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Encounter
with Sexy Villain
By Suzy Byrne
"I
love talking about myself," says, Lara Flynn
Boyle smilingly.
She isn't kidding.
Her shoot-from-the hip attitude is refreshing. There's
no tiptoeing around subjects. She's game to talk about
anything -- just be ready for her answers.
Boyle is making the leap from TV star (she plays Helen
Gamble on "The Practice") to star of a blockbuster
movie franchise, "Men In Black II."
With teacup in hand, Boyle kicks back to discuss her
character (she plays ubervillainess Serleena), co-stars
Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, revealing costumes
and real-life companions.
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Q: Director Barry Sonnenfeld
said initially he thought you were too slight for the
part. You looked pretty good in the lingerie we saw.
A: The magic of movies. I can pull it off.
Q: What was it like playing a Victoria Secret model?
A: I loved it. I look at those catalogs and think:
These women don't exist, and if they do, I don't want
to run into them. I had the best hair and makeup, the
best special effects. I loved being able to pull that
off because that's not something that comes naturally
to me. I loved the boobs.
Q: Did you keep the lingerie?
A:We call that rigging. Trust me, it wasn't lingerie.
There is no way that you could wear that ever without
a crew around you, because it's not what you think.
Trust me.
Q: Is it fun to play the villain?
A: It's the best. I had the best role in the
movie. I got to freeload off the success of the first
one. I got to relax in terms that this was Will and
Tommy's movie, and I got to come in and have the best
role. I had the greatest dialogue, wore the coolest
clothes. My biggest job was reminding myself that I
was at work.
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Q: You came in at the eleventh hour. Was
that difficult?
A: I did. I had two days to prepare. But that was good
for me. Sometimes, when you're just thrown into something,
you are more ready for it than when you have time to think
it over and get nervous about it. So I was able to just jump
in.
Q: Could you get any farther from "The Practice"?
A: Not if I tried. And I wasn't trying. I watched the
first movie, and I auditioned the old- fashioned way for Barry
Sonnenfeld, and I wasn't trying to strategize -- "this
is my career needs" -- that very seldom happens. You
go where the work is. I'm Irish, so I attribute it to luck.
Q: What was the secret to making those weird things come
out of your fingers? You never saw them, did you?
A: No, I never did. I spent every day just praying
that I didn't look like a big dork on camera. I had to have
a lot of blind faith in the director. They'd show me pictures
and sketches of what the finished product would look like.
But I thought: "Oh, boy. I hope this turns out because
I really don't want to look like a big a--."
Q: Tommy Lee Jones has the aura of being an intimating
person. What's he really like?
A:He's so super cool. You have some actors that
have a trainer, and they get a special haircut to look macho
and they have the acting coach to be macho for a part. But
Tommy Lee Jones is just smooth. He's just the real deal. I'm
captivated by him, because there's so little of that in Hollywood,
and he just embodies it.
Q: And Will?
A: Will is about as perfect as they come. I'm
not kidding you. My mom always says, "To make people
feel good about themselves is a gift," and he makes you
feel good about yourself. He's incredibly talented. He's well-read.
He's so kind to people. I did his first movie with him eight
or nine years ago ("Where The Day Takes You"), and
he's hasn't changed a bit. He's disgustingly perfect.
Q: What was it like working with Barry?
A: He's like Disneyland on acid. He's delightful. He's
truly a savant, and he'd never let you know it. I respectanyone
who is that smart and doesn't need to wear it on their sleeve.
He directs his actors, and that might sound like a typical
thing, but that's a rarity with a lot of directors. He is
caring and good to his actors. I set out to be simple in this
movie -- direct and straightforward -- and I achieved that
because of him. He knew that's what I wanted, and he did his
job and protected me.
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Q: You mentioned your mother. Has she been a big
influence on you?
A: Yes. People say to me, "Well, what
is she to you?" I answer, "Well, I guess
people use the term loosely, but she's my mom."
Q: Do you rely on her for advice?
A: Absolutely. You know, the bigger you get
and the more success you have, the more people you
can fill your house with to tell you how great you
are. You can do that. You can get through your whole
day only around people who will tell you that you're
wonderful. But, pretty soon, they're going to have
to be lying about that. I know that I'm getting the
real deal with my mom. I know that she's telling it
like it is. She's proud of me when I've earned it,
and she's disappointed in me when I've earned that.
She's really my spectrum on where I am as a person.
Q: What about the men in your life? Does she go
down the list and say, "Yes" and "No"?
A: She encourages me to be with people who
she feels are as smart as me. That's the only note
I've ever gotten.
You've invested so much in your career. Would you
take time out for marriage and a family?
No. (Laughs.) That would be boring.
Q: You're kidding, right?
A: No, I'm not. I love children, and I
love men, but I can't commit to either for the rest
of my life. I am a selfish person. I had such a great
mom, and I know that I'd never be that mom. I wouldn't
want to bring a child into this world unless I could
be. I think the institution of marriage is a great
idea, but, for me, it's just an idea. And I don't
believe that women can successfully have it all. I
really don't. I am fortunate to have a career. I always
have to act. I don't know if I'll have a career to
support it for the rest of my life, but I know I'll
always act.
Q: Do you think that men can have it all?
A: Absolutely. Don't get me wrong: I love
men. I'm not some man-hater. But I think they can.
It's been said a million times, but it's true. And
I think women have come a very, very long way, but
they have a long way to go.
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Oscar
Winner Returns To Live Comedy
At his personal half-century mark, Robin
Williams easily could rest on his laurels
as a movie actor, which include acclaim
for his recent thriller "Insomnia,"
an Academy Award for "Good Will Hunting"
and four Golden Globes (for "Good
Morning, Vietnam," "Aladdin,"
"The Fisher King" and "Mrs.
Doubtfire").
Instead, Williams, 50, has returned to
his roots in stand-up comedy in a national
tour that includes "Robin Williams:
Live on Broadway," an HBO special
premiering at 8 p.m. Sunday.
Williams says he wanted to get a fresh
sense of what the country was talking
and laughing about, especially after twin
tragedies in September 2001: the terrorist
attack on the World Trade Center and the
death of his mother.
"I was at the Mark Twain Awards in
Washington about a month after Sept. 11,
honoring Whoopi Goldberg, and the mood
of the people there was just remarkable.
I mean, it was like the lifting of a siege,"
he recalls. "The response was, like,
'Thanks, God, we needed that,' because
we all had been aware of that tension
on some level, but maybe not on such an
emotional, gut level.
"Most of us had been walking around
in a state of shock for about a month
or six weeks, and I think maybe being
there that night, seeing people laugh
and start talking more freely again, may
have been the trigger that made me think,
'It's time to go out there again.'"
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