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Paul Dale discovers what drew Chloe Sevigny to her latest role and why she has finally accepted she will never be rich
ritncy and Madonna. you may want to
take note. That young kook Chloe
Sevigny shaved her head while she was still in high school and had a contract with H&M before she was out of her teens. It seems there is not much that this remarkable young actress hasn‘t already set a template for. From her role as the HIV-infected heroine in Larry Clark‘s Kids through her infamous fellatio scene in The Brown Bunny to playing a polygamous wife of a Mormon sect member in Big Love. Sevigny has cleaved to the offbeat. the tangential and the oblique.
‘Most of the films I‘ve decided to do I‘ve chosen because of the director. Perhaps now I should focus on finding meatier roles.‘ she says. ‘I always feel like it's a collective when you‘re making a movie. It's a collaboration between hundreds of people that are all doing their little bits. And Fm okay to play the little supporting part as long as it serves the good of the movie and it‘s a great director or a great script or something I‘m really excited about.‘
Which explains why Sevigny accepted a part in Zodim'. director David Fincher's true crime thriller, which. at first glance. doesn‘t seem an
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obvious choice for the 32-year-old actress. Fincher. the man behind Se7en. Panic Room. Fig/II Club and Aliens 3. was growing up in San Francisco when the Zodiac killer was terrorising the area. He describes making the film as a ‘massive personal undertaking‘ to tell the true story of one of America‘s most notorious serial killers who taunted police authorities in four jurisdictions with his handwritten ciphers and letters to the San Francisco Chronicle in the (30s. 70s and 80s.
Zodiac stars Jake (iyllenhaal as real life San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith who. along with three other men (played by Robert Downey Jr. Mark Ruffan and Iz'R‘s Anthony Edwards). became obsessed with capturing the killer. to the detriment of their own health. Sevigny plays Gyllenhaal‘s dour but strong wife Melanie.
‘I read Zodiac the book before we started shooting. It was frightening. sitting at home alone reading these hon‘ible crime scenes.
‘What I like about Melanie is the respect she had for her husband. And even though she couldn‘t agree with what he was doing she respected him enough to let him do it. She was probably kind of interested in what her husband was into and learning about it. but ultimately he was putting their lives in danger for the sake of what? What is he going to get out of this'.’ Why is he obsessed with this‘.’ Is he going to bring him down'.’ He’s not going through the regular channels and that's part of the frustration of the movie.‘
Sevigny is the first to admit that masters of what can best be described as ‘effortless
Clockwise from top left: Sevigny in Boys Don’t Cry; Broken Flowers; Big Love; and scenes from serial killer thriller Zodiac in which she stars alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Buffalo and Anthony Edwards