‘WHY ARE WE ASHAMED TO BE NUDE? THAT'S BE'ITIE'S PHILOSOPHY'
Naked Ambition
She’s the least famous actress ever to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair and now she stars in biopic The Notorious Bettie Page. Kaleem Aftab meets Gretchen Mol.
retchen Mol is one of those actresses who
always seems to be teetering on the brink of
superstardom. ller lirst break came playing a phone sex operator in Spike Lee‘s (iirl (i. which led to roles playing Matt Damon’s girlfriend in Rounders: a couple of Woody Allen lilms — Celebrity and Sweet and [mu/own ~ and a mesmerising turn lirst on the
London stage and then the silyer screen adaptation ol‘
Neil l.abute‘s The Shape (ill/tings.
l3 years of being the nearly girl has linally got to Mol. and on the back of her performance playing 1950s pin-up model Bettie Page. she packed up her New York house and moyed to LA with her husband of nearly two years. Speaking in Berlin alter the liuropean premier of The 1\"UI()I'intl.y Bettie Page. Mol said of the move. 'l'ye neyer really put tny lull loot in the water in LA and now I see that it you want to be a lull part ol’ the industry. you haye to make sacrilicesf Although she's t'ound Hollywood tar more palatable now that she has a home near Venice beach and is not liying out ol‘ hotel rooms and suitcases.
Pushing 34. Mol felt that it was time to take risks and the chance to do the Bettie Page story was an opportunity too great to miss. She was not eyen on director Mary Harron's original shortlist and was only auditioned when a series of actresses proyed not to be right. With her classic blond Aryan looks and syelte figure she's not an obyious doppelganger for Bettie Page. but when she talks there‘s a twinkle in her sea blue eyes that immediately sets her apart.
It’s an attribute that llarron has exploited in her
biopic.
When Mol entered that audition she had limited knowledge of Page. 'l did know ol‘ her and I had an image of Page in my mind that came from popular
culture: the black bangs; the look; and I‘d seen one of
those "l‘rue llollywood’ style documentaries on Page. so I knew a little bit about her. But it was really the script that inl’ormed me that she was an interesting woman that maybe I haye a connection to.‘
Although l-larron decided to make the film in the style of 50‘s cinema. panning away at some of the darkest moments. there were still a lot of shots of Mol posing in the nude. It was something the actress took in her stride. She says. ‘I knew. getting into the
project. what was required of the role. I kind ol‘
belieye what I take to be Bettie's philosophy: why are we so ashamed of being nude‘.’ What is the harm being done‘.’ [We always enjoyed looking at the photos of Page. I often yenture to museums and looking at art there has always been lots of nudity. My mum is a painter and I guess I was always exposed to nudity on that leyel: it was neyer something to get worked tip about.’
Like Page before her. the promise of nudity and endurance may jtist be Mol‘s greatest legacy.
Filmhouse, Edinburgh and selected cinemas from Fri 4 Aug. See review, page 20 and interview, page 22.
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THE BEST FILM & DVD RELEASES
* Miami Vice The wait is over and Michael Mann's big screen version of his popular 803 TV show is another tight policier from one of the US' most interesting mainstream filmmakers. See review. page 18. General release from Fri 4 Aug.
* The Passenger Antonioni's brilliant 1975 psychodrama emerges from a long c0pyright dispute in a lovely new print. A masterpiece. See review. page 18. Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Tue 8 Aug.
* The Innocents The second great reissue out this week is Jack Clayton. Truman Capote and William Archibald's outstanding and masterful 1961 adaptation of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. See review. page 18. Fi/mhouse. Edinburgh from Fri 4 Aug.
3|! The King Second chance to see James Wisconsin Death Trip Marsh's disturbing familial drama. GFT. Glasgow from Fri 4—Sun 6 Aug. Fi/mhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 4-Mon 7 Aug.
* Tony Takitanl Sublime adaptation of Haruki Murakami‘s magical short story about love. loneliness and fashion. Fi/mhouse, Edinburgh from Tue 8 Aug.
* Les Diaboliques Henri- Georges Clouzot's seminal 1955 thriller gets a screening as part of the excellent 59 Years of EIFF season. Fi/mhouse, Edinburgh (Sun 6 Aug only).
* The Fassbinder Collection Four separate DVD releases kick off a series of proposed re-releases of 17 of the great German master's films. The DVD releases of the year. See review. page 19. Arrow Films (out Mon 7 Aug).
Hr; Aug 2m THE LIST 17