Univercity
May 2002
Starring in the new satire Human Nature by screenwriter Charlie
Kaufman (Being John Malkovich), actress Patricia Arquette makes
a characteristically brave choice to play the role of a young
woman afflicted with bountiful hair growth, body-wide. The choice
to play the role was brave because Patricia appears frequently
either sporting a bodyful of hair, or shaved and nude.
In the film, Patricia's character, Lila, as a teenager is so depressed by her hormonal hair disorder that she tries to live in the wild. But, getting horny, she gives that up to find a boyfriend, and tries to remove all the unwanted hair by electrolysis. She begins dating a neurotic, love-starved scientist named Nathan (played by Tim Robbins), who has been brought up to believe that happiness is found in the most civilized behavior. But while hiking in the woods one day, Lila and Nathan come upon a young man raised in the wild, whom Nathan captures and tries to train in the manners of high society. The resulting love triangle has them all asking whether civilization really produces kinder beings.
UniverCity asked Arquette about the challenges of the role, and even posed a few questions about Arquette and her character to the movie's filmmakers, French director Michel Gondry, and screenwriter Kaufman.
UniverCity: How do you feel about your hairy situation?
Patricia Arquette: Hair is back ladies and gentlemen. Put your hair on. Sport your hair.
UniverCity: In this society do you think we're too obsessed with removing hair?
Arquette: Yea. It's interesting, getting ready for this role I was like, "You better make this movie fast, they're doing laser hair removal now you guys, we've got to get this movie done." Yea we're obsessed with a lot of stupid things. [In the movie the character of] Gabrielle is obsessed with being French, that's sexier somehow, to be a French girl. [The character played by Rhys Ifans] is obsessed with, "Who do I need to be to get laid or to eat, I'll be whatever you tell me to be." Tim [Robbins' character is] like, "If I know which forks to use, yes, then I'm a man." So this movie's about all that craziness we've created for ourselves.
Kaufman: Our culture is obsessed with hair. You have to have it in certain places, you're not allowed to have it in others. The idea that, especially with women but with men now too, it's considered unattractive to have hair where you naturally have hair seems like such a culturally enforced notion.
UniverCity: In the film is hair a metaphor for something else?
Arquette: I think we all have our own hair -- we all have our own little thing. "If I was taller, would I be more worthy of love? If I was smaller? What would it be? If I were perpetually young?" We're all kind of cursed with that.
UniverCity: Was the nudity an issue for you?
Arquette: Of course it's an issue. As an actress you know the way this business is set up. I know so many actresses, I'd ask, "Are you going to do that movie, you're perfect for that." They're like, "You'll never believe the feedback I got: 'You're not f**kable enough'" I'm like "What?!" These are beautiful women. Maybe they said that about me, my agent knows enough not to tell me. So I know this business is always set up for the new cow theory. I knew that would be risky, but I've got to work with great filmmakers, because I take risky projects. That's the kind of artist I want to be. But I feel as much body shame without hair as with hair.
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Fun Facts: Born April 8, 1968 Older sister is actress Rosanna Arquette Height: 5'-1" Spent five childhood years growing up with her family in a hippie commune in Virginia Married to Nicholas Cage 1995 - 2001 Filmography: Little Nicky Bringing Out the Dead True Romance Stigmata Lost Highway Beyond Rangoon Nightmare on Elm Street 3 |
Gondry (French accent): I was not sure. I proposed her the script. She was shy. She accepted because she loved it. In the beginning we had to talk a lot about nudity and the hair issues and I tried to be, even when we were shooting, I tried to give her some distance, to not be voyeuristic.
When you make a movie, all of us know there are 60 people behind the camera doing their work. Those are human eyes watching. Sometimes we create isolation, to let [the actors] feel they are really lost in nature. For nudity that would help. As much as there is nudity and sexual content in the story. I tried to not mix them together. The nudity is not sexual. The sexuality is not naked. I think I avoid being voyeurist and indecent.
UniverCity: Was it harder for Patricia to cover herself in hair or be naked?
Gondry: [To be naked.] The hair was a prosthetic artifact that helped you to create the character. Being naked is just being naked.
UniverCity: Patricia, was it easier with hair or without?
Arquette: That's a toss up. It was hard on my ego to do it with hair. No one should apologize for their hair, that's a concept. But it was a lot of hair, itchy hair, and I don't know whose hair it was. Things were sticking to me. Yes I felt safer [covered in hair]. I was like, "Pile the hair on, hair is clothes, clothes are hair." I wanted [Lila] to try to feel comfortable with hair [while she was living] in the woods. And [back in society], once she gets all her hair removed, when Nathan comes back, I wanted her to be more uncomfortable being naked.
When we went to shoot the [society] scenes, women have this certain kind of pubic hair they wear now. I thought, "When Lila gets all her hair removed, she wants to have a triangle of pubic hair like a grown-up woman has." I wasn't going to show my real pubic hair, so I was like "I need the pubic hair now" to the wardrobe people. "We don't have any pubic hair for you." "Oh my God." I had to go and steal one of Rhys's [character's] extra beards and make my own pubic hair. They were knocking on my door, "We're ready for you now." "I'm making pubic hair, I'm making a merkin." When I came out, "Damn she's got the bush." They tripped out.
UniverCity: You have seamstress skills?
Arquette: I can make a merkin.
UniverCity: In the film Lost Highway you had more emotionally unsettling nude scenes.
Arquette: Yea, there was a sexual aspect to it, that's more vulnerable. In this movie there was no sexuality, no sex. We should actually not be shocked by people being naked and just walking around. We're more used to seeing real live people getting shot on the news every day than people walking around naked. I have that problem too. But in that way it was harder in Lost Highway.
In this movie I put my hair on, and I'd walk around, the crew would be kind of sheepish, like, "You look pretty, I've never seen a woman with hair. I didn't think it'd be pretty but somehow it's attractive." I was like, "I don't know if you're telling the truth. I'm going for a Brad Pitt look, what do you think? Do I look like a girl Brad Pitt?" "Yea you do, somehow you do." Then I'd come back to my room. My driver's like, "What the hell happened to you girl? This morning you looked pretty. What the hell are they doing to you?"
UniverCity: If you were born with this hair disorder, what do you think you would have done?
Arquette: I think I would have gone through the gamut of all different things too. I would have tried to get rid of it, to grow it, to be brave about it. I met a lot of women since making this who have big beards, they're like, "Ha look at my beard, this is who I am." It's beautiful. But I think I would have had a lot of conflicting feelings about it. I guess I would go a little bit natural, because I know in society you're supposed to work out, have big boobs, straighten your teeth. I never did any of that. I'd probably be like, "What's your problem -- accept this -- this is beautiful."
My brother does drag shows. I grew up feeling very protective of him, having to explain to my son, "You love your uncle, you wouldn't change one thing about him. So what if he sometimes likes to wear makeup and high heels? No women are born wearing that, it's all a costume we're all wearing. It's not like God said, 'This is for women, we're creating lipstick.'" I have a problem with authority I guess.
UniverCity: Where did you meet the women with hair?
Arquette: I met one at the Sundance screening. Then right after
I finished the movie I was in Hawaii. A little girl ran up to
the bar, her whole back was covered in hair. I thought, "Mm,
you're six so you don't know so much. It's going to be hard."
(Source)