How has The Incident (the arrest of husband Hugh Grant
after he was caught in the act with a Los Angeles prostitute) affected you?
My professional commitments are in no way affected by my private life. If anything, I'll
be working harder and with renewed vigor. I'll continue to run Simian Films, and my work
with Estée Lauder is forging ahead.
Why is your movie development company called Simian Films?
Because Hugh looks like a chimpanzee.
When you were young you had twelve piercings in your ears and one in your
nose. What does Estée Lauder think about all this?
(looks in the mirror) As a matter of fact, you can see them going up my ear, and you can
see through my nose as well. But I think they took that on the chin, and we have a very
good makeup artist working with us who can disguise anything. And I mean anything.
You and Hugh once said you feel like brother and
sister. How sexy is that?
We do have a passionate friendship, because I couldn't stand being with someone for more
than twenty minutes if I didn't actually like or passionately dislike them. When I'm with
my sister we can scream at each other in the most irrational way and it doesn't matter,
because it's unquestionable that we love each other. And that's how I feel with Hugh. I
think it's knowing yourself and knowing who you want to be with at the end of the day.
When you are apart, that's tested all the time. I don't personally want to see Hugh -- or
anyone -- every minute of every day. It would drive me nuts.
Which of the seven deadly sins are you guilty of?
Can I even name them all? Lust, greed, avarice, gluttony -- so far, guilty
of all four. Envy, sloth -- guilty. I wonder if I'm guilty of the seventh?
If you had nine lives to live, how would you live them?
Well, I'd be as wicked as possible with the first eight but incredibly good in the last
one so I could go to heaven.
What's your favorite weapon?
Poison. (laughs) Oh, I don't know, 'cause I'd like quite a few and I think I'd be quite
good with all of them. Sword -- yes, please. Gun -- definitely. Poison -- of course, it's
camp. What else? Rope, scalding irons...
Who would you use them on?
Oh, there's a list, people to torture in another life. In fact, of my nine lives
"torturer" would be one of them.
One British paper said that you inspire "one part
adoration and one part fear in even the sanest of men."
I like being with people who keep me on my toes, so I like to keep people on their toes as
well. I don't like to think that I go through life terrifying everybody I meet, but it can
lighten up an evening sometimes.
Would you rather be adored or feared?
Well, by people I do business with I should think a nice combination of the two, but
tipping slightly in favor of fear. I wouldn't mind being thought enchanting by everyone I
meet, but adored? It doesn't conjure up a sexy image to say you're adorable. It makes you
sound like a teddy bear.
The New York Times described you as "pretty, not
quite beautiful, with creamy skin that had tiny crinkles around the eyes."
(grins, looks around, then in the mirror) More Advanced Night Repair needed!
Do you subscribe to the culture of buffdom?
What the devil's that?
Staying buff, going to the gym, working out.
(affronted) No, I'm afraid I don't. I personally don't like bodies that go to the gym. It
does nothing for me to go on the StairMaster -- it just makes me angry because I'd rather
do something else. I think it's very attractive if someone looks fit and healthy, like
they play tennis or do the gardening or ride a horse -- that I respect. I'm very bad at
playing tennis. I do ride horses. I can't walk for a week afterward, but I feel a better
girl when I've done it.
You play a heroin addict in Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
How did you prepare for it?
My character just wanted to go to work each day thinking "Life's not so bad, it's
fine now." And to me that's more interesting than people swooping around all over the
place and shivering and shaking. To prepare I went to N.A. meetings and hung out with
people who are doing heroin. I didn't feel the need to go shoot up myself.
So you didn't try shooting up water, like Matt Dillon
did for Drugstore Cowboy ?
(incredulously) Jesus Christ! I don't think you should put water into your veins. It's a
hideous idea! I'm glad he didn't give himself an air bubble and finish himself off! Tell
me about your punky past. When I was sixteen -- this was about 1981, '82 -- the thing to
be in Basingstoke, the suburb I grew up in, was punk. Which, as any hip person will tell
you, was way past its sell-by date. But the thing to do was to have a pierced nose and
spiky hair. And I loved the music. Still do.
Which member of the Clash did you fancy?
(enthusiastically) Well, do you know I had a crush on all of them? Joe Simonon, I suppose,
was the most beautiful.
Paul Simonon.
Paul Simonon. Joe Strummer? Very sexy. And Mick Jones was quite cute, too. I used to like
him in Big Audio Dynamite. I suppose Paul was the pretty one, but I always thought Joe
Strummer had a verrry sexy voice. He sounded like a Rasta woman.
You have said you find sadness attractive.
I like people who look as if something's happened to them. And I don't mean fake
vulnerability, which makes me want to vomit. It's just like talking to someone: There can
be a very pretty piece of beefcake sitting there, or someone slightly more interesting.
And I'd go for the slightly more interesting every time.
-- adapted from Details, September1995