Interview articles from May 2004

Interview archives from May 2004

Formulas, shmormulas.(Letters)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... Dear Interview, Your recent interview with Charlize Theron [March 2004] revealed a side of the actress that I had only begun to get a sense of from her Oscar-winning performance in Monster. It wasn't just the extra pounds, the ugly...

Love her or leave her.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... Dear Interview, I'm surprised that you wasted your time interviewing Courtney Love. Her incessant namedropping demonstrates how desperate she is to prove she belongs in the world of rock and Hollywood glamour. I do, however, think Gavin...

Rock's eternal flame?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... Dear Interview, What rapture it was to find Blondie and Debbie Harry featured in your March 2004 issue. In the early '80s, Debbie Harry was called "the world's most photographed face," and she was once referred to as one of the "top-10...

A fan's note.(Letters)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... Dear Interview, Thank you so much for publishing the fascinating piece on Michael Jackson [Feb. 2004] as well as the interviews with his friends Liza Minnelli and Macaulay Culkin. It was so nice to read something positive about Michael...

That hardy boy.(Letters)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... Dear Interview, Thank you for the article on Tom Hardy in the March issue of your magazine! He is a brilliant talent, gorgeous to look at, and an all-around nice guy. Thank you for taking the time to notice him. I hope to read more about...

Jonathan Tucker: growing up, he could tell a Manet from a Monet. Now, he can sure pick his movies.(This Month's One To Watch)(Brief Article)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... He's been acting in provocative, ponderous films for a decade, but Jonathan Tucker began preparing for a life in the arts since... well, much earlier. "I was steeped in culture in the womb," jokes the star of this month's Stateside. As a...

Her name is Rio: this summer it won't just be the temperature that's in the 80s.(Look Of The Month)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Duran Duran is on a roll again, '80s art is steaming, and Donald Trump has trumped himself. The '80s are back, and neo-'80s hair and makeup are this summer's hottest beauty trends. That means big hair, bold eye shadow, and lots of blush--all...

Bumblebeez 81: a honey of a brother-sister act.(This Month's Two To Listen For)(Brief Article)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... For Bumblebeez 81 front man Chris Colonna, the old maxim that the first take is the best take holds particularly true. "For me, making music is about the first kiss, that first bang," explains the 23-year-old producer and songwriter. "Something...

Stephen Sprouse 1953-2004: a tribute to the man who put pop into fashion's palette.(Flashback)(Obituary)
May 1, 2004... How does one label an artist who hated labels? Such is the dilemma when describing the life and work of Stephen Sprouse, the fashion designer, painter, pop-punk visionary, and longtime Interview contributor who died in March at the age of 50....

Ciara: and God said, let there be crunk.(Music Discovery)(Brief Article)(Biography)
May 1, 2004... When Ciara was just 14 years old, she had a moment of revelation: In the throes of ninth grade at her Atlanta high school, she suddenly realized that a career in music was not simply in the cards for her but "ordained" by a higher force. "I...

The secret machines: the band on insiders' lips.(Music Breakout)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... It is a rare relief these days to hear a major-label debut that sounds like joyful drunken musicians making precisely the noises they love, rather than some painfully shiny new focus group-tested product. But the Secret Machines, three hirsute...

Melissa Etheridge: the rock trailblazer talks life and lyrics with cultdom's latest favorite writer.(Music Profile)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... J.T. LEROY: Congratulations on your new record, Lucky [Island/Def Jam]. It's pretty amazing. I actually wanted to start by asking you, When you release an album like this, does it frustrate you at all that politics have sort of become tangled...

Francesco Vezzoli: proof that experimentation is alive and well in art.(Art Reality Show)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... GERMANO CELANT: As part of your latest installation, "Trilogy of Death"--on view at Milan's Prada Foundation through the 16th of this month--you created Comizi di non-Amore (Non-Love Meetings), a reality TV show that was inspired in part by...

Rachel McAdams: stand back--silver-screen star in the making.(Movie Buzz)(Brief Article)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... As the queen bee at the crux of the new comedy Mean Girls, Rachel McAdams rules over a high school hive and wields popularity as a weapon. But growing up, this 25-year-old Canadian actress was a different kind of ice princess. As a...

Garrett Hedlund: is he Troy's real Trojan horse?(Movie Heat)(Brief Article)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... When word spread last year that Garrett Hedlund, 19 years old and fresh from Minnesota, had arrived in Los Angeles and scored a role in the colossal epic Troy on his first audition, movie insiders were abuzz: Who is this guy? Hedlund got...

Shots in the dark: you can't get much more out-there than the one-of-a-kind vision of filmmaker Guy Maddin, and his latest is no exception.(The Critics Go At It--Movie Column)
May 1, 2004... Canada's Guy Maddin is a world-class eccentric and conservationist of the dead language of silent cinema who makes uniquely antique movies for knowing modern audiences. Deploying iris shots, Vaselined lenses, pasteboard sets, tints and gorgeous...

Preview: Troy.(Movie Review)(Brief Review)
May 1, 2004... PREVIEW: TROY (Warner Bros.) Directed by Wolfgang Petersen Not since Liz and Dick took on Cleopatra (1963) has star wattage mingled so illustriously with spectacle. In this epic rehash of the Iliad, pinups Brad Pitt and Eric Bana...

Preview: 13 Going on 30.(Movie Review)(Brief Review)
May 1, 2004... PREVIEW: 13 GOING ON 30 (Columbia) Directed by Gary Winick Jennifer Garner ditches her ass-kicking persona to star in this syrupy-sweet romantic comedy about a teen whose birthday wish turns her into a 30-year-old magazine editor. The...

Preview: Laws of Attraction.(Movie Review)(Brief Review)
May 1, 2004... PREVIEW: LAWS OF ATTRACTION (New Line) Directed by Peter Howitt Opposing divorce attorneys clash and cavort as type-A workaholic Julianne Moore marries a caddish Pierce Brosnan after a night of bruising cocktails. Moore hasn't had much...

Preview: Kill Bill Vol. 2.(Movie Review)(Brief Review)
May 1, 2004... PREVIEW: KILL BILL VOL. 2 (Miramax) Directed by Quentin Tarantino She's baa-ack! The Bride (Uma Thurman) is once again out to wreak vengeance on the assassins who left her for dead. Tarantino's aorta-spewing mayhem may appear...

Saved!(Movie Review)(Brief Review)
May 1, 2004... REVIEW: SAVED! (UA) Directed by Brian Dannelly Piety and prayer reign at a Christian high school, where God's pimpled flock wrestle with pregnancy, sexuality, and popularity. The charisma from its superb cast--which includes Jena...

Coffee and Cigarettes.(Movie Review)(Brief Review)
May 1, 2004... REVIEW: COFFEE AND CIGARETTES (UA) Directed by Jim Jarmusch A series of unconnected vignettes with actors playing themselves for the most part, Jarmusch's latest is a dead-calm meditation on stimulants and stimulation. The White...

Valentin.(Movie Review)(Brief Review)
May 1, 2004... REVIEW: VALENTIN (Miramax) Directed by Alejandro Agresti This acclaimed Argentine director gives the dreaded "coming-of-age drama" genre a go as the film's 8-year-old title character (Rodrigo Noya) makes sense of the world...

Super Size Me.(McDonald's meals)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... It's easy to understand Morgan Spurlock's motivation: What else would any reasonable 34-year-old man do with 30 days on his hands but gorge himself on hamburgers? That's the idea at play in Super Size Me, Spurlock's much-discussed film that...

Janet Jackson Damita Jo.(Brief Review)(Sound Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... JANET JACKSON Damita Jo (Virgin) The sight of an errant nipple was enough to divide a nation, but Ms. Jackson's new raciness--both in her life and in her lyrics--may not be enough to draw attention away from her music. When one...

Felix Da Housecat Devin Dazzle and the Neon Fever.(Brief Review)(Sound Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... FELIX DA HOUSECAT Devin Dazzle and the Neon Fever (Emperor Norton) Chicago house-music legend Felix da Housecat went supernova when he dropped 2002's Kittenz and thee Glitz, a zeitgeist classic that revitalized dance floors with...

Miss Kittin I Com.(Brief Review)(Sound Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... MISS KITTIN I Com (Astralwerks) While the French generally--and dance artists specifically--may be guilty of beating the "homage" within an inch of its life, this solo bow from Franglais electro singer Caroline Herve is a notable...

Melissa Auf Der Maur Auf Der Maur.(Brief Review)(Sound Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... MELISSA AUF DER MAUR Auf Der Maur (Capitol) No longer the straight woman to loquacious leads Courtney Love and Billy Corgan, Auf Der Maur takes center stage on this roaring debut. Tracks like "Real a Lie" and "Beast of Honor" dare to...

French Kicks The Trial of the Century.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... FRENCH KICKS The Trial of the Century (StarTime International) One doesn't want to use the word "awesome" too liberally, but this bittersweet set of 1980s-inflected new-wave songs deserves the appellation. Finely wrought melodies carve...

The Streets A Grand Don't Come for Free.(Brief Review)(Sound Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... THE STREETS A Grand Don't Come for Free (Vice) Birmingham, England, MC Mike Skinner is to hazy slacker downtime what Hunter S. Thompson is to Americana: a shrewd chronicler, a dizzying blurrer of creative forms, and a bit of a ghoul....

RJD2 Since We Last Spoke.(Brief Review)(Sound Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... RJD2 Since We Last Spoke (Definitive Jux) DJ-producer RJD2 follows up his sure-shot 2002 debut, Dead Ringer, with a combination of instrumental turntablism, ambient breaks, and forward-thinking arrangements that are as tight as a snare...

The Beta Band Heroes to Zeros.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... THE BETA BAND Heroes to Zeros (Astralwerks) The Scottish quartet's third full-length is its darkest yet, the record's meaning bound up in its mood. Stephen Mason's garbled, fumbling vocals give way to crystal-clear choruses, and with...

All the dish: Manhattan's Upper West Side bites back.(The Critics Go At It--Food Column)
May 1, 2004... Despite being home to such long-running, spirited canteens as Cafe des Artistes, Barney Greengrass, Cafe Luxembourg, Shun Lee West, and the Hungarian Pastry Shop, sometime in Manhattan's past the food jury ruled the Upper West Side...

Da Vinci Mode: Mona Lisa, eat your heart out.(Fashion View)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Dramatic Renaissance-inspired silhouettes are all over the catwalks this season. Empire waists and scooped necklines in jewel-toned silk were spotted at Alberta Ferretti, Alessandro Dell'Acqua presented Empire-line chiffon, and even the...

Rachel Bilson: the surprise of this year's breakout show.(TV Sensation)(Brief Article)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... >From Peyton Place in the 1960s to Beverly Hills, 90210 in the '90s, every generation of teenagers has had a television touchstone to call its own, and last summer witnessed the arrival of The OC as TV's latest guilty pleasure. Set in sunny,...

Claire Tristram: introducing the writer whose stirring debut captures what it's like to live right now.(Book Tip)(Brief Article)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... With her debut novel, After (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), Claire Tristram explores how a single event can tear time into a before and an after as different as a sunny day and a stormy night. It's a subject the 45-year-old author knows all too...

Letter from the editor May 2004.(View)(Editorial)
May 1, 2004... As the U.S. presidential race intensifies, and with it the sense that its outcome is of paramount importance--to the individual, to the collective, to the nation, and indeed, to the world--I have found myself drawn to all sorts of historical...

Ewan McGregor: so how does one of today's most versatile actors live up to great expectations? By confounding them.(Interview)
May 1, 2004... Britain's most engagingly ebullient and virile actor subverts that image in his latest movie. In writer-director David Mackenzie's Young Adam, Ewan McGregor plays Joe, a taciturn, amoral drifter working for Ella (Tilda Swinton) and Les (Peter...

Emmy Rossum: whether it was music school at 2, an opera career at 7, or a movie debut at 13, she's always been drawn to the world of the extraordinary. Now at 17, with two new epic films on the way, it's the world that's being drawn to her.(Interview)
May 1, 2004... Since making her cinematic debut four years ago as an orphan with an angelic voice in Maggie Greenwald's Songcatcher, Emmy Rossum has strung together a series of nuanced performances in films like An American Rhapsody (2001) and Passionada...

Splendor for the grass.
May 1, 2004... WHY DON'T YOU PLAY HOOKY THIS SPRING AND HAVE A PICNIC? THE BUMPER CROP OF PICNIC BASKET--INSPIRED BAGS AND SUNNY FASHION THIS SEASON SEEMS TO BE TELLING US SOMETHING--THAT IT WOULD BE SO NICE TO TAKE A MOMENT AND JUST... In this story:...

Relax.
May 1, 2004... This page (left): Bags (from left) by SALVATORE FERRA. GAMO GANCIO and SALVATORE FERRAGAMO. Clothes by D&G. Below right: Bags by HOGAN. Dress by BOSS HUGO BOSS. Hat by STEPHEN JONES. Opposite page: Bags by KATE SPADE. On him: Clothes by ARMANI...

Hugh Jackman: from an X-man to a song and dance man, Hugh Jackman is redefining the words "leading man".(Interview)
May 1, 2004... DAVID FURNISH: This has been a pretty incredible year for you. You're seven months into your Broadway run of The Boy From Oz, a role for which you've been universally acclaimed, and you have a new film coming out this month called Van Helsing....

What a wilde idea!
May 1, 2004... BEFORE OUR ACE OF NIP AND TUCK, THERE WERE OTHER WAYS, AND OTHER STORIES. MEET THE PRETTY MISTER AND MISSUS DORIAN GRAY OF THAT FAMOUS DEAL: THEIR PORTRAITS DO THE AGING WHILE THEY STAY YOUNG. SO, HOW DOES ONE DRESS FOR ETERNITY? ...

Voila!
May 1, 2004... BUT WITH SO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS, THEY BEGAN TO EXPERIMENT... CONJUGALITY SPEAKING Opposite page (on him): Suit by TOM FORD FOR YSL RIVE GAUCHE. Shirt by DIOR HOMME BY HEDI SLIMANE. Bow tie by GALLIANO HOMME. Broach by CHANEL FINE...

Alanis Morissette: no one can vent about life's great hypocrisies like Alanis. Now she turns the microscope on herself and sheds her skin.(Interview)
May 1, 2004... MATT DIEHL: So, Alanis, I hear that you're off to Paris for a romantic getaway. ALANIS MORISSETTE: Yeah, my boyfriend [actor Ryan Reynolds] and I are leaving in the morning. We're going to see this band that I'm obsessed with, Magnet,...

Patrick Wilson: actors looking to avoid being typecast might tear a page out of this up-and-comer's book.(Interview)
May 1, 2004... MARY-LOUISE PARKER: So, let's talk about your new movie, The Alamo. Have you seen it? PATRICK WILSON: I saw a rough cut, but it was weird: I've never been a part of something that was edited down so much. I mean, we cut, what, two scenes...

Flashes in the night.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Annie Lennox at the Clive Davis party. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Lil' Kim at the Davis pre-Grammy party. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Magic Johnson and Jay-Z at the Beverly Hills Hotel for Clive Davis's pre-Grammy party. ...