Kathleen
Robertson: Lucifer or Angel?
by Jack Baric
You know her as Claire, Steve Sander's feisty girlfriend on Beverly Hills,
90210. But Kathleen Robertson has another side that she would like you
to see, a side named Lucifer.
Heaven forbid that one of Spelling's angels get caught on the wrong
side of the tracks, but that's exactly what Kathleen opted to do when she
agreed to star as Lucifer, the purple haired lesbian, in the final installment
of director Gregg Araki's teen apocalypse trilogy, Nowhere. Described as
an "90210 episode on acid," Nowhere takes you on a wild ride through the
uderbelly of teen life. Stylishly shot, the film brings new meaning to
sex, drugs, rock and roll. It's more like sex, drugs and alien abductions
go see it, you'll understand.
For Kathleen, a nice 22 year old girl raised in a conservative house
in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, it's quite a departure from the sanitized
world of 90210. It's a risk she's willing to take. As proof that she is
ready to move on in her career, Kathleen decided not to return for another
season of the hit show.
As our interview started in the late afternoon, Kathleen munched on
a slice of pizza, her first meal of the day. I found her to be warm and
charming, but not in the overbearing way that is so common of people in
her profession.
Kathleen: Before we start, do I have pizza in my teeth? (laughs)
Jack: No. Do I have Kentucky Fried Chicken in my teeth?
Kathleen: (laughs) No.
Jack: So they describe the movie as 90210 on acid. Was it a
good trip or bad trip?
Kathleen: I don't know, actually, I've never done acid. (both
laugh) But, um, I would say the whole movie has this sort of hallucinogenic
effect. It's extremely stylized and it's sort of hyper-reality.
Jack: How was it making it?
Kathleen: The cast was all young and everybody was there for
the right reason. It's always great working on something where everybody
makes the same, which is like sixty bucks, you know what I mean? And everybody's
working like twelve, thirteen hours, but everybody wants to be there. We
all kind of had to share trailers and it was just a totally great experience.
It was so much fun.
Jack: Gregg's (director, Gregg Araki) such a fan of pop culture,
are you a fan of pop culture yourself?
Kathleen: Definitely not, um, I'm hugely inspired by photography
and by music much more than, say film or television. I don't watch television.
Jack: You didn't watch television growing up much?
Kathleen: Mmm, maybe Three's Company a little. (laughs) No,
I watched it growing up definitely, but now I just, um, there isn't really
much on television that I like.
Jack: Is it weird being a part of pop culture?
Kathleen: I don't know, I don't consider myself to be. Am I?
Jack: Sure. 90210? Are you kidding? 90210's gonna be, like in
ten years, the Brady Bunch for the next generation.
Kathleen: Ohhh (laughs) so when I'm walking around in a cane,
people will be, "cool, 90210." (laughs) That's scary. And I'll be doing
cameos in movies like Gregg's. (both laugh)
Jack: So you don't get that feeling, that you are a part of
pop culture?
Kathleen: No. I don't. When I (first) did the show, it was just
initially for five episodes. It was supposed to be five episodes and then
gone. And then when they asked me to be a regular for two years, I had
to sign a two-year contract, I was totally freaked out. I just didn't know
if I wanted to do it. It was such a big commitment, but I kind of thought,
like you were saying, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If I did
the show for two years and then I never do anything again... (laughs) You
know what I mean. It's just a sort of this weird phenomenon.
Jack: I mean, as an example, I have cousins in Zagreb, Croatia
who know who you are. The other question I was gonna ask you is, you said
you were influenced by music, what kind of music? Like what bands, what
type of music?
Kathleen: I'm a huge, huge, huge music fan. I collect CD's and
tons of like rare imported B-side stuff. God, I'd list millions of bands.
Jack: I haven't heard the Nowhere soundtrack, but the Doom Generation
(Araki's last film) soundtrack was awesome.
Kathleen: Well, the Nowhere soundtrack is even better. It's
so great. Most of the bands on the Nowhere soundtrack are like my favorite
bands. Like Suede, and...
Jack: There's a Suede story in the same issue as this.
Kathleen: Oh really? Gregg did a video for them. It's the song
"Trash," it's the first single off their album and that song is in the
movie.
Jack: Do you tend more toward guitars, or more toward DJ's,
underground, or punk rock or....
Kathleen: Well I'm starting to get really into this ambient
stuff. I'm really getting into stuff like Aphex Twin and Orb. Gregg went
and saw the Orb last night. He said it was so great.
Jack: I've always been more of a guitar and drums, rock guy.
But then actually, I re-discovered my youth. I forgot that I did like stuff
like New Order...
Kathleen: I love New Order.
Jack: I'd completely forgotten that I ever liked that stuff
until this whole new wave of dance music started happening and it re-awakened
me to all that. Do you go dancing in LA?
Kathleen: No, I don't.
Jack: Why not?
Kathleen: I don't go out to places like that (laughs) I don't
go, I do....
Jack: I'm not going to see you on Hard Copy, "YOUNG ACTORS ON
THE SUNSET STRIP!!!"
Kathleen: No, I don't go out here at all. But when I go home,
I'm Canadian, I sometimes go out with my friends there. Because there's
a couple of really cool warehouse clubs.
Jack: There's cool warehouse clubs in LA.
Kathleen: I guess. I just don't, I don't know, I just find that
when I'm I here I just always work and after work I don't feel like going
out. On the weekends I just go to the movies, just stuff like that. (pause)
I'm not totally against doing it, (Jack laughs) but I don't really have
any friends that I would go with. I like have only one friend here.
Jack: Is it tough to make friends here?
Kathleen: Yeah, I think. I've met maybe two people since I lived
here that I would want to be friends with.
Jack: Do you think it would be easier to make friends if you
weren't on a hit show?
Kathleen: No. I don't think it has anything to do with that.
Jack: No?
Kathleen: Unless you're one of those kind of people that loves
to go out, go to clubs, and hang out with sort of like pseudo friends,
but I'm not like that. My best friend, we've been best friends since we
were five and she's going to come live with me as soon as she gets back
from England. Also, I'm super close to my family. My sisters are like my
best friends too. So I've never been the type of person to have a lot of
friends.
Jack: How many sisters do you have?
Kathleen: Two older sisters.
Jack: Oh, older sisters. So you're the baby.
Kathleen: Yeah. (laughs) The spoiled baby.
Jack: I imagine you're the only actress in the family.
Kathleen: Yeah. Nobody in my family's an actor.
Jack: How did that happen?
Kathleen: Well, I started acting in Toronto when I was ten.
I did a bunch of stuff for the National Film Board and stuff like that.
I just always wanted to do it and my parents didn't have any idea why or
how I was going to do it, because growing up in a small town no one did
it. No one knew how to be an actor, so a lot of it was just luck starting
out, sort of getting a movie, someone seeing that movie and then getting
another thing.
Jack: So are you gonna just do your thing and then eventually
move back to Canada?
Kathleen: I don't know. I've left the show.
Jack: You have?
Kathleen: Yes.
Jack: When?
Kathleen: I'm on until up to the end of this season and then
I won't be doing the show next year.
Jack: Is there gonna be like a cliff-hanger where they kill
you off?
Kathleen: No, I do not get killed. But we've shot it already.
We're done. I just don't want to do a series for a while because I did
a series in Canada before I moved here for three years. I've been on a
series for like six years. I just don't want to do a series any more.
Jack: So you're just gonna go out and look for feature roles?
Kathleen: Yeah, just stuff like Nowhere that's totally different
and really fun to work on.
Jack: The movie sort of pushes the envelope. Do you feel reticent
showing it to your family?
Kathleen: Um, (pause) no, I don't think so. I think I would
let them see it. (laughs)
Jack: (laughing) I didn't ask if you would let them see it.
I mean, would you be comfortable sitting on the couch with them watching
it?
Kathleen: Mm, I'm not sure. I'd have to think about it. I don't
know. I mean they've seen Doom Generation. They rented it.
Jack: Oh, they did? Because you're going to be in this one though.
(she nods) They probably wouldn't have rented it had....
Kathleen: No.
Jack: I mean, I'm just, my parents are probably as conservative
as they come.
Kathleen: They rented it because they knew I was going to be
in this one.
Jack: Okay, let's use that as an example. How did they feel
about their little girl being in a film that was...
Kathleen: Oh, they were freaked out.
Jack: Were they?
Kathleen: They were like, "is this movie the same?" Like Rose
(McGowan) is naked...
Jack: Why is that? Was that a conscious choice by Gregg?
Kathleen: Yeah. Gregg wanted this movie to be PG-13. He tried
really hard. The movie is weird that way. People leave the movie thinking,
"Oh, it's like crazy nudity." There's no nudity in the movie. We were not
allowed to swear. It was a conscious sort of choice to push the envelope
in a different way. Instead of having the typical sort of nudity like oh
fuck this, fuck that. We had to come up with new words, which is much more
interesting than the same ol' shit.
Jack: But, it is gonna get an R though, huh?
Kathleen: Yeah, it's R.
Jack digs into his bag and pulls out a toy spin the wheel.
The categories which the arrow can point at are; Dream, Angel, Lover, Saint,
Child, Sinner, Mother, and Tease.
Jack: This is a toy that was sent to us by Capitol Records. You
know that song by Meredith Brooks, I'm a bitch, I'm a this and a that,
it sounds like Alanis.
Kathleen: Yeah, the new song.
Jack: We have a couple in the office and we make everybody spin
it and post what they are. Now, before you spin it, this is the one that
came to me, which is child, which everybody thought perfect. Before you
spin it, which one of these would describe you?
Kathleen: These words are supposed to describe what type of
personality you have? (Jack nods) Okay, so which of these would be me?
Jack: Yeah.
Kathleen: Let's see. (pause) Mmm, interesting. It's so easy
to say no, no, no.
Jack: Which ones are no? Let's narrow it down.
Kathleen: Definite no to saint, definitely no to child, no to
sinner, (Jack laughs) um...
Jack: That's what I'm trying to get out of you. (laughs)
Kathleen: I would have to say, maybe... well, what would lover
mean? Someone that's just really loving? Idealistic about love? If lover
means idealistic and very into being in love, that would apply.
Jack: So you're a romantic?
Kathleen: Very.
Jack: Go ahead and spin it. Let's see what happens.
She spins.
Kathleen: (smiles, pleased) Ohhhhh.
She shows the arrow. It's pointing at Angel. Both burst out
laughing.
