Lara Flynn Boyle: Actors shouldn't be role models

The reminder was firm: No questions about Jack Nicholson, please!

"She won’t like it," we were told.

So we "behaved."

She was no other than Lara Flynn Boyle whom televiewers around the world remember as Donna Hayward, the girl-next-door with a naughty side in the cult TV drama series Twin Peaks (1990-1991) and as Helen Gamble in the Emmy Award winning The Practice, even if her filmography includes such unforgettable starrers as Clint Eastwood’s The Rookie (1990), Poltergeist III (1988), Dead Poets Society (1989), Wayne’s World (1992), Alan Parker’s The Road to Wellville (1994), the forthcoming Chain of Fools (with Salma Hayek) and Speaking of Sex (with Bill Murray).

And, of course, there’s Columbia Pictures’ Men in Black II (MIIB), again directed by Barry Sonnenfeld with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones reprising their roles as the MIB’s fighting those weird but deadly creatures from outer space. Lara plays Serleena, an evil Kylothian creature who disguises herself as a sexy lingerie model (of Victoria’s Secret, no less!) and her two-headed, half-witted accomplice, both aliens about to unloose a diabolical plot against Planet Earth.

Two Saturdays ago, Lara and the two MIBs were in Seoul for the Asian promo of the movie which opens in Metro Manila on July 17. In the movie, Lara looks menacing and utterly strange – "When she arrives (on Earth)," Sonnenfeld described Lara’s character, "she’s this root that looks like a combination of an artichoke and a jellyfish" – that it was a delightful surprise to find her lovely and gracious and absolutely engaging in person.

Born on March 24, 1970 in Davenport, Iowa, Lara was a student at the Chicago Academy for the Arts when she was recruited by David Lynch for Twin Peaks. Early on, she was, according to her bio-data, diagnosed to be suffering from a learning disability so she was enrolled in an improvisational workshop as a means to develop ways of expressing herself. Very obviously, Lara learned a lot from that workshop. She’s highly articulate, engagingly conversant and, as she herself put it, "unstoppably opinionated."

Okay, then, no questions about Jack Nicholson with whom Lara was said to have had an on-and-off romance. Surrounded by five entertainment journalists from all over Asia (Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc.) at the function room of The Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul, Lara talked about everything except, well, You-know-who.

You have a jet lag, I suppose.

"I don’t know just yet. We stayed on the plane (from L.A.) for more than 12 hours. But I’m wide awake, thank you."

Is this your first time to be in Asia?

"No. A few years ago, I stayed in Japan for one month to do a Lux Shampoo commercial. It was a treat. I loved working in Japan. I did a TV show called Twin Peaks and it was rather big in Japan, so I got a warm reception there. It was a real treat, as I’ve said. The money was good and I had a chance to see Japan."

Twin Peaks was also popular in the Philippines (and, for that matter, in other parts of Asia).

(Obviously flattered) "Oh, was it? You know, I’m a very lucky person, I’ve been quite lucky in my life. Look, I’m in Korea when the World Cup is here. I couldn’t be cooler!"

Are you a sports fan?

"Oh, yes, I am. I’m a big sports fan. I come from a family of sports fanatics. For many people of different nationalities and beliefs to come together for a few days, and work and agree on something like what’s happening in the World Cup... isn’t that something great? It’s something great psychologically, isn’t it?"

What sports do you dabble in?

"Actually, I don’t do sports; I’m just a spectator. I enjoy watching sports but not doing sports."

But you do work out, I suppose.

"You know, I don’t take a lot of time off; I work a lot, I’m on my feet a lot. But as I’ve said, I’m very lucky. I attribute my figure to luck. But age comes in and whatever type and shape you are in, things start to go that way . . ."

I wonder, did you watch Men in Black I? How did you find it?

"Oh, it was amazing! You know, in your life you’ll never know where you’re gonna be next month or next year. I remember seeing the first Men in Black and I remember a scene where Tommy Lee Jones finds Will Smith at the head-quarters and he doesn’t know what’s going on . . . Will Smith wants to leave but Tommy Lee Jones wants to have a cup of coffee. So Will Smith gets him a cup of coffee. Tommy Lee Jones is obviously leery and smoking cigarette and drinking coffee. I find that scene funny! It’s a sci-fi movie, all right, but it’s so funny, a funny action movie that’s got everything. It has a dynamite story, all those special effects, comedy – everything!"

At that time, did you ever think that you’d be in the sequel (MIIB)?

"Never! You know, I’ve been in the business for so long that I know that when you expect something, or you try to figure out what’s gonna happen to you and your career, it never happens. So I simply quit thinking ahead so as not to get disappointed. So far, it has been working well with me. Things just happen when you don’t expect them to. The day I quit thinking ahead, everything just happened. I never envision the future."

How did you feel when Columbia Pictures people called you to play the villainess in MIIB?

"Oh, I thought somebody was playing a joke on me; I thought they called the wrong person. I couldn’t believe it. You know, more and more, roles for women in big movies are getting larger. When it comes to an action sci-fi buddy movie, it doesn’t usually leave a lot of room for a great woman’s role. But in MIIB, it did. Usually in action movies, the woman is simply the wife or the girlfriend and she isn’t required to do anything much. But in MIIB, the woman, my character, is a major role. And I’m happy that she doesn’t have any love interest."

Maybe they’re scared of your character, what with all those deadly wires around your body that turn into snakes.

"Oh, I guess they are. I’m sure they are!"

What was the hard part of doing MIIB?

"The only hard part – and it wasn’t even hard – was doing the ‘green screen,’ the special-effects parts . . . you know, the actor’s part of it. But it was a delight, just the same, because if you enjoy your work as an actor there’s never any hard part. It just takes a child-like imagination, a keen and a visual imagination to place yourself in surroundings that are very odd. You know, my character has this power in her hands so I just had to imagine what she’s capable of doing."

What about the fun part?

"Everyday was fun! I grew more and more interested in what I was doing everyday. I never took things for granted. And they gave me money to go there! They paid me good money to do it, to enjoy myself doing the character! And it was fun!"

Wasn’t it distracting to be entrapped in all those wires?

"No, it wasn’t too bad. The only thing was that my costumes were made of stingray – you know, the skin of a fish. The costume felt very tight, it didn’t move, it wasn’t flexible. But I was fortunate because my costume actually helped me do my character well. It made me stand my different ways, move in different ways, it sort of gives me a different feeling which was great. But in-between takes, I had to lie on a foil so I wouldn’t spoil the costume. That was about the only piss-off thing about doing the movie."

It limited your movements, I suppose. Did you have to get an insurance policy before doing the movie since your role was physically demanding and therefore involved a lot of risks?

"I don’t remember. Did I? But you know, you’re working with the best people in Hollywood, the best people in the world when it comes to movies like this, and you feel very safe. You feel very secure, that nothing bad will happen to you. That’s what I love about this profession – there are always people looking out for you, making sure that you’re safe and doing things right. When you come right down to it, actors have very little responsibility. Someone tells us what to wear, how to look, what to say, where to stand . . . We don’t have to do a lot of thinking for ourselves. Nice, isn’t it?"

What was the big challenge in being in the MIIB cast?

"Working with two of the biggest stars in the world was the biggest challenge, of course! Also, I was challenged by myself; I wanted to be able to pull my end. I felt very honored to be with Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in a movie."

What did you learn from working with them?

"You know, there’s an ancient Hollywood secret: What is it that makes people movie stars? It’s not something you can buy or teach or copy. It’s something God-given. It‘s magic! You know, an actor can go to school and learn the craft, the tools of acting. But in terms of being a movie star, it takes something inside you. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith have that something inside them and I felt it while working with them. Besides, these two gentlemen are consummate professionals; they’re brilliant. Generally, don’t think actors have to be incredibly smart. Comedians, to be able to make you laugh like that, must have a keen sense of humor."

How was it doing a villainess role in MIIB compared to what you were doing on Twin Peaks and The Practice? The movie and the TV shows belong to two different genres.

"In terms of genre, MIIB is, as I’ve said, a lot of fun. It reminds you not to take yourself too seriously. In MIIB, we were so relaxed, we had fun. You know, we were not slicing DNA; we’re just making a fun movie. That’s the key word about MIIB – fun. I’m very fortunate because if I’m gonna do TV, I’ll do the best TV (shows) in America. I’m very lucky to be included in the cast of two of the best TV shows in America. But television is more a producer’s medium. The actors are on their own – no rehearsal, no direction. In MIIB, I was helped along by the best technology in the world, I had the best hair and make-up wardrobe in the world to help me create my character, I had a brilliant director to remind me and help me what I had to do, I had the best actors in the world, I had the best aliens to work with. They had me fooled, so I never for one second thought that they were aliens. They were so picture-perfect. People would say, ‘Oh, but they’re computer-generated!’ But those aliens look on the set the way they look on the screen. Exactly the same. They were as much fun to work with as the humans were."

What is it about showbiz that makes you, well, uncomfortable?

"You know, I guess it’s the trying to please people, trying to make people like us. Which is just human nature. We want people to root for us and to adore us. What makes me uncomfortable is the feeling that not all people, not everybody, is gonna like me. It’s like being in a party. Half of the room is whispering nice things about you and the other half isn’t. The bottom line that you can’t please everybody . . . not everybody is gonna like you."

Have you always wanted to be an actress?

"Oh, yes, I always have! I have always been fascinated with movies, how those moving pictures on the screen could influence people – you know, the way they think and feel. I love watching movies even now. As a little girl, I was swept off by the adventures of Dorothy in Wizard of Oz. My mom is such a movie buff. She used to wake me up late at night to watch those old movies on TV. I grew up on a lot of black-and-white movies, like The Philadelphia Story. And I love The Sound of Music; I’ve seen it over and over again. You know, MIIB is like those old movies."

Oh, yeah?

"Movies are such a wonderful escape. For two hours, you don’t want to think of what‘s terrible about the world and just concentrate on what’s happening on the screen. The more terrible things are the more you want to watch movies. Old movies have that kind of effect on the public. They helped you get away from your worries. That’s what MIIB does. It’s gonna make you feel good for two hours."

Which actresses do you admire or look up to as role models?

"As a whole I love actresses because, you know, anyone who has the gumption to do it and sticks with it… well, that’s great. I admire that. I love working with actresses but what I admire are women in politics…"

…such as?

"… (New York Senator) Hillary Clinton and Eleanor Roosevelt. They’re the women who make a difference, who try to make things better for everybody. I admire them because, even if there’s very little glory and very little praise in politics, they go on working. I admire hard-working women who get very little praise at the end of the day. Actresses work long hours, all right, but they easily get praises." (Note: Lara’s grandfather, Charles Boyle, was a US Representative from Illinois.)

Are you aware of the fact that, whether they like it or not, they are looked up to as role models?

"Well, we shouldn’t be role models."

Why not?

"Well, we can give some educated opinions and insights but we shouldn’t be role models. We’re just actors; we’re not smarter than anybody. We live a very blessed life but that shouldn’t necessarily set a good example."

Okay, the usual clinching question: How would you describe Lara Flynn Boyle in a few words?

"Oh, I should say that she’s funny, a pain in the ass, loyal, loving, caring secure and at the same time insecure, hardworking and at the same time lazy, opinionated, dedicated…"

…what else?

(Smiling) "…yes, bitchy!"

Are you?

"Yes, I am!"

Well, it doesn’t show!