When it was announced that Oscar
and Golden Globe nominee Chloë Sevigny would
be taking on a role as a transgender hit woman in the British series Hit & Miss, the Internet crackled with
snark. But Sevigny, who’s been in the public eye for almost 20 years, has
carved out a niche for herself, and for OUT’s August 2012 cover story she talks
with Max Berlinger about her mix of daring film roles, her distinctive sense of
style, and the ability to stay commercially viable without losing her
underground credibility.
For her role in Hit
& Miss, Sevigny went through firearms training, accent coaching,
and kickboxing lessons, but mastering those wasn’t the things that
troubled her. “I was worried people would be angry that they didn’t
cast a real person who was transitioning,” Sevigny says. “I asked
why they didn’t, and the producers said they didn’t find the right
person. It’s a big responsibility toward that community, and I wanted to
do them right.”
That community–the transgender population–has
taken Sevigny to task for her use of the word “tranny.” “I
didn’t know you weren’t supposed to use that word,” she says
now. “There are all these tenses too. Look, it’s a complex process
to go through, and it’s a complex thing to talk about. I’m still
not even sure if I’m doing it right, and I really don’t want to
offend anyone.” She continues, “I’m just so sensitive these
days. I’ve gotten in so much trouble.”
The opening scene of Hit
& Miss will likely earn plenty of attention. The scene shows
Sevigny nude, prosthetic penis and all. “Being around the men on set,
being naked, and having that on, I just felt insecure and uncomfortable. Plus
the process to put it on was very involved. I had to shave myself, it’s
glued on, painted, like any prosthetic. It’s not fun to have someone
right up in your private parts,” she deadpans before letting out her
hooting laugh, a signature Chloë-ism.
These days Sevigny seems ambivalent about being on the
style-making scene, although she’s still a perennial front-rower at
Fashion Week. And although she denies she’s a clotheshorse and says her
connections to the fashion industry run deep, she does, in fact, know her place
in the fashion food chain. For the British premiere of Hit & Miss she requested about 20
dresses for consideration but received only two. “Aren’t I one of
the top searches on Style.com, for crying out loud?” she says with mock
disgust. “How hard is it to get a fucking dress from Valentino?”
Sevigny recognizes that, even after her Oscar nod, she did
not travel on the traditional Hollywood
trajectory. “Hollywood
does not know what to do with
me,” she says. “They do not like me. That’s why I end up in
these seemingly difficult movies.” These challenges have caused her fans
to expect the unexpected from her. “I know. So boring,” she groans.
“But it’s been a long time, and I’m still here, damn
it,” before adding the afterthought: “Thank God.”
Read the full Chloë
Sevigny cover story now at:
