Last Friday, Chloe Sevigny’s interview with The AV Club came out, and many were slightly shocked with Chloe’s feeling on the last season of her critically acclaimed, hit HBO show Big Love. Chloe told the interviewer that “It was awful this season, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not allowed to say that! It was very telenovela. I feel like it kind of got away from itself… I think that they had more story than episodes. I think that’s what happened… Me and the girls [Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin] definitely were not very happy with where it was going—or more kind of, ‘We really hope it’s going to work. It seems like they’re really pushing it.’” So basically, not only did Chloe call her own show “awful” but she also threw her costars under the bus as well.

I said at the time that while Chloe seemed ungrateful and disrespectful, the AV Club reporter did seem to be leading her in that direction. Not that I’m making excuses for Chloe – I think she’s a hipster brat – but the idea that Chloe was pushed into saying more than she intended adds a bit more shading to the situation. Within a day of the interview’s release, Chloe did the right thing (sort of) and sat down for a lengthy apology/explanation with Entertainment Weekly:

Having a rough day?
CHLOË SEVIGNY: A little bit. I feel pretty terrible.

What happened? Why’d you say it?
SEVIGNY: [Long pause] I feel like what I said was taken out of context, and the [reporter] I was speaking to was provoking me. I was in Austin [at the SXSW festival] and really exhausted and doing a press junket and I think I just… I wasn’t thinking about what I was saying. You know, after a day of junkets sometimes things slip out that you don’t mean, and I obviously didn’t mean what I said in any way, shape, or form. I love being on the show. I have nothing but respect and admiration for our writers and everybody involved with the show. It’s been the greatest opportunity of my lifetime so far — the best role I’ve ever played, the best part I’ve ever had the opportunity to portray. So I love the show. I think it’s the greatest show on television. I think it’s the weirdest show. I think it is very complex and the content is amazing and it’s just very ironic that this statement would come out and blow so out of control. Because I feel absolutely the opposite. It is difficult being on a show for several seasons and having no control and having things go in different directions where you didn’t think they would go. But that’s also the most exciting part [because] they keep the character really fresh and there’s new scenarios that they come up with.

The fact is, many people were let down by last season. You didn’t really say anything that hasn’t already been said by a lot of fans and critics. Is it possible there was some grain of truth to your remarks and perhaps it just came out too harsh?
SEVIGNY: Maybe it did come out too harsh. I especially think the third season was so strong, and obviously we only had nine episodes so we couldn’t really explore as much this season, so maybe that was part of it. And I really haven’t seen the whole season because I don’t have a television. I’ve only seen about half of it, so I couldn’t even really comment having not been able to see it all the way through.

What was your primary concern when this whole thing broke yesterday?
SEVIGNY: My first concern was I didn’t want HBO or Will [Scheffer] and Mark [V. Olsen], the creators of our show, to think that I was biting the hand that feeds me because I obviously love the show and have always been nothing but positive about it. And I didn’t want anybody to misunderstand me or think that I wasn’t, you know, appreciative. I don’t want to be one of those actresses that complains about her work because I love my work and I love being on the show. I just feel like it’s like one small quote out of a million positive ones that’s just really biting me in the ass. And I feel really terrible. And I called Will and Mark and apologized profusely.

What was their reaction?
SEVIGNY: They accepted my apology. We have a great mutual respect for one another, and they know my work ethic, how I treat other people at work and them, and how I never contest anything they write for me. I’m always willing [to perform what's written]. Even if I have a little trouble with something, they’ll explain it to me in a way that makes perfect sense. So I think that what was so surprising for all of us is that I never really complain or have any problems with anything. I think I was just exhausted in Austin and just spoke out of line and said something that wasn’t really how I was really feeling.

How did the conversation go? Was it short? Long?
SEVIGNY: It was long. We talked it out. We talked for a while. [Laughs] I was a sob case, of course. I haven’t slept all night because if they said something about me, if they made a statement that they were disappointed in my work, I would feel awful. I always feel, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” And I just feel it was very out of character. I feel really awful. I don’t know what else to say except that I’m really sorry, and I’m really proud of the show, and feel blessed to be a part of it.

Have you spoken to any of your co-stars?
SEVIGNY: I spoke to Ginnifer [Goodwin] this morning.

What did you say?
SEVIGNY: I just wanted her to know that I’m sorry if, you know, I dragged her into it in any way. And we talked about how much we love being on the show and how it’s hard work as an actress and how sometimes the press can swing things in a way that you don’t mean them to sound. She was very supportive of me.

Are you at all worried that Will and Mark will retaliate by throwing Nikki in front of a bus in the first episode back?
SEVIGNY: [Laughs] I don’t know. I mean, I think that the Big Love viewers love me. If [Will and Mark] think that [killing Nikki] benefits the story, than so be it. I’m a team player. I really am. I signed on for six seasons after only reading the pilot and meeting with them and believing in them and seeing their genius, and whatever they choose to do, I’m going to support them and do the best job I can do.

The takeaway lesson here?
SEVIGNY: [Laughs] The takeaway lesson here is just be more careful with my words and just slow down and breathe during junkets. And to not let journalist provoke me in ways that could be detrimental to others and myself.

[From Entertainment Weekly]

So basically Chloe is genuinely sorry (which I believe) but she’s also pretty clearly throwing the AV Club interviewer under the bus now. Which is funny, because it seems like Chloe can’t open her mouth without blaming someone. As for the AV Club interviewer – a dude named Sean O’Neal – he released his own hilariously bitchy statement after Chloe’s mea culpa. The full piece is here, but the basics are that O’Neal defends the whole piece, saying that the interview is merely a verbatim transcript of his conversation with Chloe, that nothing was “taken out of context,” and he calls out Chloe for “biting the hand that feeds her, writing: “You were caught biting the hand that feeds you Golden Globes; probably best to blame your momentary lapse into candor on everything that’s beyond your control, such as exhaustion and the rigors of doing press junkets. But as the person who conducted said interview, I’m not really sure how a statement like “It was awful this season” can possibly be taken out of context.” Oohhh, bitch-fight at the AV Club!

Chloe Sevigny is reminding the world of why we enjoyed those years when she did very few interviews. I have no idea why this is happening, but it seems like Chloe is doing a ton of interviews lately, and all of them are ten kinds of wrong. Now, I realize that some people like the Christopher Walken doppelganger, but I find her “I‘m too cool for this hipster scene” attitude tired and old. Plus, she can’t open her mouth without farting out something laughably ridiculous like “I love being a gay icon” (like she’s Cher or something) or “Men are intimidated by me, I want to be worshipped and adored.” Like men should be falling all over themselves to get with Christopher Walken’s younger sister.

Anyway, Chloe sat down for yet another interview, this time with The A.V. Club (full piece here). She talking sh-t about Big Love and how “awful” the past season was. Okay… I was going to rail against her, but now that I’ve read the whole thing, I still think she was disrespectful, but I also think the dude doing the interview was leading her in that direction. Eh:

AVC: This past season of Big Love has taken a lot of flak for being so over-the-top.
CS: It was awful this season, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not allowed to say that! [Gasps.] It was very telenovela. I feel like it kind of got away from itself. The whole political campaign seemed to me very farfetched. I mean, I love the show, I love my character, I love the writing, but I felt like they were really pushing it this last season. And with nine episodes, I think they were just squishing too much in. HBO only gave us nine Sundays, because they have so much other original programming—especially with The Pacific—and they only have a certain amount of Sundays per year, so we only got nine Sundays. I think that they had more story than episodes. I think that’s what happened.

AVC: It sort of became like Mormon Dynasty.
CS: [Laughs.] I know, I know. I’ve heard a lot of other things like that.

AVC: What was it like when they first laid out what they wanted to accomplish this season? What was your reaction?
CS: They don’t. We only get it episode to episode. We never know what’s going to happen in the next episode until we’re almost finished shooting the one we’re shooting at present. Me and the girls [Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin] definitely were not very happy with where it was going—or more kind of, “We really hope it’s going to work. It seems like they’re really pushing it.” I think next season, they’re going to go back to more just the family. I think that the stuff with Ben and Lois and that stuff was really great in Mexico, but… [Laughs.]

AVC: A part of the show’s initial appeal was how it at least tried to stay grounded in some semblance of reality. Now that it’s gotten away from that, how do you keep things from turning into self-parody?
CS: I guess I just focus on it from scene to scene. Like, “Why is she behaving like this in this scene?” She’s a very particular, peculiar character, when you think of her circumstances. And this season, she was going through an adolescence that she never had, acting out, and vicariously living through her daughter, and realizing stuff she missed out on, and trying to find herself with the different looks. I think it was a very complicated season for her. And you know, the whole relationship with the daughter, and then J.J. [Laughs.] There’s always so much going on.

AVC: Like how J.J.’s trying to inject her with an incest baby?
CS: Oh God, I know. Oh, God. It’s too much. It’s too much. But I hope the fans will stick with us and tune in next year. There’s a lot of people who really love this season, surprisingly. God, I’m going to get in so much trouble. [Laughs.]

[From The AV Club]

In my opinion, it’s never a good idea for an actor to go public so spectacularly with criticism of their own show or film. I mean, of course that actor should go to the writers and producers with their criticism in private. I get that, and I’m totally not saying that every actor should be the perfect little soldier who just does what they’re told. But all I can really think when some actor mouths off about how “awful” a project was is how the other people who worked on it feel. The actor does not stand alone, and there are hundreds or thousands of people who make their livelihoods on a project that some actor deigns to call “awful”. On the other side, I think Chloe was not just speaking as an actor on the show, but as a fan of the show who was disappointed. So… what do you think? Disrespectful, or just a disappointed fan?

What’s with all of the Chloe Sevigny stories lately? It should be a New York Times trend story, like “Suddenly, Sevigny is everywhere!” Anyway, Agent Bedhead had some interesting excerpts from Chloe’s new interview in The Advocate, so I went to the source to read the whole piece. It’s another classic! I mean, Chloe sounds like she’s totally down with the gay community, so props to her, but she has these little asides that are just hilarious. Like, “I love being a gay icon.” Really? She’s a gay icon? Like, Madonna? Or Cher? And talking about one of her early lesbian roles, she says: “I’d probably love [to watch] it now because I probably look really young and beautiful.” Really? Anyway, here are the interesting parts (full Advocate piece here):

The Advocate: The last time you spoke to The Advocate was for a 2000 cover story after you’d just been nominated for the Oscar for Boys Don’t Cry. So this is good — we should check in and catch up every 10 years.
Chloë Sevigny: Sure, why not? A gay fan base is a very good fan base to have — is that a terrible thing to say? They’re very loyal. They’ll stick with you through the ups and downs because they’re not fair-weather fans. I love being a gay icon; I totally embrace it.

When did you first feel that love from gay people?
Right after Kids came out. I was working in this store called Liquid Sky on Lafayette Street, which was rave central in New York City, and I had a lot of gay boys coming in and coming up to me in the street. The first person who ever came up to me was actually a really young, very sweet boy with AIDS. But even way before that I used to make out with a lot of girls and gay boys when we were on Rohypnol — which I probably shouldn’t say. [Laughs] There was a lot of kissing in the club scene — boys, girls, gays, straights, and all the rest.

When you spoke to us in 2000 you had already filmed but hadn’t seen If These Walls Could Talk 2, so you were worried about how your lesbian fans would react to your butch lesbian character. You said, “I’m so scared they’re all going to turn on me and hate me for a bad representation.” How was the response?
When I first met with [executive producer] Ellen DeGeneres about it, she was like, “You can’t play butch.” I said, “Just watch me.” I feel like the lesbian community really liked that film and liked me in it, so I think I did them proud. But I still haven’t seen it! I should ask for a DVD. I’d probably love it now because I probably look really young and beautiful.

I’ve read that If These Walls Could Talk 2 was the only thing you’ve ever done just for the cash. Why was that project unappealing without the paycheck?
I wasn’t excited about the other two stories in the film and some of the other people involved. But at the time I was broke, and I needed a paycheck immediately because I was helping my mother pay her mortgage.

I’d think that kissing Michelle Williams would be all the payment you need.
But remember back then she was just a girl from Dawson’s Creek, and I was super-indie, so I was like, “Ew, gross.” She was still beautiful, but she wasn’t the Michelle Williams she is today.

Whenever I read about you turning down big-budget films like Legally Blonde to maintain your indie cred, I think, Why does Chloë hate money?
[Laughs] Well, it wasn’t the Reese Witherspoon part — let’s set the record straight — it was the Selma Blair part. But I was offered a Joe Orton play off-Broadway, What the Butler Saw, which I thought would be more challenging. I guess I didn’t realize the full potential of Legally Blonde at the time, but now I love those films — they’re hilarious.

Selma Blair interviewed you some years later for Interview magazine. Was the fact that you turned down her role an elephant in the room?
Aw, no, that stuff happens all the time. And so many girls have been offered parts that I’ve ended up doing, and I see them all the time — like the girl [Mia Kirshner] that got fired from Kids, which was the reason I got the role. Those are the breaks.

What attracted you to Monet, the apartment-flipping lesbian, on Will & Grace — Edie Falco as your sugar mama?
I was a huge Will & Grace fan! I loved Sean Hayes, and I just wanted to try a sitcom and see what that was all about. But what’s funny is that after I appeared on the show I could never watch it again. It lost the magic. We shot for two days, and the first day I was doing my quiet-whatever kind of acting that I do, but then I was like, If I don’t turn it up 10 notches, I’m just going to blend into the walls. So the next day I went in rip-roarin’ and ready to go, trying to ham it up, but it’s really hard to ham it up next to that cast.

You played Jessica Lange’s lesbian assistant in Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers. Were your characters lovers?
Oh, I forgot that! Yeah, it was extremely nuanced, but they were totally lovers. I just saw her walking her dog on Fifth Avenue and she said “hi” to me, and I was so excited. Frances Farmer!

You also kissed girls in the Lemonheads video for “Big Gay Heart.” When lesbians hit on you, do you break their big gay hearts gently or shoot them down quick?
I have to shoot ’em down quick. [Laughs] They always want to buy me drinks, but I’ll be like, “Save your money. I get free drinks here.” It doesn’t happen all the time, but it may happen if I go to certain gay spots — like on Saturday night, when I was at this super-lesbo party [Choice Cunts] downstairs at Santos Party House. It was fun.

You’ve said that people thought you were a lesbian while growing up in Darien, Conn. Why do you think that was?
I was a tomboy and went through a lot of different phases. When you shave your head and pierce your nose during your junior year in high school, that’ll do it. But you didn’t need to do much back then.

In a 2000 New York Times profile, you said, “I’ve questioned issues of gender and sexuality since I was a teenager, and I did some experimenting.” Did you mind that some people branded you as “bisexual” after that?
There were a lot of articles that made reference to that, but at this point I couldn’t care less what people call me. I still kiss girls occasionally, but I wouldn’t say I was bisexual.

Could you ever see yourself in a relationship with a woman?
Probably not, no. I need more meat and potatoes — with more of the meat part, I guess. [Laughs]

When celebrities like Lady Gaga, Fergie, and Ke$ha have discussed being bisexual or having bisexual tendencies in recent interviews, they’ve often been accused of doing so just for attention or to seem cooler. Has bisexuality become fashionable in Hollywood?
No, I wouldn’t say it’s fashionable. You have a lot of gay power players, but when it comes down to it, Hollywood is more homophobic than anywhere else. And I would never say something like that just to seem more interesting — that’s just the reality of who I was — but our society is a lot more forgiving of women than it is of men when it comes to that sort of thing.

Some view Big Love’s portrayal of Mormon fundamentalist polygamists as a metaphor for all alternative families, gay marriage, and anyone who feels shoved in a closet by mainstream society — especially since Will Scheffer and Mark V. Olsen, the show’s creators and executive producers, are a gay couple. Do you see it that way?
I do, very much so, and you see that even more this season. It comes out really strong with the political issues we’re dealing with, and it’s really spelled out with what Alby’s going through right now.

A few days after the Golden Globes ceremony, when I discovered on Greginhollywood.com that the escort who stepped on your dress, Joe Everett Michaels, was gay, I thought, Great, another reason for people to hate us: As if our pesky demands for equal rights weren’t enough, now we’ve gone and ripped Chloë Sevigny’s Valentino!
Oh, geesh, I know. He actually found me in the ballroom afterward, came up to me, and was going on and on, like, “I’m so, so, so, so sorry!” The poor guy. Accidents happen, so of course I accepted his apology. You know, I had a feeling something was going to happen. I thought I was just going to stain the dress or that I was going to trip, but leave it to the gays! [Laughs]

[From The Advocate]

One of my biggest peeves is an actor who talks about what roles they got and what roles they didn’t. I find it rude. Maybe I’m in the minority there, and maybe I’m just hardwired to find Chloe annoying, but there it is. But I’ll say this for Chloe – she’s done so many roles that the GLTB community have embraced, she doesn’t even remember all of them. It’s kind of funny, and it makes me like her more.

Chloe Sevigny in NY on February 8, 2010, at a post-Globes party on January 15 and in LA on November 14, 2009. Credit: WENN.

Early in her career, I kind of liked Chloe Sevigny. I still think she’s a pretty underrated actress, but her personality sucks the big one. In interviews, she comes across as that too-cool-for-school, snotty, faux-hipster type, like Gwyneth Paltrow, only Chloe probably think Paltrow is a Goopy sellout. My opinion of Chloe changed the first time I ever read a significant interview with her, and I still remember the issue – May 2001, Harper’s Bazaar. She talked about how Gwyneth “wished” she was like JFK Jr’s wife Carolyn Bessette, and how Jennifer Lopez was fabulous in a “ghetto” way. All in all, she was funny because she was so stuck up her own ass (much like Gwyneth).

Since then, I’ve always been on the look out for other hilarious Chloe interviews, but they’re few and far between. Maybe her publicist realizes how badly Chloe comes across. Or maybe Chloe just thinks interviews are beneath her. In any case, I’m not going to pass up this gem – Chloe is the cover girl for the April issue of Elle UK. And the interview is just what I hoped for:

CHLOE Sevigny is looking better than ever – and says it’s all down to her rampant sex life. Fashionista Chloe Sevigny, who looks trim and toned in these brand new pictures, says her sex life is better than ever at the moment.

Asked how she manages to look so good she exclusively told Elle Magazine: “I’ve just started doing yoga three times a week. I feel strong and limber, and my sex drive is through the roof!”

But although the 35-year-old is happier than ever, she still hasn’t cracked the whole man thing.

She revealed: “‘Men are intimidated by me.”

“My friends say, ‘You have to find someone more famous and successful than you, or someone who’s so happy with their own life they can handle the attention you get.’”

“I want to be worshipped and adored, but then again I also love to be ignored. Hurgh! It’s the same old, same old.”

So is she worried about getting older?

“Getting older doesn’t bother me at all. Well, other than the baby pressure. I do want to have a baby,” she said.

[From OK Magazine UK]

I mean, right? I can see why men would be intimidated by her hyena laugh, her snotty attitude, her hipster slouch and the fact that she wants to be “worshipped and adored”. Why aren’t the guys lining up for that? Seriously?

Thanks to Litely Salted for the heads up!

Elle cover and additional pic courtesy of OK! Magazine UK.

E! is reporting that Big Love’s Chloe Sevigny and How I Met Your Mother’s Jason Segel were seen making out at the HBO Emmy party Sunday night. It seems totally random, doesn’t it? I’m starting to think Jason is a bit of a womanizer. Or he just has horrible taste in women. The last girl Jason was associated with semi-romantically in the press was Lindsay Lohan – Jason, Lindsay and Ali Lohan all went clubbing together not even two weeks ago. And now Jason has “ditched” the Lohans for Chloe? Well… at least Chloe has an Oscar nomination under her belt:

Is a romance brewing between How I Met Your Mother’s Jason Segel, 29, and 34-year-old Big Love star Chloë Sevigny?

The duo was looking awfully cozy at last night’s HBO Emmys party in West Hollywood…

At about midnight, Segel and Sevigny were spotted kissing in a corner of the party away from the main bar area. They stopped locking lips once they realized people were watching them.

While we don’t know if the maybe-couple shared the same ride home, they did head out of the party side-by-side, shortly after their smooch sesh was noticed.

Reps for both stars declined to comment on their clients’ personal lives.

[From E! Online]

It’s just… random. Not hot, but not disgusting either. I never would have put the two of them together. Why would I? Every interview I read with Chloe, she seems very bratty and obsessed with enforcing her indie-hipster cred. Meanwhile, Jason seems like an Everyday Doofus, albeit a doofus on a big, mainstream network hit. Chloe could do worse. So could Jason. Meh… they were probably so drunk they don’t even remember the makeout session.

The Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art held a ball last night to celebrate the opening of an exhibit on British design. Sienna Miller, wearing an awful gold sequined minidress and black tights, served as co-chair for the event.

The guy dressed like a cabaret pirate posing with Charlize Theron is Dior designer John Galiano. He’s responsible for her monstrosity of an Oscar gown with the giant shoulder bow. Sienna Miller is shown with Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s creative director.

We have over 100 pictures from the event. Stars and designers attending include Alexander McQueen, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, John Galliano, Charlize Theron, Lindsay Lohan, Victoria Beckham, Emmy Rossum, Eva Mendes, Gisele Bundchen, Gretchen Mol, Jessica Alba, Josh Hartnett, Lenny Kravitz, Donatella Versace, Rupert Everett, Linda Evangelista and Amber Valetta, Jessica Alba, Marcia Gay Harden, Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Melania Trump, Donald Trump, Molly Sims, Rosario Dawson, Scarlett Johansson, Stella McCartney, Amanda Peet, Andre Leon Talley, Naomi Campbell, Angela Lindvall, Angie Harmon, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Bridget Moynahan, Tom Brady, Chloe Sevigny, Ciara, Dita Von Teese and Marliyn Manson, Drew Barrymore, Elizabeth Hurley, Erin O’Connor, Matthew Williamson, Eve, Gina Gershon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ivana Trump, Jacquetta Wheeler, Jason Lewis, Jessica Stam, John Legend, Johnny Rotten, Josh Lucas, Joy Bryant, Julia Stegner, Iselin Steiro, Karolina Kurkova, Lily Cole, Lauren Bush, Lily Donaldson, Gemma Ward, Liv Tyler, Francisco Costa, Lydia Hearst, Mandy Moore, Minnie Driver, Nick Cannon, Petra Nemcova, Rachel Roy, Damon Dash, Ralph Fiennes, Richard Gere, Cary Lowell, Thandie Newton, Selma Blair, Shalom Harlow, Sienna Miller, Christopher Bailey, designer for Burberry, Zooey Deschanel, Sophie Dahl, Ivanka Trump, Mark Ruffalo, Taye Diggs, Idima Menzel, and Sarah Wynter.

Instead of fulfilling her dream to model for Karl Lagerfeld, Lohan will have to settle for snapping the fashion designer herself. She’s scheduled to take pictures of Lagerfeld for an upcoming issue of Interview magazine:

Lohan was passed up for a fashion contract by Lagerfeld for being too young, and is said to be desperate to get a high-end fashion endorsement deal. At least she has a sense of humor about it, but it seems rather lame that she’s going to take pictures of Lagerfeld.

Lohan has a lot of projects coming up and will eventually star in a “dark comedy” called Georgia Rule with Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman. The movie has yet to be written.

Here are Lohan and Lagerfeld at an art opening for Visionaire magazine last night in NY. Also shown are Cher, Michael Stipe and Chloe Sevigny. Sevigny needs to get her eyebrows and hair done.