by Daniel Robert Epstein
“She seemed to be evolved past the typical sexual bondage of the 1950’s.”
– Gretchen Mol
When I spoke with Mary Harron last summer, she told me that while she was auditioning women for the role of Bettie, After Gretchen Mol came in no one else would do. After years of seeing Mol is supporting roles I wasnt convinced. Well Mol is amazing in The Notorious Bettie Page. She creates a complex character that actually seems to enjoy posing. She creates the dynamic of a religious woman who does what she does best and that’s posing in bondage and cheesecake photos.
Read our exclusive interview with Gretchen Mol on SuicideGirls.com.
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.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“This is the first record I’ve done where it was like something other than me.”
– Matthew Sweet
In the early ’90s after a few albums and a lot of hard work Matthew Sweet broke into the mainstream with the hit song and record, Girlfriend. Since then hes been able to flit from project to project gaining talented new friends and collaborators. Now hes teamed up with The Bangles vocalist Susanna Hoffs for the album Under the Covers, Vol. 1. The new release has Sweet and Hoffs covering their favorite 60s pop hits.
Read our exclusive interview with Matthew Sweet on SuicideGirls.com.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“I never just listen to music in the way that I think a normal person probably does and I read books in the same way.”
– Nick Cave
Even casual music fans recognize the name Nick Cave and realize how important he was and is to the music. His influence has reached the point where new bands may not even realize how much of an influence he is on them. Though even hardcore Cave fans may not remember the movie Ghosts… of the Civil Dead which he wrote, he’s written another screenplay, The Proposition, for director John Hillcoat. This time it’s an Australian western starring Guy Pearce, Danny Huston, Ray Winstone and Emily Watson. Pearce and Huston are brothers who are vicious killers in the late 19th century and are being hunted by Ray Winstone’s character. He captures Pearce and promises him his freedom if he agrees to turn on his brother.
Read our exclusive interview with Nick Cave on SuicideGirls.com.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“Theres a laundry list in the book of things that people can personally do but when it comes right down to it, the most important thing is for us all to be educated and to be skeptical.”
– John Perkins
John Perkins book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is the most terrifying book you will ever read. There is no serial killer, no mass murderer, no nuclear apocalypse and no rapists, in fact it is scarier than all those things. The book tells the story of the people who make this world a worse place to live. “Economic hit men,” John Perkins writes,” are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. After all the terrible things Perkins has done in his life he is now trying to inform people of the right way to look at the world and make it a better place.
Read our exclusive interview with John Perkins on SuicideGirls.com.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“Certainly I’ve moved into a different world from driving around in my Tercel…”
– Cheryl Hines
Cheryl Hines has all the best qualities for a sexy woman, she is beautiful and most importantly, FUNNY! She is best known as Larry Davids wife Cheryl on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Now she is teaming up with another famous funnyman, Robin Williams, in the surprisingly funny RV.
Read our exclusive interview with Cheryl Hines on SuicideGirls.com.
By Fred Topel
“[When] a group of guys sees me, they’ll just go, ‘Rudy! Rudy!”
– Sean Astin
In May of last year, I found myself sitting alone in the stands of a race track with Sean Astin. He was filming an independent movie about horse racing, and I was invited to visit the production at Hollywood Park in Los Angeles. When Astin had a break in shooting, we walked into the stands to sit for an interview.
You may not think of them as a whole, but several of Astin’s movies have become seminal films for more than one generation. I grew up with The Goonies, where a teen Astin led his friends on a quest for pirate treasure. A young adult Astin portrayed college football legend Rudy Ruettiger in the football classic Rudy. To today’s kids, he’s perhaps best known as Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Astin was happy to stroll down movie memory lane with me. His recollections of even the earliest film are as vivid as his descriptions of the film he was shooting. And They’re Off cast Astin as Dusty, a disgraced jockey who gets another chance with an underdog racehorse. It’s a comedy in mockumentary style. The independent film played the Hollywood Film Festival and is now open in select cities, including racing centers like Kentucky.
Read our exclusive interview with Sean Astin on SuicideGirls.com.
