Labour
of Love
The Express Saturday (March 2000, UK)
Alicia Silverstone, the archetypal
all-American teenager in Clueless, has come of age in
Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of Shakespeare's Love's
Labour's Lost. But, she tells David Allsop, there are
more important things in life than acting.
If pouting were an Olympic sport, Alicia Silverstone
would romp home with the gold by a mile. The girl can't
help it. The mouth, which so memorably captivated cinema
audiences in her first major film, Clueless, is
permanently set in a provocative Bardot-esque sulk. When
it opens in a smile, as it frequently tries to, it still
contrives to convey an expression of suggestive disdain -
the corners pulled down, the lower lip jutting as if
tugged by an invisible wire.
Her father Monty, a California-based, British-born
financier was quick to spot the bankability of this
interesting physiognomy when she was just eight. He
photographed her reclining on a sheepskin rug
"looking at me, very sensual for a little girl, with
a lovely mouth drooping down". A modelling contract
swiftly followed, and within 10 years his daughter was
the highest-paid teenage actress in Hollywood history. A
short while later, she was Hollywood's youngest ever
actress-producer - clinching a multi-million dollar deal
with Columbia Pictures to produce two pictures, on the
strict understanding that she would suffer no
interference from the studio. By any measure, that's
progress. Alicia is tired when we meet, and the
celebrated lips are initially concealed behind the back
of a demurely raised hand. "Excuse me," she
says in greeting, stifling a yawn. "This schedule's
been so ridiculous it doesn't allow sleep. I'm doing more
interviews than anyone else in the movie, and I came all
the way from LA."
The actress, now 23, is in London to promote her new film
Love's Labour's Lost, directed by and co-starring Kenneth
Branagh. It is her first Shakespearean role, and as 'The
Princess' she is very much the star in a cast made up of
stalwart Brit supporting actors and American unknowns.
She is holding court in Regency-style suite in a Park
Lane hotel, a small figure swamped by a large wing-back
chair, ash blonde hair absently piled up in a loose spiky
knot, huge sleepy eyes veiled by trailing wisps which she
frequently curls around her fingers. She is wearing a
hooded green sweatshirt, jeans and worn trainers, and,
free of make-up, she looks about 14 - as far removed from
a Hollywood screen goddess as it is possible to imagine.
Apologizing once more for her somnolence, she explains
that jet lag is making her physically ill. It isn't a
promising start, but she's nothing if not a dedicated
pro, taking a deep breath and launching determinedly into
her 'message' that she says make interviews like these
meaningful. It is not, as you might expect, a glowing
tribute to the film she is here to promote, but an
unexpectedly passionate discourse on the cruelty of
humankind to animals and the reasons why she has become a
vegan. She is, she says, on a crusade to re-educate
people about the 'stupidity' of eating meat and other
animal foodstuffs. She talks for more than 10 minutes,
speaking intently, and without interruption, in an urgent
little girl voice. "This is not some crazy whim I'm
on," she concludes, fretfully yanking a stray strand
of hair. "There's torture and murder of animals
going on every day, and we're closing our eyes to it, and
not doing anything to stop it. And that is disgusting.
There's been racism and sexism, but there's still
'species-ism'. We walk around like these arrogant
peacocks and we think we're so brilliant, but we're so
stupid. We're destroying our bodies and our environment.
We're cruel, and it's so unnecessary. And I don't believe
that people are born cruel or evil. I think that we're
born with the intention and the desire to love, to give
and to share. I just think it's about time that we were
all kinder to each other. It sounds really hippyish and
sappy, but it's the damn truth."
Alicia isn't yawning any more. The flames of zeal are
burning in those large watchful eyes, and she's leaning
forward, searching for some sign of empathy or
understanding.
It seems the wrong time to seek her views about her more
recognizable image as Hollywood's leading 'superbabe', or
why she was cruelly dubbed 'Fatgirl' by critics when she
starred in Batman and Robin. So I enquire if the
'crusade' is playing an increasingly larger role in her
life, perhaps becoming more important to her than acting.
"It's way more important to me than acting,"
she replies emphatically. "It always has been.
Because life is more important than acting. Life has
always been the most important thing to me and, because
it is, there comes with that the passion and excitement
to live as beautifully and effectively as I can."
There is a brief silence, and I point as diplomatically
as I can that her publicist has warned that time is short
and we're halfway through the interview. Can we discuss
more prosaic matters like, well, her career? A frown
briefly troubles her cherubic features, and she sinks
back into her chair yawning again.
It would be tempting, of course, to belittle what she
describes as her 'belief system' as the banal ravings of
an impressionable Californian airhead. But not only has
she devoted a large part of her young life to animal
welfare (famously driving around Los Angeles picking up
stray dogs since she was first old enough to drive), but
she has also put her money where her mouth is - funding
campaigns to provide Californian schools with free soya
milk and fruit juice, launching animal welfare education
programmes, and developing her charitable foundation AAH
(Alicia's Animal Haven). Clearly she has more in common
with Bardot, that other actress/animal rights campaigner,
than the famous pout.
"I've made an awful lot of money, and I've put it to
really good use," she declares. "It's not like
I'm an indulgent person who just needs to hoard money.
I'm trying to do really amazing things - for people
around me, for the world. To me, money's not about how
many cars I can have, how many clothes I can have, how I
can make myself more impressive so that everyone likes
me. It's usually all 'Look at me! Look at all the things
I have!' Well, you know what? That doesn't make you who
you are at all." So who exactly is Alicia
Silverstone? "I'm someone who's proud of what I do,
and proud of my life. And just appreciative to be
alive," she answers firmly. Born and raised in San
Francisco, her parents Monty and Didi are British émigrés
who made a fortune in Californian real estate. Alicia
spent her childhood travelling the world, courtesy of her
Scots-born mother's job as an air hostess, and holidaying
nearly every summer in England.
"Ultimately I'm too American to be European, and too
European to be American. I feel like I come from
everywhere," she reveals with worldly
self-assurance. She was brought up in a $2 million
mansion and demonstrated an astonishing degree of early
independence by paying for her own acting lessons from
the proceeds of her child modelling career, and then
'legally emancipating' herself from her parents at the
age of 15. This, she explains, was a legal technicality
to sidestep the Californian laws against child labour,
and allow her to work extended hours on a film set. She
insists her parents accepted this 'divorce' and were not
over-concerned. "I had a deep need to feel like I
could take care of myself." And, despite her
parents' reported concerns about the Svengali-like role
in Alicia's life played by her long-term agent and
business partner, Carolyn Kessler, she says her
relationship with her family remains close and loving.
After a pizza advert, her first dramatic role was an
errant streetwise Lolita in a thriller called The Crush.
A series of rock videos followed, until she landed the
lead part of a shopaholic 'mall rat' in the hit
teen-comedy Clueless, loosely based on Jane Austen's
Emma. Her portrayal of the guideless Beverly Hills rich
kid caught the imagination of a generation, and she was
elevated to overnight stardom. Five years on, that
enduring image of a mini-skirted blonde, shopping bag in
each hand, mobile phone permanently wedged between
shoulder and ear, is the one that will doubtless be the
most difficult to shake off.
Her next role, personally negotiated for a cool $11
million, was as Batgirl in a forgettable Batman sequel.
Alicia, however, had put on weight before filming began
and was obliged to suffer continual 'Fatgirl' barbs from
the world's press. At the time she reacted with
apparently stoical indifference, but now she admits that
the criticism hurt her badly. "I was 19, and it made
me feel not pretty and not good about my body." A
note of fierce indignation then enters her voice.
"And it's worse when a bunch of idiot journalists is
telling the whole world that you're fat. What made me
really mad was what it teaches the young people… I
mean if that affects me I can't imagine how it affects
them, like: 'Oh, look there's that supposedly beautiful,
sexy Alicia Silverstone. Now they're saying she's fat!
Well if she's fat, what the hell do I look like?' I mean
there's so much bulimia and anorexia in the world and to
put that sort of message out there is just stupid. And
really tasteless."
Is it a good time to raise the subject of relationships?
Alicia has been notoriously unwilling in the past to
discuss her private life, which has reputedly involved
relationships with Leonardo di Caprio and her co-star in
Batman, Chris O'Donnell. Asked if she has a partner now,
she raises her eyes despairingly and replies: "Yeah
Christopher." Does he have a surname? "Yeah,
it's a Polish name." How long have they been
together? "Over two years." Do they live
together? "That's all I'm going to tell you,"
she says, her mouth widening into that familiar drooping
smile.
Does she live alone? "I don't want to discuss how I
live," she says, the smile fixed resolutely in
place. Finally we talk about Love's Labour's Lost and a
different Alicia emerges. This one acts and talks a lot
like Cher Horowitz, the character she plays in Clueless.
"I so wanted to be part of it, because there's not
really a lot of good things for me to do. So this comes
along and I'm like 'I've gotta do it!' When I got a call
from [Branagh] saying, 'Will you play the Princess?', I
was like 'Omigod! Omigod!' I just lost it I was so
happy." She claps her hands, bouncing up and down in
her seat like an excited child as she recalls the moment.
The play is one of Shakespeare's frothiest confections,
which Kenneth Branagh has turned into a romantic musical
comedy where Broadway meets Ruritania. Silverstone plays
the young princess who gets her man, but only after
demanding a year's separation while she mourns her late
father. Despite no obvious evidence of natural dancing
talent, she wears the part well, blending a sense of
love-fuelled giddiness with a steely determination to
make the match on her terms.
"She's so determined and proud. That's what I like
about her. A profound sense of duty - exactly!"
Transcribed
by ~ Robbie
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