. To conjure up the...

White knights: the eyes have it.(STYLE view)(eyewear)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Back in the day, a style-savvy man wouldn't be caught dead wearing white sunglasses--they were too Elvis or just too girlie. Then Kurt Cobain re claimed them for cool-dude, grunge-androgynous guys everywhere, and street-cred-heavy hiphoppers...

Elton's tip sheet.(MUSIC OPINION PAGE)(Elton John)
August 1, 2007... INGRID SISCHY: So, Elton, this time we'll be talking for our August music issue. I wanted to speak with you about the role that music plays in the culture. There was a moment when rock 'n' roll was new. There was a moment when pop was new....

Elephant dancing: the Summer of Love stood for one thing. The repackaging for that long ago time is about something else.(MUSIC COLUMN)(collection sound recordings)
August 1, 2007... It's common knowledge that age isn't what it used to be: Forty is the new 30, and 60 is the new 50. Is this because people are healthier than they used to be or a hysterical attempt to beat the reaper?. The corollary is the telescoping of...

Shots in the dark: in the midst of special-effects season, a handful of movies bring the action back down to earth.(MOVIE COLUMN)(Biographical movies)
August 1, 2007... It is a truth universally acknowledged that movies about great writers must be in want of beautiful actors, three-act structures, and audiences' willingness to believe the writers' lives were as eventful as their works. So it is in the...

The Bourne Ultimatum.(Movie review)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Preview: THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (Universal) Directed by Paul Greengrass When he was originally cast as amnesiac superassassin Jason Bourne, Matt Damon seemed, well, wrong. Now it's impossible to imagine anyone else playing the part. For the...

Sunshine.(Movie review)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Review: SUNSHINE (Fox Searchlight) Directed by Danny Boyle Danny Boyle's greatest onscreen successes have been those that pulsed with frenzied forward motion (Trainspotting, 1996; 28 Days Later, 2003). Now, he grafts his propulsive pop...

Becoming Jane.(Movie review)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Review: BECOMING JANE (Miramax) Directed by Julian Jarrold Retrofitting the life of Jane Austen into a contemporary narrative that is straight out of one of her novels--lots of talk of marriages and money and social standing and such--leads...

Rescue Dawn.(Movie review)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Review: RESCUE DAWN (MGM) Directed by Werner Herzog Dramatizing the same story he had previously used for his documentary Little Dieter Needs To Fly (1998) seems like a perfectly reasonable move within the twisted, unreal world of filmmaker...

My Best Friend.(Movie review)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Review: MY BEST FRIEND (IFC) Directed by Patrice Leconte Popular French director Patrice Leconte (The Girl on the Bridge, 1999; The Widow of Saint-Pierre, 2000) returns with this mildly amusing trifle about an awkward, unlikable art dealer...

2 Days in Paris.(Movie review)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Review: 2 DAYS IN PARIS (Samuel Goldwyn) Directed by Julie Delpy The beautiful French actress Julie Delpy has picked up a few things from the impressive list of international filmmakers with whom she has worked. For this movie, in which she...

Superbad.(Movie review)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Review: SUPERBAD (Columbia) Directed by Grog Mottola Written by Knocked Up's Seth Rogen and collaborator Evan Goldberg, Superbad has a classic setup: The film tracks a night in the life of two severely uncool, attached-at-the-hip high...

The gossip: Beth Ditto and her band were indie rock's most explosive little secret. Now the cat's out of the bag.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... Yes, she looks like she walked out of a John Waters movie. Yes, she's barely over 5 feet tall. And, yes, she likes to strip off her clothes onstage and contort her full-figured body like she's involved in some punk-rock version of Cirque du...

Arcade Fire: what's got 14 legs, makes raptous noises, and has an ever-growing following? Ryan Adams gets this scoop.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... With their anthemic sophomore album, Neon Bible (Merge), Arcade Fire have cemented their status as one of rock's most adventurous acts. The album--which was recorded in a church in the group's adopted hometown of Montreal and features a pipe...

Avril Lavigne: want sass? crave bratty attitude? but need sugar on top? here's the fix.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... Back in 2002, 17-year-old Avril Lavigne's kohl-eyed, pissed-off persona helped move pop music away from the teen queens who were expected to dress themselves up in sexy-cheerleader garb and Britney their booties. If that revolutionary look now...

The color of sound.
August 1, 2007... This season it seems as if many designers simultaneously decided to help every woman who, in the words of the Rolling Stones, "shoots her colors all around, like a sunset going down." Color us impressed. This page: Top, skirt, and shoes by...

Akon: in a hip-hop world where everyone's always straining for street cred. Here's one guy who has it.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... Take it from Mor Thiam--it's not easy raising a teenager. The internationally respected Senegalese drumming master moved to the United States in 1968 at the invitation of choreographer Katherine Dunham and provided a home life that was...

Cat power: at times she has seemed like the second coming of Bob Dylan--at others. Fit for scratching post. And no matter how far Chan Marshall falls, she always seem to land on her feet.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... There's a quietness, a slowness in the music made by Chan Marshall--who performs alone or with others as Cat Power. You can feel her feel herself into a song, into the idea or the impulse behind the song, so that the song itself--whether hers...

M.I.A.: inside one rebel's insurgency against hip-hop's tired traditions.(Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam)(Interview)
August 1, 2007... Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, known professionally as M.I.A., was born 29 years ago in London but grew up partly in Sri Lanka during the country's ongoing civil war. Her father, Arul Pragasam, was deeply involved on the Tamil side of the...

The seven-question quiz for Eduardo Cruz.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... Eduardo Cruz, 22, may think he's a big deal because he's just released his debut album, Cosas Que Contar. But like little brothers everywhere he still has to do what his older tells him. And when your older sister is movie star Penelope Cruz,...

The white stripes: after 10 years how does one of the world's hottest bands maintain their hipster cool while still riding mainstream success? As writer Matt Diehl discovered, by blurring lines and ferociously guarding their mystery.(The White Stripes' Jack White and Meg White)(Interview)
August 1, 2007... MATT DIEHL: Hi Jack. Hi Meg. JACK WHITE and MEG WHITE: [in unison] Hello. MD: One of my favorite things about the new record, Icky Thump--beyond the music, of course--is that you thank drummers Gene Krupa, Mitch Mitchell, Buddy Rich,...

Bjork: ever wonder where all the great experimenters went? Where all the adventures is? It's still in her.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... Bjork has been called the world's most successful avant-garde musician, but "adventurous" is a more apt description. How else to evaluate a woman who has covered Betty Hutton's 1948 novelty song "Blow a Fuse," dueted with both Catherine Deneuve...

Andy Samberg: so who's the merry prankster who supplied Justin Timberlake with his sexiest groove, turned Natalie Portman into a gangsta rapper. And launched an internet musical phenomenon? Hint: it's not Timbaland.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... A brief survey of Andy Samberg's musical output reveals an oeuvre that's at once ineluctably eclectic and irresistibly infectious. Consider the lo-fi Brooklyn beats of "Lazy Sunday," in which two young men search for a high-calorie buzz...

Amy Winehouse: inside the musical, metaphysical, matrimonial--and occasionally mad--world of the soul-singing woman of the moment.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... Context is king in any conversation with Amy Winehouse. What was she doing last night? How was she feeling this morning? Who's waiting for her next door? And--most important--where is her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, whom Winehouse married in...

Grace Slick: on the 40th anniversary of the summer of love, Ingrid Sischy takes a trip down the rabbit hole with the woman who was at the red-hot center of those wild times--the one and only Grace Slick.(Interview)
August 1, 2007... INGRID SISCHY: Hi, Grace, how are you? GRACE SLICK: Not too bad for an old fart! IS: [laughs] Even if a person lived under a rock, they'd know that this summer marks the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love--there's been so much geared...

Around town ...(PAGE 5)
August 1, 2007... 1 Josh Hartnett at NYC's Waverly Inn for a private dinner for Gucci creative director Frida Giannini, hosted by Interview's Sandra Brant and Ingrid Sischy. 2 Jenna Barnett and Andrew Bird at the dinner in honor of Frida Giannini. 3 Interview's...

... And across the sea.(PAGE 5)
August 1, 2007... The launch of the Luna Rossa ITA 86 and subsequent Round Robin and Semifinals of the Louis Vuitton Cup. held in Valencia. Spain. At the Semifinals Prada's Luna Rossa made a splash beating BMW's Oracle Racing Team (New Zealand Emirates Team...