By Fred Topel
“An entitled pretty girl is just straight up a fucking cunt.”
– Rie Rasmussen
Quentin Tarantino discovered Rie Rasmussen when he was presiding over the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. Her short film, Thinning the Herd, was nominated for the Palme d’Or in the shorts competition. Her first feature film, Human Zoo, opened the Berlin Film Festival in 2009, and Tarantino is bringing it to the states.
Rasmussen herself plays Adria, an immigrant from Kosovo in Marseilles. While opening up to an American romantic, Shawn (Nick Corey), Adria remembers her escape from military rape and a crime spree with a former soldier (Nikola Djuricko). Filled with the kind of blood and sex that would strike Tarantino’s fancy, it’s the voice of a woman with worldly thoughts. Standing 5’11” with Danish features, Rasmussen was a model for Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Dolce and Gabbana and more.
She appeared in the film Femme Fatale and starred in Angel-A. I met her on the Femme red carpet where she laughed at my questions about her height. Again speaking about Angel-A, I recalled her itching to speak out about her passions after years of being paid to stand there silently. So I was interested to see what those artistic ideas would be. To speak about Human Zoo, Rasmussen hung out in the offices of The Weinstein Company, essentially Tarantino’s home base. Dressed in all black with leather jacket, she dropped F bombs, talked dirty and got political all in the same breath. Finally, a woman I can talk to.
Read our exclusive interview with Rie Rasmussen on SuicideGirls.com.