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By Veronica Mixon
June 22, 2002
When Lara Flynn Boyle enters the room, her startling
beauty elicits small gasps. The rail-thin actress
wears a pink and white vintage Pucci silk top
and tight white jeans capped by shoulder-length
black hair. She looks at you directly with her
blue eyes and proceeds to entertain everyone in
the room. Smart, witty and extremely ambitious,
the 32-year-old actress boldly promotes her latest
movie, the Will Smith-Tom Lee Jones sequel, Men
in Black II and herself!
Ms. Boyle first captured the public's attention
in David Lynch's dazzling TV series, Twin Peaks
and like many of the young cast, she continued
to deliver unforgettable performances in movies
regardless of their success. In "Mobsters,"
she was a doomed gangster's moll, in Equinox,
a sexually frustrated wife, in Red Rock,
a scheming wife," a relentless psycho in The
Temp and a bored novelist in Happiness.
Currently, Ms. Boyle appears on the popular television
series, "The Practice" as the ambitious
assistant district attorney, Helen Gamble but
it is her personal life that has garnered most
of the recent headlines. While dating comic actor,
David Spade Ms. Boyle was involved in a fender
bender and it was revealed that she was dating
Jack Nicholson who is twice her age. That relationship
has been on and off for the last couple of years,
however, Ms. Boyle remains determined to work
and enjoy life. She met every question with wit
and honesty.
THE INTERVIEW
Everyone is talking about how tiny and small
you are.
Yessss! [Pauses] As long as they're talking!
Let's talk about your breasts in this movie.
Yes! Someone said to me, where did the pull that
cleave up - from your knees? I said that's right!
How did you pee in that tight costume?
You can't pee. I eliminated liquids and I was
able to get out of some of my costume to do that
at lunchtime. I had an hour and it took just about
that long to get in and out of it. It was awful!
We'd get to a point in the day when I started
to [she starts squirming in her seat.] All of
that villain bitchiness - that was just me because
I had to go to the bathroom.
How did you deal with a character when you
suddenly have big breasts to contend with?
It was fantastic! You know, I have to tell you
I was playing it - what is it like to play an
alien that morphs into a super model. Well, basically
it's a piece of cake. Here I am a scrawny girl
and I got to play this character where they gave
me big boobs and all this. So, it was new to me.
I was in love with them. Barry Sonnenfeld said
you kept adjusting them. I did! He'd scream pull
up the boobs!
Did you think this could be a look for the
future?
I think many women have set that path already.
I'd like to be a trendsetter not a trend follower.
When did you start shooting it?
I came on two days before the film started shooting.
That was actually better for me. You know, ignorance
is bliss. It's better for me to just go into something.
I'd auditioned for Barry.
There was no pressure right?
No, big deal! I wanted to make sure that it was
very simple and I didn't want to overact. That
was my main goal and Barry said, I think this
will come very naturally to you.
Have you auditioned for a lot of movies during
your hiatus from The Practice?
No, I haven't. I do a movie every year but it
doesn't mean you see them. I have no idea what
happens to them.
Happiness is the last thing
that I remember seeing you in. Is it frustrating?
It use to be but here's the thing. I've got to
work. I love to act. When the show goes on hiatus,
I do something every year. It's out of my control
whether it will be seen. So I keep it very simple.
I want to do good scenes with good scene partners
and hopefully, luck is on my side and someone
will actually see it.
But you're TV show is so good and you've maintained
that level.
It's a classic. After two years, it becomes a
classic. It's really hard to maintain importance,
you know. To drive into work and know that you've
got a ten page closing argument and you've done
it for five or six years. First of all, it's the
hardest hours for an actor. It's the longest and
the most homework. It's talking heads - it's all
dialog. Actors are compensated very nicely and
they're compensated really nicely in television
doing this. Part of the reason other than it's
just a great gig, they're paid so nicely, myself
included, is to maintain that importance and to
not just to walk through it. That's true of any
job - even writing - to keep it fresh.
Do you ever feel like an attorney?
Well, I'm very opinionated as it is. And, I always
think I'm right. So, being that opinionated, always
thinking I'm right and being an actress - I am
a lawyer.
Where did you grow up in Chicago?
First I lived in Rodgers Park but I had to leave
because I was getting beat up. The kids in school
use to beat me up.
Why did they beat you up?
I couldn't read. I'm dyslexic. Then my mother
and I moved to Lincoln Park and lived in Bachelor
apartment. I could go to the School of Performing
Arts. It's expensive there. It was the two of
us. I was on full scholarship and she worked three
jobs.
Where's your mother now?
She's in California. She's my life force. She
worked hard.
But didn't you also work hard. I read somewhere
that you swept highways.
No, I use to do worse. I use to shovel up dead
rats. We had to move in this one building in Wrigleyville
and in order to get rent taken off, she was the
manager of the building. And, in the summer, like
in any city - even Beverly Hills has rats - she
had to set out rat bait before she went to work
in the morning and I had to shove up the rats.
Oh, my! Weren't you scared?
Yeah!!
How old were you?
I was a freshman and sophomore in high school.
Was it good training for going into show business?
Everywhere there are rats. I have a little tiny
house but it's perfect for me in Beverly Hills.
And, sure enough, last summer there was a dead
rat on the side of the house and I called my mother
and said, I'm never shoveling another rat. I'll
pay whatever it cost to get someone here and she
said, I understand. I'm on my way over. So, you
really appreciate what you've accomplished. Oh,
yeah! I live in Beverly Hills and I'm a one hundred
percent Chicago. And, every time when I drive
up to my house, I see the postcard palm trees
and I'm grateful for it.
What does Lara Flynn Boyle not have?
Nothing! [Laughs]
Do you want a kid and a husband one day?
No! No? I would love a companion and I think
companionship is something we all should have.
I don't think women can have it all successfully.
So you think Kate Hepburn was right?
I want to act my whole life. I'm very fortunate
to have a career in the process.
Why don't you think women can have it all?
Because they can't!
So, you made a conscious decision - career
first.
Oh, absolutely! Acting first.
No regrets?
No! My mother raised me never bank on anyone
else to do something for you. Anything you want,
you've got to really go and get it. I lived a
good life and I did it to get here all by myself
- and you know what, it's twice as great.
Does your single-mindedness about your career
intimidate any perspective companions?
Absolutely! It weeds out the riffraff! One of
my first jobs was "Poltergeist III" and I said
'Hi Ferris' in "Ferris Beuller." My first make
out kiss was probably in the "Twin Peaks" pilot
with James Marshall, a very nice guy.
Did you have a horror scene with a guy - like
bad breath?
[Laughs] Well, I'd like to keep working. It's
not a very smart thing for actresses to in any
way to speak negatively about people that they've
had to do that with so it's all been beautiful.
Would you ever do a tell-all book?
I might.
Why not?
If I felt like it.
What would you call it?
Me, Me, Me, Me!
Not, The Rats I've known?
See, that wouldn't be me. It would be them. Put
it back on me!
Would you do anything surgically to maintain
your good looks?
That's a hard question because of course I want
to continue to get good roles. But, as a woman
ages on camera, the roles get less and less. I
don't care if the part calls for it, the mother
of a fifty-year-old man, they want a thirty-year-old
woman to play it. So, you know, I'm not a fan
of severely altering what God gave us, but I am
a fan of anti-aging. So, I cannot answer that
honestly until I'm in my forties. Of course, I
resent it. Every year, People puts out that issue
of Who is the Sexiest Man and there are men who
are 40s, 50s and 60s. There is never a woman who
is on it and she's past 40.
Do young women date older men? In the movies,
they make it look like that.
Every rich older man has a young girl friend.
What do you think about older women dating
younger men?
Terrific! They're a little quicker taking out
the garbage - that's about it.
Can you give us a scoop about the show? How
much longer with The Practice?
I'll have The Practice as long as they'll
have me. They don't tell me anything and if any
cast members did know, they wouldn't tell me.
I'll tell anything.
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