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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1996)
<u<i r »u i > .<* « m ) artr» * just out ▼ octobor 18. 1098 ▼ 37 IN T E R V IE W f we don’t lose ’em in the first 20 minutes they love it,” Jennifer Tilly says of audi ence response to Bound. “Sitting in the audience is like sitting in the back of a roller coaster. There’s a scene at the end where they always cheer.” As you know if you’ve seen the Oscar-nomi Working like a yuppie and trying to ditch a type label nated actress on talk shows, keeping up with her largely one-sided conversation is roughly akin to the young actress makes a name for herself following the trajeci •ry of a pinball. ▼ Of Bound, Tilly says, “It’s boom-boom-boom by Steve Warren for the first 20 minutes,” and describes a scene in which someone pulls a knife and “three fingers hit being stereotypical. I felt Violet had the propen But she makes Violet sound campy in a drag- the floor. Then Gina Gershon and 1 have this mad, sity to be the male fantasy of a lesbian, and 1 queen sense as she tells how she came to love the passionate love scene. That’s when this woman wanted to avoid that. I guess I succeeded, because character: “She’s like a metaphor for Hollywood. stormed out of the screening. I was sitting on the friends of mine who are lesbians have seen the She wears push-up bras and has her hair like Liz floor. I didn’t think anyone knew I was there, but movie and they liked it.... Gina and I pulled it off. Taylor in Butterfield 8\ but it’s all a mask.” she said to me, ‘You can have my seat. I can’t take People who see it accept us as a couple.” Going directly to Bound from House Arrest (is any more of this!’ Tilly suspects the writer of one negative re there a trend in these titles?), Tilly had no time to “Usually I can’t stand to see myself in a movie once,” Tilly goes on without paus ing for breath, “but Bound I’ve seen four times. Bullets Over Broadway was another one I could see over and over.” “It’s such a cool film,” she says enthusiastically of Bound— but Tilly says everything with en thusiasm. And she says co-star Gina Gershon is “very enthusias tic and plunges into things,” cit ing as an example how willingly she got her ear pierced in eight places for the part. Between them they bring beaucoup energy to their love scene. But Bound is “not a lesbian movie,” Tilly cautions. “It’s a heist movie where the leads— the people who are in love with each other— happen to be same-sex, and it’s no big deal.” In an episode of the cable TV show Dream On Tilly played a lesbian who, in competing for the affections of Jessica Lundy, deli v- ered aclassic line to Brian Benben: “Nice tie.... I was hoping you’d wear an article of clothing that points toward your genitals.” “They wanted me to be the lipstick lesbian,” Tilly says of the show’s producers. “I wanted to be Gina Gershon (left) and Jennifer Tilly in Bound the.. .mean one, so they made me view was ashamed of himself afterward for get prepare for her role, but Gershon did. read for it; but they gave me the part. ting caught up in the picture: “Like when you “Gina hung out in clubs and asked a lot of “In Bound I’m the lipstick lesbian, Violet. I sleep with somebody and hate them in the mom- questions, and she hung out with people like Susie wanted Corky, Gina’s part. All the women wanted mg. Bright.” to play Corky. She’s the butch one. She’s practi Judging from her recent work, one might Her lack of preparation doesn’t mean Tilly cally a man, and how often does a woman get to assume Tilly prefers low-budget independents to took the role lightly: “When you’re representing play a man in a movie? There’s such a shortage of mainstream films, but no! She changed agents a group, you don’t want them to think you’re strong, intelligent roles for women.” I J ennifer T il l y : B ound and D etermined , 12 Steps and Spirituality Workshop co-sponsored by The Live and Let Live Club and Portland Faith Community Saturday October 19, 1996 9:30 - 5:00pm 8678 NE Sumner SPACE IS LIMITED! Now I t ' s U p To Us... 1-900-97-MARRY early this year and she says she received three offers in the first three days. “I think I’m doing a picture for Touchstone next,” she says. Most of her summer releases came not from an agent but from friends calling her at home to ask her to do something: “Jon Cryer asked me to do one day on The Pompatus o f Love, and I did it. The next thing I know I see an ad and it says ‘starring Jon Cryer and Jennifer Tilly.’ ” Thedirectorof upcoming Tilly vehicle Birdof Prey, Temistocles Lopez, also made Chain of Desire, a bisexual variation on La Ronde. Tilly says she watched that on tape and found it “inter esting, but it could have been shorter. That’s my pet peeve, that most movies are too long. I thought Pulp Fiction could have lost 45 minutes.” Look up “ditz” in most modem dictionaries and it says “see Jennifer Tilly.” She thinks the talk shows have burned her hypergiddy image into people’s minds. In person she shows it’s not much of an exag geration, but she can control it as a role demands. “My performance in Bound is very measured,” she observes. Live audiences are the prob lem, Tilly says. “I’m OK in a one-on-one inter view like this, but it’s weird when I get in front of an audience. They’re like hundreds of little Energizer batteries out there.” She adds, “Do ing that kind of thing gets me type cast and makes me totally insane.” It seems like a long time since the first Tilly you thought of was Jennifer’s older sister Meg. “When I started out I didn’t want to ride on her coattails,” Jennifer says, “so I made sure our publicity was kept separate. “We get along great,” she says of their relationship, and adds that they’ve been going out together more of late. “She married a guy who’s the head of a studio, so she has to go to all the premieres. She’s not into it, but I’m a media whore and I’m there anyway; so we go together.” Discussing the pros and cons of celebrity, Tilly, who claims she’s “not very famous,” notes that she’s acquired “the star accessory— a stalker,” but can still lead a relatively normal life: “I really like where I’m at right now.” Bound is showing at the Lloyd Mall cinemas, call 225-5555, category' 4601, for show times and prices. Civil rights for gays and lesbians are poised to make a monumental advance by the recognition of same-gender marriage in Hawaii. Our local grass roots organization has fostered this important cause through the political process to the remarkable point it has reached But now. national political and religious extremist organizations are hard at work to defeat the progress we are about to make. They have enormous resources to fight with and are threatening to overwhelm all of our efforts We need financial help from gay men and lesbians across the U S. to successfully hold the line against the conservative extremists. Please )om us in this histone effort and take just 90 seconds today to call and show your support s“ ' Each call m akes an automatic contribution of $5.00. You may elect to contribute an additional $5 $10 or $20 on e ach call. Your total contribution an d no more will be ad d ed to your phone bill Your contribution is not tax deductible. 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