Summer reading. JT & Asia.

In the summer issue of Zoetrope: All-Story, JT LeRoy talks with Asia Argento about The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, one of the films I saw in Austin and always meant to get around to reviewing here, even briefly, but never did; that's a long story, but in short: There are moments when the indie-ness of the film wears through, but it is vibrantly (and yes, at times, crushingly) alive in ways too many other films, too many indies included, were never even conceived to aspire to be.

JT: I advised you to cut me out of the process. It's like trying clothes on a doll. It's hard to have the maker of the doll there saying, That's not the right color. What are you thinking?

ASIA: And I was thinking, How am I going to do this? How am I going to direct and act? How am I going to become this person who's not, you know, the most pleasant, and then become nice for the crew? People can be schizophrenic, I suppose, and be both; and I tried really hard to be both, to be the director and to be Sarah. But within all that, I was dying. So I was like, Fuck it, I'm just going to become Sarah and the crew is going to hate me and it will be sad. I may want to go home, and I'll feel really lonely. You know, I lost a lot of friends then. But those people have forgiven me, I guess. I was really ugly inside when I played her; I didn't know any other way.

Posted by dwhudson at July 11, 2005 9:44 AM