Gina Gershon

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When she greets me with her outstretched hand ("Hi, I'm Gina"), I realize immediately that I'm in the presence of the strangest of movie amalgams: icon, character actress and movie star.  In theory, the combination seems like a screenwriter's concoction.  But in person, Gershon makes it all make sense.  </I></div> <div>  </div> <div> LS:  What was your rock and roll preparation for <B>Prey for Rock & Rolll</B>?  If I didn't know you prior to this film, I'm sure I'd think you were a rock n' roll star making their acting debut.  You're that convincing here.  </div> <bR> <div> GG:  That's cool.  That's a great compliment.</div> <bR> <div> LS:  Yeah, definitely.   I saw you about two years ago on Broadway in <I>Cabaret.</I></div> <bR> <div> GG:  Oh, you did?  That's great.  </div> <bR> <div> LS:  Yes.  So I knew you could sing.  But obviously it's a different type of singing and performing.  How did you gear up for that?</div> <div>  </div> <div> GG:  I deconstructed my framing.  When you're doing Broadway, you have to project and it's very crisp, and you have a little bit of that going on.  I basically took all of my training and threw it out the window, and just kind of sang from my gut.  It was a different sort of music that I've never played before; I was always more of a country-folk singer when I played guitar.  So I had to learn all the head-bobbing moves.  I've been playing guitar since I was eleven.  So it was just a different sort of character I was playing.  To me it was just, how does this character move?  How does she sing?  Like I did in <I>Cabaret</I>.  I don't sing like Sally Bowles.  But in the show now (her rock and roll tour), I get to just do whatever I want, and I get to sing the way I want to sing.  </div> <bR> <div> It's different being onstage and playing rock and roll because some of it is you own music, so first of all, you're not acting.  You're just up there kind of doing your thing.  So that itself is kind of really scary and really exciting at the same time.  You're not protected by a character.</div> <bR> <div> Joan Jett was originally going to play on the soundtrack, so I spent about five days with her and she showed me guitar things, how to play and stuff.  I really liked her because she's so cool.  She gave her leather necklace to me.  She wore it and I thought it was really cool.  She was like, `Here - good luck.'  And I wore it through the film.</div> <bR> <div> I watched so many different people, but I didn't really base it on anyone.  I was watching Xene, Patti Smith, Neil Young.  I was watching anyone and everyone.  But basically I had Cheri Lovedog (author of the play the film is based on, and co-author of the screenplay) around, so I was kind of just vibing her.  It's about her, so I just started picking up little mannerisms of her and stuff.  </div> <bR> <div> The idea of touring came about when I wanted to go promote the film at Sundance.  We were trying to sell it, and one of the distribution guys recommended that we go perform.  And I said, `Well, that's great.  But there's no band.  The girls don't really play.' And he said, `Well, go get a band.' This was like two days before.  And weirdly enough, things just kind of clicked into place, and within five hours I had Slash from Guns & Roses.  And I kind of went, `Okay.  I've got a band.' They all just said, `We'll play with you.' </div> <bR> <div> It was very surreal and weird, but then we did a gig there and it went over so well that people were freaking out, and the distribution guy said, `You need to go on tour to promote this.'  And in the end I became like wildly obsessed with writing music.  I just kept grabbing people and writing and working and singing.  So when they said I should do it, I felt like, `Why not?' And I was doing songs from the movie and I got to do some of my own material.  It was a different way to promote a film that I don't think has been done before.  </div> <bR> <bR> <div> LS:  <B>Prey for Rock & Roll</B> dissects an artist's struggles to "make it."  Now that you've made it so to speak, what struggles do you still face?  </div> <bR> <div> GG:  Well, I feel like I've made it to a certain point.  I haven't made it to the point where I feel like I want to make it, whatever that means.  It would be really nice to get the best scripts available that go to the five or six other actresses who get the blockbuster movies.  It's a business.  And I've done more independent films.  So a lot of films that I look at I think, `Oh, I could really do that well!'  I won't get offered those.  That's frustrating.  That's where music, in a way, also came into play.  I think I was getting really frustrated with that.  I think where my character, Jacki, is in the film - I was kind of like that with acting.  I was just getting frustrated with the parts I was getting.  I was getting a little bit annoyed with everything.  So doing music was like this fresh thing.  I felt innocent again.  I really was into it.  </div> <bR> <div> LS:  There's this whole idea in <B>Prey for Rock & Roll</B> that the characters kind of find solace in rock and roll.  Music is really like a transporting place in the film, like any good art can be.  It reminds me of this great play on Broadway right now called <I>Take Me Out</I>, and though it uses baseball as its metaphor, it talks about this idea of being able to use that transporting experience to take oneself out of normal life, to a higher place, for just a minute.  Do you experience those moments when you're performing?</div> <bR> <div> GG:  Yeah, when you really have a great moment.  I think acting is harder and more rare to hit those moments.  Singing, to me, is easier to hit those moments because it does something to your body where you're not thinking.  Anything where you're not thinking, in a weird way, even playing baseball, you kind of get in that zone, or like if you ride a motorcycle, you can't not think about anything there, and it takes you out.  I think scuba diving does that for me also.  You have to concentrate on what it is you're doing, or if you lose yourself in something.  I think all those moments are like the same sort of moment.  </div> <bR> <div> LS:  Obviously traditional vanity and appearance played a small role in the experience of playing this character.  Was it difficult to make the  decision to show your face in such an extreme, close-up detail?</div> <bR> <div> GG:  The shot showing all my nooks and crannies?   It's funny thing because I was a producer on this film, and I definitely had moments where I felt like, `It's four in the morning.  We have to get this shot now.  We have one shot and that's it - we're moving on!'  And moments like that I just kind of did it.   And then later on when I watched the dailies, it was like, `Oh, my God, what was I thinking?' But it was supposed to be what was in the film.  When I showed every little line in my face I was like, `Oh, my god, I have to take better care of myself here!' I thought it was part of the character.  I guess women aren't supposed to do that, though.</div> <bR> <div> LS:  Your characters do a lot of things women aren't traditionally supposed to do.  When I think of you, the first thing I think of is this renegade sort of sexual outlaw, ballsy type…(Gershon laughs heartily)…Then I see this film and there's this very vulnerable, open side to Jacki that peeks through.  And I also saw this quality in one scene in Olivier Assayas' <B>Demonlover</B>, particularly in your catfight with Connie Nielsen.  That's a tough character also.  There's a great shot of you in that film where you re-enter the bathroom, and there's this face of defeat.  That's another tough character, also. </div> <bR> <div> GG:  Oh yeah.  Yes, and she knows she's dying.  </div> <bR> <div> LS:  I know you said at one time you'd like to do some romantic comedy, or you were looking to do more vulnerable roles.  Is it that they're not out there for you, or you're just more typecast as this really tough, aggressive character?</div> <bR> <div> GG:  People typecast me as that aggressive type.  Maybe it's my own doing because I've chosen a lot of those parts, but when I look at my career, I feel like I'm a character actress.  I have yet to play really who I am.  This character is kind of the closest in many ways, and I kind of infused her with- it was interesting to me, because with people she's tough, but all of her moments alone she's kind of geeky.  There's something silly about her, which I like, and I feel more like that. </div> <bR> <div> LS:  You said once that your acting credo is, `f**k the rules.'</div> <bR> <div> GG:  That was so long ago!</div> <bR> <div> LS:  How does that work for you in the movie industry?  </div> <bR> <div> GG:  That's a much more rock n' roll attitude, isn't it?  </div> <bR> <div> LS:  It's right for this interview.  And actually, that always seems to be the way you play things.  </div> <bR> <div> GG:  I think I said that whole `f**k the rules' thing around the time I did<B> Showgirls</B> and I was going right into <B>Bound</B>, which I really believed in.  And everybody told me, `You can't do this movie.  It's a lesbian movie!  It will ruin your career.  Who are these directors?' And I just had this feeling that they were really good.   And I remember people saying `You can't do this, and you can't do this….'  And I just thought, "F**k, I can do whatever I want.'  And people said if I went against the grain of everybody's advice that it would ruin my career.  And I was like, `F**k the rules.' I think that's where that attitude came from.  People would say, `You shouldn't wear so much black leather out.' And I would be like, `I'm not working!  These are really cute pants.  Why can't I wear these?' I mean, if you're an actor, there are weird rules that you're supposed to do this or that sort of project, and the clothes, and have this sort of attitude.  I don't know.  It's always made me really sort of uncomfortable</div> <bR> <div>  LS:  How do you attribute rising from the ashes of <B>Showgirls</B>, with that being the film that sort of catapulted you even though you were in the industry for many years prior.  What about that particular performance made it critical to your launch?</div> <bR> <div> GG:  It was the first big-budget film that I did.  I just thought it allowed me to do <B>Bound</B>, which was important to me.  If you do a certain sort of film, then all of a sudden you can get something else financed.  That film actually helped to finance some independent films, which is obviously where my heart is.  So that helped that way.  And I learned a lot on that movie, because you can only imagine the set of that film (laughs).  It really made me focus in a certain way that made me realize, `I have to really do my job here or else I'm going to be slaughtered.' There was a lot of stuff going on in that movie, psychologically and everything.  And I just thought, `If I can get through this, I can get through anything.' It was like you had to have a warrior mentality to get through that alive.  </div> <bR> <div> I should write a book on <B>Showgirls</B>!  I got that part and I was really excited because I was a huge fan of Paul's (Verhoeven) Dutch films - <B>Spetters</B>,<B> Soldier of Orange</B> - which were really incredible and very dark.  And I thought, `Wow.  Showgirls.  My character is as dark as they get.'  To me she was full of envy and greed, and there's all this dark energy that was around her.  And I thought it was going to be really intense and gnarly, until I got to the set the first day, and I was like, `Oh, my God.  Oh, my God!' I've never…  Literally, I had to do a one-eighty.  I had to flip-flop my character around, just because it was like going in when you think you're going to have a heavy steak dinner, and you show up and it's like macaroni and cheese.  It's not a great analogy.  It's not like one is better than the other, but I do think you have to be very realistic and say, `Wait a second.  This is not what everyone thinks it's going to be.' And it just became really apparent to me very early on.  And so I had to quickly change my attitude with the character.  In my head I thought, `Okay, I'll just make a character that the drag queens will dress up as on Halloween.' That was my thought - just to go camp and have a great time.  You couldn't take yourself too seriously in that movie or else you'd end up shot in the head.  </div> <bR> <div> And I thought it was kind of fun until they started doing the press.  My idea was to do a billboard and have, `Ninety-nine days, ninety-eight days,' and you see the dress go up and up, which I thought was the most genius billboard ever.  But they were like, `No, we're going with this.'  And they had that sort of body, the serious shot.  And I saw that and I went, `Wow, we're taking this really seriously.'  Everyone took it as such a serious film, and they started to have this whole NC-17 thing about it.  That's where we got into trouble.  We should not have made it such a big deal, and not taken it so seriously, and I think it would have been huge.   Critically it just got slaughtered.   I went into <B>Bound</B> immediately, and everyone said, `<B>Showgirls</B> is going to be huge.' And I said, `Trust me.  It's not going to be what you think it is.' </div> <bR> <div> LS:  Could you get a sense of that each day when you'd go home from work, just from seeing the dailies?</div> <bR> <div> GG:  I didn't really see the dailies.  It was a very strange and overwhelming experience.  Some days we worked eighteen hours.  And we were in Vegas, so you never leave it, really.  I remember we were in the middle of one scene and I was looking at Elizabeth (Berkley) and I thought, `Who is this girl and what am I doing?  Where am I?'  I completely blanked out.  Every time I watch the film I look at myself and I just have this look on my face.  So I think we were all just trying to stay alive during that one. </div> <bR> <div>  LS:  You're an icon in the gay and lesbian community.  You mean something very different to the straight community and the gay community.  You move back and forth between successful working actress and a large gay icon status.  Yet you sort of feel like you're not in this upper echelon of actresses, but you still have this status that they probably won't ever have.  That's some baggage to carry. </div> <bR> <div> GG:  It's weird, right?  </div> <bR> <div> LS:  What does that feel like?</div> <bR> <div> GG:  I don't know.  It doesn't really feel like anything.</div> <bR> <div> LS:  Just doing your job, right?</div> <bR> <div> GG:  Yeah.  I like it that, maybe with <B>Bound </B>and <B>Showgirls</B> too, obviously I'm doing something that's representing that group of people in a way they want to be represented, which to me any group I would like that.  I don't know. That's a stupid answer.  It's great when people like what you're doing.  And to me, I see drag queens, and they're a tough crowd.  </div> <bR> <div> LS:  If they like you, then you know it's good.</div> <bR> <div> GG:  If they like you, they really like you.  If they don't, they'll rip you to shreds!  (laughs)  So I'm really happy I'm on their good side!  It's flattering.  It's a lot more fun, because they make little shows and I'm like a drag queen at heart, practically.  I'm very campy.  I don't know.  I think everyone takes everything so seriously, like if it's fun, great. </div> <bR> <div>  LS:  I read that when you sign on for a role, you have this process of working with your acting coaches that is rather interesting.  Do you consider yourself a "Method" actress?  I know you used to say that stuff to David Mamet years ago.  </div> <bR> <div> GG:  David was against that.  I went to Strasberg.  I work with two different people for two different processes.  One of them works on a very psychological level, which I love because I learn so much about myself.  And the other is very cut and dry; direct.  Usually you show up to a set and there's no director.  David Mamet gave me great advice when he was my teacher.  He said, `Learn how to be director-proof.' And it was great advice.  He basically said, `You'll be lucky if you ever get anyone to direct you.' And he was right.  I've only been directed a couple times in my life.  So I get to the set, and I basically know what I want to do, and if there's a director who is really going to direct, that's amazing, and then I'm totally into it.  But most of the directors I've worked with, really good directors, are like, `All right kid, do your thing.  That's why I hired you.'  So I like getting to the set really super-prepared.  </div> <bR> <div> LS:  What's next for Gina Gershon?</div> <bR> <div> GG:  A couple things.  I just did an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which is so funny, and an animated TV series where you only hear my voice, which is cute.  And then I did two movies that I haven't seen yet, and I'm nervous to talk about.  And I don't know what they're called yet.  I'm going to go work with the director of <B>Demonlover</B> (Olivier Assayas) once again right after this.</div> <bR> <div> I recently shot a video in South Africa.  I've gotten really bad about seeing my own stuff.  South Africa is awesome.  That's where the director called me about <B>Prey for Rock & Roll</B>.  In fact, this movie may have saved my life.  I started doing a shark documentary and I was really terrified of Great White sharks, and they have them there.  And I did a voice over thing for the Great White sharks special, and later they asked me to come back to South Africa, and I was really mad because I didn't get to go in the shark cage with them.  I thought that was the scariest thing I could do, so I should do it.  So they invited me to come back and be in the documentary with them.  And it was this serious shark dude, and you don't even swim in the cage.  You're outside the cage with the Great White shark.  I said, `I'm in.  I'm doing it.' Of course, my family was freaking out.  And I said, `No, I'm going to do this.'  And then they sent me a note saying we were starting the recording (of <B>Prey for Rock & Roll</B>) next week.  I would have gone.  Maybe it would have killed me.  </div> <bR> <div> From Gina Gershon, we'd expect - and be satisfied with - nothing less than her signature, risky walk right to the edge with us gladly in tow.  </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Lee Shoquist © 2003</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com"><U><U>lee@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>