Chloe Sevigny talks about 'Lizzie' with Movie TV Tech Geeks

You’ve been attached to play Lizzie Borden for a decade as the project underwent various incarnations. Can you talk about the long journey to make this story into a feature film?

Oh God, it’s so long and involved. [Laughs] It began the first time I visited the bed and breakfast in Fall River [the house where the murders took place is now a bed-and-breakfast/museum]. I was driving through Massachusetts with my boyfriend at the time, we were going to stay at the house and then go to Salem, for a spooky Halloween/romantic weekend getaway. As soon as I walked into that house, it was a moment that crystallized, and I knew I had to play this person. I felt so empathetic to her plight. Her story is so fascinating, because there are so many different theories and it’s still unsolved. The world has been fascinated by her for more than a hundred years now. She still inspires so many books, films, operas, and so many other things. She’s iconic as this misfit heroine. That was the moment that I realized I needed to do this.

This is obviously a passion project. How did you begin the process of turning it into a movie?

I was living with my friend Bryce Kass in Los Angeles as roommates. He was a struggling writer so I asked him to write it. He wrote an outline, and there was so much exposition, and we learned so many things––such as the police were at a picnic so many miles away. There were so many amazing details we could put in this story that it was hard to figure out how we wanted to do it. I was on Big Love at the time and very close to Peter Friedlander [a producer on the HBO series], so I took it to him, and he said we should pitch it to HBO. At that time—this was 10 years ago—they’d have given us more money and exposure and more people would see it on HBO than if it we made it as an indie film. That made more sense to me, you know? We pitched it, and it was there for a while. They held onto the material for a very long time. Bryce had to rewrite it as a miniseries. It was at various times a two-part miniseries and a three-part miniseries. Then they put us on the backburner over there and then picked us up again and had so many directors attached. In the end it just didn’t work out for us. We couldn’t pitch it to other networks for a variety of reasons that I had no idea about because I was so green to this whole process. The next time I’m going to have a lawyer that holds my hand through every step because it’s totally insane.

But your endurance eventually paid off.

Eventually, we had to reconceive it back to a feature and try to produce it independently ourselves. We set up a lot of meetings and sent it out to a lot of directors. I was attached and Kristen [Stewart] was kind of attached, so it’s hard to go to visionary directors who are working on their own projects when you already have actors attached. We watched Craig Macneill’s films and had conversations with him. He was actually from a place very near Fall River and had a very personal connection to Lizzie, so we decided to go with him. We found some independent financiers and set up some foreign sales and put it together. It came together really quickly.

You were born in Massachusetts, which is Lizzie Borden country. When did you first become aware of her?

I first became aware of her with the rhyme in probably junior high, or maybe I was younger. I didn’t know much about her. I was out one night for Halloween in the city, and one of my best friends was dressed as her for Halloween, so I delved into it.

What was the appeal of her story for you?

First of all, she was so misunderstood and didn’t have any real outlet. I was very empathetic to that. I wouldn’t say she’s crazy in any way, shape, or form. I just think she was disturbed. Playing a subtly disturbed person was something I’d never done before, and that interested me as an actor.

What research did you do?

I stayed at the house in Fall River several times. I went once on my own, once with Bryce, and once with the friend who had dressed up as Lizzie for Halloween. [Laughs] We went to her final resting place in Fall River and walked around Bedford. I went back with Craig and our cinematographer and art director to do more research at the Fall River Historical Society. It was very helpful in creating a fully realized version of her. We saw her objects, and they gave us permission to use a photo of her mother in the locket. I’ve read almost every book about her, and there are a lot. I actually read about different women at that time—even Emily Dickinson. There’s a great bio about her life and being imprisoned in her house, which gave me insight into what life was like in that period. My research was pretty extensive.

You really exhibited palpable rage when you were swinging the ax. How do you prepare psychologically to play a scene like that?

I’d prepared for that for 10 years now. I was naked in that scene, and now I’m sleepless every night. [Laughs] I’m 43 years old, and I can’t believe I did that. It’s not that I regret it because I wanted it to be very carnal and shocking, but now I feel pretty vulnerable, in all honesty. It’s my opinion and the writers’ that she did it and there are a lot of people who argue that she didn’t. There’s a theory that she went into an epileptic state of shock.

Lizzie has a romantic relationship with Bridget, the live-in maid, played by Kristen Stewart. How fact-based is this?

That’s not very fact-based. There are a lot of accounts of her having affairs with other women, especially Nance O’Neill, who was an actress. There are theories that that’s why she and Emma, her sister, didn’t speak to each other for the last years of their lives. We took liberty with that. There is evidence that Bridget was in cahoots and had to have been in the house [when the murders occurred]. Maybe those ladies did have one of the friendships that some women during that time period had, that were more intimate because they didn’t have anyone else. I think that after spending time in the house, we determined there was no way Bridget couldn’t have been in cahoots.

It’s a film that’s time has come in more than one way. Both Lizzie and Bridget were abused by a man in the film. How do you think the film will resonate in today’s climate when the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements are calling out unacceptable behavior by men?

Since all of this has happened recently, well, I mean I’ve always thought of this film as a smack in the face of the patriarchy. It’s extreme, and it’s violent and it smashes the face of the patriarchy. That was how I pitched it 10 years ago. Putting more women in power is the only way to protect young girls. I think men will always abuse them and the more they’re called out and held accountable the less likely they’ll be to act untowardly to women––so women need to be in more positions of power. That’s the only way to shift the dynamics. There’s more of a weight and importance to films now. Even like Beatriz at Dinner [her film which premiered at Sundance in 2017], which is about so many different things now. I’m really lucky to be a part of films that reflect what’s happening in today’s society.

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New/old photo of Kristen and Chloe Sevigny on the set of 'Lizzie'

Click on pic for full view.

Bryce Kass: Thanks snow leopard. Thank you my lioness.

That. Is. A. Wrap :)

Photo was shared by 'Lizzie' screenwriter, Bryce Kass.

'Lizzie' World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival - 19 January 2018

Kristen didn't attend this year's Sundance. 

However, in support of her and her film, we have posted the Sundance premiere.

We are excited to see it!

MQ

Media/ Fan Photos

Video of the post-screening Q&A.

You can read details on 'Lizzie' in an article by Indiewire and the post-screening Q&A by clicking on the link. Please note there might be some spoilers in the article.

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Chloe Sevigny talks about 'Lizzie' and mentions Kristen with Variety at the Sundance Film Festival

Photo Credit: Destro Films Instagram

Photo: (L to R) Jeff Perry, Denis O'Hare and Chloe Sevigny. at the Variety Studios.

Sevigny made the trip to Sundance for the premiere of her drama “Lizzie,” about Lizzie Borden, who was accused of murdering her father and stepmother in 1892 Massachusetts. Sevigny co-produced the movie, having long been fascinated with Borden’s life.

Kristen Stewart plays Borden’s maid, Bridget Sullivan, who is believed to have had a romantic relationship with her. “I’m such a fan of Kristen,” Sevigny said. “She’s such a firecracker. I’m so honored. She said, ‘Chloe, I want to do this for you.’ There are so many movies I’ve done supporting other women and their performances are stellar.”

She said their chemistry came naturally. “What are you kidding? I think there’s a mutual admiration. I think we both really identify with an outlaw, misfit character.”

As for their love scenes in the film, Sevigny laughed: “There was a little bit of steam,” she said. “I wish there was more.”

Video from the cast interview

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Kristen will appear in the Joan Jett documentary 'Bad Reputation'

By many measures, Joan Jett is one of the most influential figures in rock history. But how many young fans who adore her proto-punk attitude would guess that one of the rocker’s early influences was … Liza Minnelli?

“I wanted to be an actor before I fell in love with music,” Jett, 59, explains in an interview with Variety. “And ‘Cabaret’ was really the combining of the two. Seeing that, with its ’20s flapper girl decadence and the crazy makeup, around the same time I started wanting to play guitar, it all sort of melded together into this sort of slightly decadent-looking vibe — I mean, I didn’t quite have that at 13, but it was developing.”

Her career path veered decidedly to music, but she hasn’t been a stranger to the screen. The camera loved her from the moment she stepped out in red leather in 1981 for “I Love Rock ’n Roll,” one of the first true MTV-bred hits. Six years later, she took the lead opposite Michael J. Fox in Paul Schrader’s “Light of Day,” and she’s occasionally turned up since in places as unexpected as “Walker, Texas Ranger.” Her pioneering 1970s ways were immortalized for a new generation with Kristen Stewart’s portrayal in 2010’s “The Runaways,” which Jett executive produced.

Now she’s playing herself in “Bad Reputation,” a documentary that premieres at Sundance on Jan. 22, preceded by a live gig at the Park City film festival Jan. 20.

It was preordained that the film would be named after her 1980s signature song and album, but the title is a bit of a misnomer: If there’s any rocker who doesn’t require much image rehabilitation at this point, it’s the nearly universally loved Jett. “Bad Reputation” is really part of a victory lap, coming on the heels of not just that biopic about her seminal all-girl band but her 2015 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That’s not to say the new doc feels unnecessary: As producer Carianne Brinkman says, “It’s wonderful that the Runaways’ story was told, but I didn’t think we were done telling a story about Joan Jett. I think it’s a really important story, especially for young girls to see, and also young boys.” The goal may be a tip-off that the movie’s story is less about decadence than, in Jett’s mind, “perseverance.”

Brinkman is the daughter of Kenny Laguna, a writer-producer-manager whose run of 1960s hits has long since been eclipsed by his nearly four-decade partnership with Jett. Beyond playing up the historicity of one of the first and foremost female rockers, Brinkman sensed there was a sort of buddy movie as well in the relationship between Jett and her dad: “Their banter is great, and I thought it would be entertaining for people to see that too.” A documentary wasn’t an easy sell, though, at least to Jett. “She’s an incredibly humble person, and somewhat private,” Brinkman says. “So it was kind of a reluctant getting-on-board.”

It’s oddly hard for Jett to be the center of attention offstage. “I find it very difficult to say, ‘Oh yeah, people are taking notice of me now!’” she says, having been coaxed to say just such a thing. “It just sounds weird and not humble. I find it hard to toot my own horn too loud, unless it’s in conjunction with something else, like the Runaways, or saying ‘the Blackhearts.’ But I can’t talk about me like that.”

So, leave it to her documenters. Kevin Kerslake has been one of the biggest video-directing names ever since he helmed three Nirvana clips in the early ’90s. He signed on at the end of 2016. “That’s not a lot of time to make a doc, especially one that has that kind of historical scope,” Kerslake says. “But we just put the foot to the floor.” He’s an unabashedly admiring chronicler: “I’m a huge punk-rock nut, and her roots tug on that sensibility. I also wanted to get at her stepping outside of the music world and having an impact on social justice and animal rights.” But at the core of it, he, like everyone, was taken by “the arc of a young girl, and then a young woman, cutting a path in a man’s world throughout her entire career, as a sort of feminist manifesto in the flesh.”

Kerslake was fully on board with doing a film that would be more about Jett’s career than her private life. There’s a vintage interview snippet early in “Bad Reputation,” “when she was with the Runaways and was asked about relationships and sex, and she says right then and there — as a teenage girl — that if she got into that, then from that point on every inquiry would really be colored by that answer. So, for me, it was sort of a relief. I don’t care who people sleep with or love as long as they’re doing right in the world. Plus, she’s just a workhorse, so I don’t think there’s a lot of time for relationships, in a way” — a point Jett addresses toward the end of the doc, a bit wistfully but with no great regrets.

There is an on-screen love affair, of sorts, with Laguna. “A lot of people say we’re like a married couple,” says Jett. “Soul mates sounds corny, but it feels right. We definitely connected on a mission. We’re not alike at all, but on some things we totally come together. We push each other’s buttons, and he tests and pushes me, and it’s engaging intellectually as well. It can go from very friendly to explosive and then two seconds later be fine, though it’s probably traumatic for the people around us,” she laughs.

Interviewees in the doc include onetime co-star Fox, Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop and Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong. Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! speaks to Jett being one of the first to call and offer support when she came out as transgender. Miley Cyrus talks about finding inspiration in musical lust: “I think there’s this thing that women are supposed to act like we don’t like to f**k too.” Kathleen Hanna touches on Jett’s personal mentorship of members of the riot grrrl generation. Stewart recalls the instruction she got from Jett about how to look more convincing as a rock guitarist: “Pussy to the wood, Kristen!” (“You had to be there” is all Jett will say of this particular inclusion.) And on the other end of the spectrum, there’s a worshipful cameo from unlikely mega-fan U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley.

Jett became a big pop star in the ’80s, of course, but she chuckles at how little that was worth to some. “I learned in the film that Ian MacKaye from Fugazi had no idea who I was,” she says, “but once he knew I was the person that produced the Germs, because that was a big [band] to him, then he knew who I was. It’s just so funny. It’s why you can’t be a smart-ass and assume that everybody knows who you are, because depending on what world you travel in, you might not make a dent. So just be humble and be happy you’re making a living doing what you love.”

Given Jett’s extreme role-model status, the film’s guest list naturally tips to appreciative women. She values the new climate of outspokenness that might make things easier on younger generations. “The situations women and girls find themselves in daily is something I’ve dealt with since before being in a band was even a conscious thought in my head,” she says. “I applaud the women who have found the strength to speak out about demeaning, vicious, sometimes violent experiences and a misogyny that is pretty much baked into American society. In my experience, very little has changed on that plain in 40 years. Now that attention is focused on these entrenched problems, let’s deal with it at its roots and not let this moment slip through our fingers.”

Kerslake tries to tilt the movie’s climax toward Jett’s activism for animals and the environment. But career-wise, there’s another obvious happy ending. In 2014, she’s seen fronting the surviving membership of Nirvana at that band’s Hall of Fame induction, with Krist Novoselic knocking the Hall for not already having her in. The following year, she made it. “Part of me thinks that [Nirvana members] saying it on TV pressured them into it. Krist was saying, ‘What are you guys, nuts?’ So he embarrassed them into it.” She pauses, chuckling. “That’s my humbleness again.”

As it turns out, humility and swagger aren’t mutually exclusive.

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'Bad Reputation' premieres at Sundance on 22 January and will screen throughout the film festival.

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Director Craig W Macneill talks about shooting 'Lizzie' with Indiewire

Dir: Craig William Macneill
Camera: ARRI Alexa SXT
Lens: Vintage Cooke Speed Panchros

Macneill: “I had hoped to shoot on film since we were doing a period film, but, unfortunately, we could not for a variety of reasons. However, our DP (Noah Greenberg) and I know the Alexa well, and felt comfortable embracing digital on this, particularly given the tight 23-day shooting schedule. I didn’t want the film to look too sharp and crisp, though, which is a quality often associated with shooting in digital formats. I wanted there to be a soft, painterly quality to the image. Noah and I used vintage Cooke Speed Panchro lenses on a portion of a TV series we shot in 2016 and we were thrilled with the soft, immersive quality that they gave us, and knew that they would fit our desired look for “Lizzie.” Our plan was to keep the light neutral and clean with an emphasis on naturalism throughout. Our daytime interiors are dim and were motivated by soft window light; our nighttime interiors were often lit only by candles and flame which also allows for pools of darkness that obscure the frame. We wanted those pockets of darkness, many of which take up much of the frame, to feel textured and rich. We didn’t want to expose for safety and then ‘print down’ in post. In the end, we were happy with what we were seeing with the combination of the Alexa SXT and the Cooke Speed Panchro lenses.”

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New/old fan photo of Kristen in Hamburg, Germany

Click on pic for full view.

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New/old photos of Kristen from the 'Cafe Society' press conference - 12 July 2016

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Thanks to AdoringKS