being catherine keener

orgasm in the terrace.
please pay special attention to the NUN reference
p.s. big thank you to Miiiiiiiiichael without whom i would have never seen this article. i love you. your chips. and the royal rogering.


By LYNN HIRSCHBERG (NYT MAGAZINE)

Published: August 27, 2006


This past year, you were nominated for an Oscar for your portrayal of Harper Lee in “Capote,” and you co-starred in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” which was a comedy; “The Interpreter,” which was a thriller; and “Friends With Money,” which was a contemporary drama about four female friends. At a time when there are so few parts for women and even fewer for women over 35, you are doing all this great work. What’s your secret?


Well, for one thing, I like being a supporting actress. I like to come and go in the film. The interesting characters are very few if you want to be the lead, and they depend on you being beautiful. Since I’m not interested in those parts, the pressure’s off, in a way. I’m not cast for my physicality. I find that playing so many characters in so many films is a way to be in the moment. That was, to me, growing up Catholic, the appeal of the clergy — they address the moment. So, short of being a priest, I am an actor.

You grew up in Miami, and as a girl you wanted to be a nun.

I still love anything connected to nuns. That’s why I love all of Yohji Yamamoto’s designs — they look like a nun’s habit, and if I had my way, I’d always dress like a nun. As a girl, I saw every movie with nuns: “The Trouble With Angels,” “The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima.” I saw them all. I love the nun’s lifestyle: the quiet, the solitude. But then I realized they were subservient to priests, and I decided I wanted to be a priest. That’s when the trouble began. I desperately wanted to be an altar boy, and I stole a bag of unconsecrated wafers. They weren’t yet the body of Christ, but they were delicious. That was the first of my many run-ins with Catholic law.

How does Catholicism relate to show business?

Well, there is something about Catholicism that is both theatrical and pure, and movies can have that quality. There are other benefits to Catholicism: you grow up with a great sense of shame and hope and faith and naïveté.

How do you pick projects?

I’ll take a part for the director. I heard about Spike Jonze’s video work when I read “Being John Malkovich,” and I had seen “Freaks and Geeks” and knew how talented Judd Apatow was when they approached me about “40-Year-Old Virgin.” That movie has given me a new audience. The other night a group of guys who left their trash in the alley near my house got really excited when they saw me. They screamed, “Will you take my virginity?” That’s my new audience: a bunch of punks.

When you decide on a part, do you think about your co-stars?

Of course. On “The Interpreter,” I got to spend six months hanging out with Sean Penn, who I fell for hook, line and sinker. That movie was the first time my son, who is 7, ever came to the set. Now, I’m anti-gun and anti-violence, and here I am on the set with a Glock. I’m playing a woman in law enforcement, and I had handcuffs and this huge gun. That’s the first time my son really knew about my job.

Did you watch films growing up?

My dad grew up in the mountains of North Carolina, but he showed me a lot of old movies, great Bergman, Hitchcock. I loved “Marnie.”

The clothes and her hair. She had a horse and Sean Connery, every girl’s dream. If there’s a boldness — an aesthetic of sorts — I’ll take notice. And if I have a talent, it’s an ability to see the potential in any form, whether it’s “40-Year-Old Virgin” or “Capote.”

How did you get your start as an actress?

First I worked as a casting intern, and that was very helpful. It showed me how impersonal personal comments are. And yet when, years later, I went up for a movie and the note came back that I wasn’t sexy, it was a turning point for me. There’s no way to fight that criticism. I packed up the car and went to Roswell, New Mexico, with my dog and stayed for three months. Finally I realized that I could say no as easily as they could, and I somehow knew that a good job — the right job — would change everything, especially how they saw me. For me, that was an independent film called “Johnny Suede.”

Which was directed by Tom DiCillo and co-starred Brad Pitt, who was then unknown.

Yes, he was another great co-star. And that’s when I became an indie darling. The independent-film world wasn’t that established in 1991, but I realized that it was the party where I wanted to be friends with everyone. What is that expression? Luck favors the prepared. My good luck presented itself at that moment.

Is that when you first realized the power of a director with vision?

Absolutely. There can only be one messiah, and that’s the director. Also, I don’t want to be the keeper of the entire production.

But you’re doing a kind of directing on your next film, “Where the Wild Things Are.”

No, Spike Jonze is directing. I’m co-starring as Max’s mom, and I’m going to help coach the movements of the wild things. I’m just there to assist.

You were nominated for an Academy Award for “Being John Malkovich” in 2000, and you didn’t think you were right for the part.

That’s the director, again. It took Spike’s imagination to cast me. I wasn’t who I saw for the part of Maxine. She was sexy and bold, and

I didn’t really like her. During shooting, someone on the crew said, “Maxine’s not my type,” and I took it so personally.

How were the Oscars this year?

Well, the day I got nominated, I had jury duty — a D.U.I. case. The morning the nominations were announced, I reported to jury duty as scheduled. That was good — it gave me perspective. If you start feeling too important, it’s always good to go sit in a jury for a D.U.I. charge.