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THE NICOLE KIDMAN OF DOWNTOWNMickey Boardman & Chloe Sevigny / Paper / October 2003
I'd always dreamed of being an actress from the day I was born. I went to summer theater camp at the YMCA and was the lead in every musical we ever did. I was Annie in Annie Get Your Gun, Aunt Eller in Oklahoma! What I wanted to do was Broadway. But when I got older, I quit acting and became a pothead and a disaffected youth. I was a normal teenager, only more disaffected. When Paper first shot me, it was my first year out of high school and Rita Ackerman was my best friend. It was right when X-Girl [Kim Gordon's clothing label] was coming out and girl power was in. I was so thrilled because I thought Paper was really cool. In high school I used to read it and be like, "Wow, those guys are so cool," so I was really flattered. Kids happened after I'd followed a boy out to San Francisco. I hated it there. It's too clean. I was like, "Drop me off in the dirtiest part of town and just leave me there!" Plus, I was underage so I couldn't do anything, and I'd been going to clubs every night. So I called Harmony [Korine], because we were friends and talked all the time, and he said, "The movie's going to happen. You should come home, and I'll put you in it." It was the perfect excuse to get out of San Francisco. I was cast in a really small part, and two days before shooting, he decided to hire me as the main girl. At that point, I really wanted to be an actress, but it seemed really daunting and impossible. Now that I'm older, I feel like I'm a more confident person. I used to be more insecure. I've made mostly good choices in my career and tried to keep my integrity. I'm proud of all the films I've been in, and that's a good thing to be able to say. Early in my career, I dug my own grave in a sense: "She wouldn't do that because she's too arty." I've always been an arty kid. But I'd like the opportunity to work in a more commercial capacity. I'll have some breakout role. People think of me as the character in Boys Don't Cry, and meanwhile I'm from Darien, Connecticut. 
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