2001
Talk shows
I appear to have been something of a media whore in 2001.
Well, I did have Design For Living, Spy Kids, The Anniversary Party and Josie and the Pussycats all happening. Some of the shows i whored myself to were MTV's Hot Zone, The Kirsty Wark Show, E! Daily News, Access Hollywood, CNN Lifestyles, Live with Regis and Kelly, Conan, Today in NYC!
Ex-S
I made a video diary documentary for BBC Scotland's Ex-S series. It actually began at the end of 2000 as I was finishing up The Anniversary Party in LA, and then it focussed on my time in NYC doing Design For Living. There is a very scary sequence in which I have everything shaved for an article I wrote for Marie Claire magazine!
It's so funny to look back at things like this and see what was going on in my life in such detail. I don't feel I have changed, and I was still having fun, so hoorah!
Kleopatra
This is a short film directed by Nick Philippou, loosely based on a story by Elisabeth Hauptmann, who was a collaborator and inspiration to Bertolt Brecht.
Here's what Nick has to say about it...
Kleopatra is set in New York (or any major city) at the beginning of the 21st century. A woman lives on the streest, the epitome of ugliness. An artist 'discovers' her and brings her into his world, making her an icon and a star for a while. The star that Kleopatra becomes is reflected in the artist's work - he makes her a living sculpture for one night only.
Sex and the City
Whilst I was appearing on Broadway in Design For Living, I guest-starred in an episode of Sex and the City in which I played 'O', a stylist from Dolce and Gabbana. O had the job of dressing Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) for a New York-style fashion show. The episode was the second of the season's double-bill premiere, and Ed Koch, Heidi Klum and Kevin Aucoin also made appearances.
I remembered how scary television is after doing this. When it came out, everywhere I went people kept saying 'me likey' and I couldn't understand why. Then I remembered that O said it a few times. People still say it to me to this day actually.
Design for Living
Joe Mantello directed Noel Coward's play about three friends who are in love with each other, and who cannot seem to stay apart. I played Otto opposite Jennifer Ehle and Dominic West. The play opened at The American Airlines Theater on Broadway in March 2001.
I'd always wanted to do this play. I've seen it done, but never felt the true meaning of the play had ever come out. It was always one of these things that annoyed me. I thought it was such an extraordinary idea for three people to try and live together. Even now it's such a daring and provocative thing. To discuss it in the 1930s must have been an extraordinary thing. I also love Noel Coward and I love the subject matter. I love being questioned in my life and doing art that questions preconceived ideas.
It's a really hard play to do though, because you ask the audience to go on a journey that ends with them not really liking the main characters very much. I love that notion, but it's not a common one for most mainstream theatregoers to experience.
2000
Josie and The Pussycats
Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont wrote and directed this live action update of the cult cartoon, Josie and the Pussycats, about an all girl pop group. I played Wyatt Frame, the band's manager, who has an evil agenda for our three heroines.
I was in the middle of editing The Anniversary Party while making this film. I was back and forth from LA to Vancouver all the time. Parker Posey and I are the two baddies. We were absolutely shameless. It's some of the most shameless acting I've ever done, and that is saying something 'cause I've done some shameless acting in my time. I also have this big hunk of plastic roast beef from the set in my house.
The film stars Rachel Leigh Cook, Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson as the eponymous heroines.
Talk Shows
Here I am on Regis and Kathie Lee plugging The Flinstones movie, except Regis was off and it's Howie Mandel instead.
Then there's a compilation with several interviews including an appearance on The Conan O'Brien Show when I hosted Saturday Night Live and other items about The Flinstones and God, the Devil and Bob,
Then I'm plugging Titus on MTV's Hot Zone, Regis and Kathie Lee again (though it's Regis' wife Joy instead of Kathie Lee - do you sense a pattern here?), something from The Flinstones on Fox 11
The Anniversary Party
Jennifer Jason Leigh and I wrote, produced and directed The Anniversary Party. We also play the central characters, Joe and Sally Therrian, recently reunited after a 9-month separation, and throwing a sixth wedding anniversary party to prove to themselves as well as their friends that everything is all right.
The other cast members include Kevin Kline, Phoebe Cates, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Beals, Jane Adams, John C. Reilly, Michael Panes, Mina Badie, Parker Posey, John Benjamin Hickey and Denis O'Hare.
Jennifer and I first met while she played Sally Bowles on Broadway in Cabaret. The idea for the story came from Jennifer and I getting to know each other. We thought it would be nice to make a film with friends, and so, partly influenced by the experience she had had working on a Dogma film in Africa we set out to make a film that would feel real, with a crossover of who we all are in real life and who we all are in the film and to make it about grown-up issues and dealt with in a grown-up way i.e. not perfectly and a little messy.
Here's a video diary I made during the course of the film, and some interviews we did about it...
The film premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2001 and was released shortly after. We won a National Board of Review award and were nominated for two Independent Spirit awards for Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay
Investigating Sex
I flew to Berlin to play Sevy, a painter, involved in a discussion of sex and sexuality based in a real-life investigation in the 1920s in the film, Investigating Sex.
Alan Rudolph directed, and the film also stars Neve Campbell, Nick Nolte, Robin Tunney, John Light, Tuesday Weld, and Til Schweiger.
I went to The Kit Kat Club when I was in Berlin. It was very racy. Just as racy as it is in Cabaret. I love going to places where I'm totally in a different culture. I crave that. It's nice to be in a place where you understand nothing or very little. You work very hard to understand the customs of the country.
I love this film and wish it had been seen by more people. Some dispute with German producers or something or other let it languish in litigation. It was released on DVD in the US under the rather tacky name Intimate Affairs.
