december9–22, 2019 | newyork 107
whenyouenteritsfiction,youfeelasif it’s
theonlyworldthatexists.Euphoriadoes
that.Deadwooddidthat.AtlantaandBet-
terThingsdoit.It’s like thestorytellersare
creatinga worldinordertostudyit.
You’reremindingmeofthetimeI asked
Darren[Aronofsky]why hemadeThe
Wrestler.He said,“BecauseI didn’t know
anythingaboutthat world.” I said,“That’s
whatinterestsyouinmakinga movie,is
goingintoa worldyoudon’t knowany-
thingabout?”Hesaid,“Yeah,mostly.”
MartinScorsese,yourdirectoron
AliceDoesn’tLive HereAnymore, once
saidhisgreatinterestisanthropology.
Whatmadeyoulookathisbreakthrough
film,MeanStreets,andsay, “Mynext
filmisgoingtobeabouta singlemother,
andthisistheidealdirector”?
Well,I didn’t say that, becausetherewas
onlyonewomaninMeanStreets,andshe
hada verysmallpart. Butmy missionwas
tomakea filmfroma woman’s ointof
view,anda certainlevelofreality inthe
actingwaswhat I knewI wanted.I saw
MeanStreetsandsaid,“That’sit.That’s
Studio.”Meaning,that’sActorsStudio.
That levelofbeingreal.That’s why I
wantedMarty.
ThenMartyandI met, andI said,“I
wanttomakea moviefroma woman’s
pointofview, andI can’t tellfromyour
movie if you know anything about
women.Doyou?”Hesaid,“No,butI’d
liketolearn.”
Therewasa harshnesstosomeofthe
characterinteractionsthatwasunusual
fora filmaboutwomenbackthen.
TheLastPictureShowalsohadthat
qualityintheacting.Therewasa reality.
Howwasthatachieved?
Alotofit washowPeter[Bogdanov-
ich]madeit.Welivedinthetownwhere
it wasshot,ArcherCity, Texas.We stayed
ina motel,allofustogetherwithnothing
would go off, and the story would go all
the way around and around and I’d think,
God, where is he going with this? But he
always comes back.
Can you tell me, how did you become a
writer?
Well, that’s too long a story to go into
here, especially since I’m supposed to
be interviewing you. But may I ask why
you asked?
Because I’m curious: What is a writing-
talent gene comprised of? What is the
ability, and where does it come from?
I don’t know if it’s an ability so much
as a condition. I don’t remember a time
when I wasn’t a storyteller.
What does talent consist of in your
case? An ability to describe the world with
words easily? What?
I don’t know. But I do know that when a
person is a writer, they usually know early.
Like the moment you had as a girl, reciting
“Little Miss Muffet” into the void.
Yes.What’sonTVthat youlike right
now?Haveyouseenthat showEuphoriaon
HBO?It’ s bySamLevinson.I wasina film
hedirectedcalledAnotherHappyDay.
Yes, I interviewedhim.Theproduction
isunusual.Ninetypercentofitisonsets.
Ninetypercentofit is sex?
Sets.Shotonsets.
[Laughs] I thoughtyousaidsex.I was
shockedbyit.
By thesex?
MorebythenumberofpenisesI saw
onthescreenallatonce.Therewerelike
fourorfivepenisesthereonthescreenin
oneepisode.I’veneverseenthat many on
TVbefore.
Don’tyoufeellikethat’s astepfor-
wardforequality ofnudity?
Well,it’s definitelythat!What doyou
like abouttheshow?
To me, a greatTVshowcreatesitsown
world,asa stageproductionmight,and
around us, nowhere to go, because we
were on the highway, we weren’t in the
town. We were just the cast together, eat-
ing together. We shot in the town where
the events took place, and the people in
the town would tell us who the character
was based on.
In one scene, I’m reading a magazine,
bored to death, and my husband is there
asleep in front of the TV and then I hear a
car pull up. I recognize the sound of the
truck, and [I think] it’s my lover, Abilene.
Yay! I put the magazine down, I get up,
and the camera follows me into the other
room, and I go to the door to greet Abilene.
But it’s not Abilene; it’s my daughter. But
wait a minute: That was Abilene’s truck,
which means my daughter was with
Abilene, which means my daughter is not
a virgin anymore.
All of those things had to happen without
a line. So I said to Peter, “I have eight differ-
ent thin s ha en here in this one shot, and
I havenoline.” Andhesaid,“I know.” AndI
said,“HowamI supposedtodothat?”And
hesaid,“J ustthinkthethoughtsof thechar-
acter,andthecamerawillreadyourmind.”
That’swhat theActorsStudioworkis
about:beingreal.Becauseif you’rereal,
andyoufeeltheemotionsofthecharac-
ter, thecamera willreadit.Andtheaudi-
encewillfeelit.
Where were youwhenyoufoundout
you’d beennominatedforBestSupport-
ingActressforTheLastPictureShow?
Afterthat filmcameout,I noticedin
myselfa degreeofdesireforanOscarthat
I foundunattractive—andgreedy, some-
how. I didn’twanttowantthat much
acclaim. So on the morning they
announcedthenominees,I wenttothe
beach,andwhenI camehometomy
apartment,it wasfilledwithflowersandI
thought,Oh,I guessI wasnominated.The
flowerstoldme. ■
alice
doesn’t
live here
anymore
1974
requiem
fora
dream
2000
same time,
next year
1978
PHOTOGRAPHS: EVERETT COLLECTION (LAST PICTURE SHOW, EXORCIST, SAME TIME, AND REQUIEM); SHUTTERSTOCK (ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE)
