Chloë Sevigny

Chloë Sevigny

Chloë Stevens Sevigny (born November 18, 1974) is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe-nominated American actress and former model. Sevigny became known for her fashion career and starred in a string of critically acclaimed independent films in the 1990s before her first mainstream role as Brandon Teena's girlfriend, Lana Tisdel, in Boys Don't Cry. For her role, Sevigny received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress.

Sevigny has continued acting in mostly independent, but critically acclaimed roles in art house films and has recently enjoyed success playing Nicki Grant, on the American television series Big Love, playing a woman married to a polygamist.

Sevigny was born in Darien, Connecticut, the daughter of Janine (née Malinowski) and H. David Sevigny, an accountant turned interior painter. Sevigny's mother is a Polish American who grew up in Roxborough and her father is of French Canadian heritage; he died from cancer in 1996. She has an older sibling, Paul, who is now a New York DJ. Sevigny was raised in a strict Catholic household, and attended Darien High School. While in high school, she babysat Topher Grace on several occasions.

Sevigny moved into her own apartment at age 18 in Brooklyn. Here, in 1993, after hanging out with Manhattan skateboarders, she was spotted on an East Village street by a fashion editor of Sassy Magazine, who was so impressed by Sevigny's style that she asked her to intern at the magazine. She later modeled in the magazine as well as for x-girl, the fashion label of Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. During that time, author Jay McInerney saw her around New York City and wrote a seven-page article about her for The New Yorker, in which he dubbed her the new "it-girl". She appeared on the album cover of The Gigolo Aunts' 1994 recording Flippin' Out.

Sevigny made her film debut in the controversial low-budget independent film Kids (1995), directed by Larry Clark and written by independent filmmaker Harmony Korine. The film was given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA for its graphic depiction of sexuality and drug use involving teenagers. Sevigny followed Kids with the independent film Trees Lounge (1996), starring as the object of Steve Buscemi's affection. Sevigny then starred in and worked as a fashion designer on Gummo (1997), directed and written by Harmony Korine. The film details the dysfunctional lives of residents of Xenia, Ohio. She then starred in the 1998 neo-noir thriller Palmetto, directed by Volker Schlöndorff. She then had a leading role in The Last Days of Disco (1998), alongside Kate Beckinsale.

Sevigny rose to prominence after playing Lana Tisdel in Boys Don't Cry (1999), a biopic of transman Brandon Teena, who was raped and murdered in 1993. The role won Sevigny Best Supporting Actress nominations for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Sevigny also won an Independent Spirit Award for her role.

Sevigny then had a supporting role in American Psycho (2000), as well as teaming up with Kids writer and Gummo director Harmony Korine once again for the experimental piece Julien Donkey-Boy (1999) and A Map of the World (1999). Afterward she co-starred in one of the three stories in the Emmy Award-winning television movie If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000), pairing up with Michelle Williams as unlikely young lovers. Sevigny here plays a butch lesbian who struggles to fit in the feminist scene in the 1970s. Following this appearance, she had small roles in Demonlover (2002), Party Monster (2003), Death of a Dynasty (2003), and Dogville (2003).

After Winona Ryder and Kirsten Dunst both turned down roles in The Brown Bunny (2003), Sevigny took on the lead female role. The film is controversial for its final scene, which involves an act of unsimulated fellatio performed to climax by Sevigny on co-star and director Vincent Gallo, who was rumored to be her boyfriend at the time, though Gallo states they were "less than friends". She said about the role: "I knew people would not understand it. It's a shame people write so many things when they haven't seen it. When you see the film, it makes more sense. It's an art film. It should be playing in museums. It's like an Andy Warhol movie." After the film's release, the William Morris Agency dropped Sevigny as a client.

In 2006, Sevigny co-starred in the HBO television series Big Love, about a family of polygamists. She plays the conniving, shopaholic daughter of a cult leader and second wife to a polygamist husband. She also had roles in Catherine and Peter, scheduled for 2008, and Zodiac, which was released in early 2007.

Sevigny has modeled for a number of designers and brands, including Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, H&M, and MAC Cosmetics. In October 2007 the French fashion house Chloé announced that she would be one of the spokesmodels for their new fragrance. In addition, she has been in a number of cover photo shoots and interviews, such as in the January 2007 issue of House and Garden entitled "Subversive Spirit". Sevigny is currently releasing a clothing line in conjunction with downtown New York City boutique Opening Ceremony, which is expected to open in mid 2008. She also starred in Smog's 2006 film clip for "Mother of the World".

More recently Sevigny starred in the video to Beck's 'Gamma Ray'.

Sevigny currently owns an apartment in East Village, Manhattan, which she bought for $1.2 million in 2006.

Sevigny became romantically involved in her teenage years with filmmaker/director Harmony Korine. Sevigny has been romantically linked to the actor Vincent Gallo and musician Matt McAuley of the group A.R.E. Weapons. Sevigny has also stated in regards to her sexual orientation: "I've questioned issues of gender and sexuality since I was a teenager, and I did some experimenting." She continued "I always ended up getting involved with my close girlfriends, and that was really bad ... I love women -- they're beautiful. What more can I say?".

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Trees Lounge

Trees Lounge is the 1996 feature film debut as writer and director by Steve Buscemi. It was produced by Brad Wyman and Chris Hanley and features a large ensemble cast of actors, including Buscemi who would later direct HBO's The Sopranos. It also features Anthony LaPaglia, Chloë Sevigny and Samuel L. Jackson.

It was filmed in Glendale, Queens, Brooklyn, and Valley Stream, New York.

The film follows Tommy Basilio (Buscemi), a 30 year-old alcoholic and fixture at the local bar, Trees Lounge, who begins to float after losing his girlfriend of 8 years and his job as a mechanic as he figures out how to deal with the mistakes he's made in his life which he is forced to face every day.

Despite the often dark subject matter, the film has its lighthearted moments, and shows its deeply flawed characters in a more or less sympathetic light.

Trees Lounge earned Buscemi nominations for Best First Screenplay as well as Best First Feature (along with producers Brad Wyman and Chris Wyman) at the 1997 Independent Spirit Awards, though it won neither.

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Hanna Rosin

Hanna Rosin is an American journalist. She has written for the Washington Post, The New Yorker, GQ and New York after beginning her career as a staff writer for The New Republic. Rosin has also appeared on Comedy Central's The Daily Show and Air America's The Majority Report. A character portrayed by actress Chloë Sevigny in the movie Shattered Glass about Rosin's colleague at The New Republic, Stephen Glass, was loosely based on Rosin.

Rosin is the author of God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America (ISBN 978-0-15-101262-6), published in September 2007. Based on a New Yorker story, the book follows several young Christians at Patrick Henry College, a new evangelical institution that teaches its students to "shape the culture and take back the nation." Rosin's portrayals of the students are part of a larger attempt to chronicle the cultural and political history of the modern Christian right.

Rosin has specialized in writing about religious-political issues, in particular the influence of evangelical Christians on the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign. She is married to journalist David Plotz; they live in Washington, D.C. with their three children. She graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1987, where she won a number of competitions on the debate team.

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Death of a Dynasty

Death of a Dynasty is a comedy film first screened in 2003 (see 2003 in film). It is a satire of the hip hop music industry centered around Roc-A-Fella Records, and stars Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Capone and Damon Dash. It also features cameo appearances by musicians, actors and celebrities such as Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Chloë Sevigny and Carson Daly. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2003 and was also shown at the Cannes Film Festival, but it was not released to theatres in the United States until 2005 (see 2005 in film). It was co-produced by Roc-A-Fella Films and distributed by TLA Releasing. Damon Dash directed the film and Adam Moreno wrote its screenplay.

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Disco Bloodbath

Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland is a 1999 memoir written by James St. James about his life as a Manhattan celebutante and club kid. The book specifically chronicles his friend Michael Alig's rise to fame and his subsequent murder of fellow club kid and drug dealer Angel Melendez. St. James was Alig's mentor in the scene and was familiar with many of its key figures. The memoir was later renamed Party Monster after the motion picture of that name starring Macaulay Culkin, Seth Green, Chloë Sevigny and Marilyn Manson.

Disco Bloodbath has since gone out of print and often goes for several hundred dollars in auctions. It was only available in hardcover; however, Party Monster paperbacks are available. ISBN 0-684-85764-2.

Michael Alig was a member of the notorious Club Kids, a group of young clubgoers led by Alig in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1996 Alig was convicted of the murder of Andre "Angel" Melendez in a confrontation over a drug debt.

James St. James (born James Clark) was a Club Kid of the Manhattan club scene in the late 1980s/early 1990s and the author of the book. He was notorious for a lifestyle of excess that included heavy drug use, partying, and bizarre costumes.

Andre Melendez, better known as Angel Melendez, was a Club Kid and drug dealer who lived and worked in New York City. Melendez and his family arrived in New York from Colombia when Melendez was eight years old. Melendez became a drug dealer during the early 1990s after he met Peter Gatien, owner of the Limelight Club in New York. Melendez became a regular dealer in Gatien's clubs. He was frequently seen at Manhattan clubs wearing his trademark feathered wings.

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Manderlay

Manderlay is the 2005 sequel to the film Dogville. It is the second part of Lars von Trier's USA - Land of Opportunities trilogy. Bryce Dallas Howard replaces Nicole Kidman in the role of Grace Mullington. The film co-stars Willem Dafoe, replacing James Caan. Lauren Bacall and Chloë Sevigny return portraying different characters than those in Dogville.

The staging is very similar to Dogville. The film was shot on a sparsely dressed sound stage. As in the case of Dogville, Manderlay's action is confined to a small geographic area, in this case a plantation.

The principal seven divisions are each populated by a single adult slave at Manderlay, who congregate daily and converse on a "parade ground," with roman numerals of the numbers 1 through 7 designating where each slave stands. "Mam's Law" contains further provisions against the use of cash by slaves, or the felling of trees on the property for timber.

All of this information disgusts Grace, and inspires her to take charge of the plantation in order to punish the slave owners and prepare the slaves for life as free individuals. In order to guarantee that the former slaves will not continue to be exploited as sharecroppers, Grace orders Joseph to draw up contracts for all Manderlay's inhabitants, institutionalizing a communistic form of cooperative living in which the white family works as slaves and the blacks collectively own the plantation and its crops. Throughout this process, Grace lectures all those present about the notions of freedom and democracy, using rhetoric entirely in keeping with the ideology of racial equality which most contemporary Americans had yet to embrace. However as the film progresses, Grace fails to embed these principles in Manderlay's community in a form she considers satisfactory. Furthermore, her suggestions for improving the conditions of the community backfire on several occasions, such as using the surrounding trees for timber, which leaves the crops vulnerable to dust storms. After a year of such tribulations, the community harvests its cotton and successfully sells it, only to have the proceeds stolen by one of the former slaves. At this point it is revealed that "Mam's Law" was not conceived and enforced by Mam or any of the other whites, but instead by Wilhelm (Danny Glover), the community's eldest member, as a means of maintaining the status quo after the abolition of slavery, protecting the blacks from a hostile outside world. As in many von Trier films, the idealistic main character becomes frustrated by the reality he or she encounters.

During production a donkey was slaughtered for "dramatic purposes". Because of this, actor John C. Reilly quit his role. The scene was then cut from the film before it was released.

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A.R.E. Weapons

A.R.E. Weapons is a noise-rock band from New York City. Formed in 1999 by McAuley, McPeck, and Noel, A.R.E. Weapons has been described as hardcore electro-rock. Their live shows are noted for their aggressiveness and confrontational style. Rough Trade was encouraged to sign the band after Pulp's Jarvis Cocker heard A.R.E. Weapons live.

A.R.E. Weapons released two singles, "Street Gang" and "New York Muscle", in 2001. Before the release of their eponymous 2003 album, Tom was replaced by their manager Paul Sevigny (brother of actress Chloë Sevigny). Guitarist Ryan Noel died in 2004 of a heroin overdose. The remaining members recorded their second album, Free in the Streets, which was released in 2005.

There was also a 4-track sampler EP released in the UK with the tracks Don't Be Scared, Fuck You Pay Me, Headbanger Face and Black Mercedes.

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Kids (film)

Kids is a 1995 American drama film written by Harmony Korine and directed by Larry Clark. The film features Chloë Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce and Rosario Dawson, most of them in their debut performances. The film is centered on a day in the life of a group of sexually active teenagers in New York City and their unrestrained behavior towards sex and drugs during the era of HIV in the mid-1990s.

Kids created considerable controversy upon its release in 1995, and caused much public debate over its artistic merit, even receiving an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. It was later released without a rating.

The opening scene shows 17-year-old Telly (Leo Fitzpatrick) and a 12-year-old girl kissing. Using sweet-talk and adulation, Telly convinces the virginal girl to have sex with him. Afterwards, he leaves, and meets his friend Casper (Justin Pierce). As they walk along the sidewalk, Telly tells Casper about his sexual experience in graphic terms. They go inside a local store, and Casper shoplifts another malt liquor as Telly distracts the Asian cashier. They then steal a peach, using the same set-up just outside the store from a sidewalk display. They head to a friend's apartment, though they express dislike towards him on the way there. At this point, the pair want drugs and food. They arrive at Paul's house, inhale nitrous oxide out of balloons, talk about sex, and smoke marijuana while skater videos play on TV. This scene then intercuts with a scene in which a group of girls talk about sex, contradicting what the boys say, especially about oral sex. Both Ruby (Rosario Dawson) and Jennie (Chloë Sevigny) are introduced during the conversation.

Ruby and Jennie discuss that they were recently tested for STDs at Ruby's request. Ruby's test is negative, even though she has had many sexual encounters and many of the times were unprotected. However, Jennie tests positive for HIV, much to her shock, since she claims to have had sex only once, with Telly. Jennie spends the rest of the film trying to find Telly, who has taken to only having sex with virgins on the premise that he cannot get STDs this way. Later, Telly and Casper walk to Telly's house. When they arrive, they steal money from Telly's mother. They go to Washington Square Park, meet up with a Rastafarian man, and discreetly buy a "dime bag" of marijuana from him. They then meet up with a few friends (one of whom gives a blunt-rolling tutorial) to talk and smoke. Casper starts to ride on a skateboard and carelessly bumps into a man, who threatens him. The man is immediately struck in the back of the head with a skateboard by Harold (Harold Hunter), a friend of Telly and Casper's, causing him to collapse. Seizing the opportunity, many of Casper's friends join in, kicking and hitting him until he is unconscious and covered with blood, and then Telly spits on the man's bloody face.

Telly and the group from the park pick up a thirteen-year-old girl named Darcy (Yakira Peguero). She is the younger sister of an acquaintance and Telly is very interested, as she is a virgin. He convinces her to sneak out and join Casper and some girls at a pool. The other girls engage in pseudo-lesbian kissing and flirtation, but Darcy is restrained (though not shocked at the others' behavior). Telly and the group go to Steven's house to smoke, drink and talk about sex. Meanwhile, Jennie wanders down to a rave trying to find Telly, but instead bumps into "Fidget" (the film's writer Harmony Korine), who gives her "a euphoric blockbuster drug that is supposed to make 'special K' look weak." After taking the drug, which is never named, but has effects similar to a depressant such as GHB or rohypnol, she finds out that Telly is (at what has now become a party) at Steven's place. We see the girl, high and with her young life in shambles, riding in a taxi.

The movie is filmed in a pseudo-documentary style, although all of the scenes are scripted.

In Kids, Larry Cramer cast New York City "street" kids with no previous acting experience in the film, notably Leo Fitzpatrick (Telly) and the late Justin Pierce (Casper). Some have faded back into relative obscurity; meanwhile, others, such as Rosario Dawson (Rent, Sin City, Men in Black II, Alexander) and Academy Award-nominee Chloë Sevigny (Boys Don't Cry, American Psycho, Big Love, Party Monster), have since found success in their acting careers as well-recognized actresses. Jon Abrahams also continues acting and starred in a string of successful movies including The Faculty, Boston Public, Scary Movie, and Meet the Parents. In addition, the film's writer, Harmony Korine, makes a cameo in the club scene with Jennie, as the kid wearing glasses and a Nuclear Assault shirt who gives her drugs, though the part is credited to his brother Avi. Pierce appeared in a number of movies before committing suicide in 2000.

Harmony Korine reportedly wrote the screenplay for the movie in 1993, at the age of 18. Gus Van Sant had originally been attached to the film as a producer. After insufficient interest had been generated in the film, he left the project; under incoming producer Cary Woods, the project found sufficient independent funding for the film. Harvey Weinstein of Miramax, wary of (or perhaps even pressured by) the parent Walt Disney Company's opinion of the risky screenplay, declined to involve Disney in funding the production of the film. After Woods showed him the final cut, however, Harvey and his brother, Bob Weinstein, bought the distribution rights to the film on their own, without Miramax/Disney money (as they did for Fahrenheit 9/11).

The film depicts undisguised habitual and social use of profanity, marijuana, alcohol, nitrous oxide, tobacco, and the drug ecstasy. The original version of the film was rated NC-17 in the US. It was later released without a rating. Because of its unexpurgated subject matter centering on relatively young teenagers, the film has been controversial, having received mixed reviews, with 55 percent of critics giving it a positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The movie includes much explicit sexual dialogue, and depicts scenes of date rape, physical violence, drug dealing, theft, seduction of barely post-pubertal minors, and (non-explicit) teenage sexual displays, as well as (apparently) adolescent actors/actresses in near but not quite explicit exposure. Film critic Janet Maslin of the New York Times called the film a "wake-up call to the modern world" about the nature of present day youth in urban life. Meanwhile, other critics have labeled it exploitative (in the lascivious sense) as borderline "child pornography".

Miramax, which was owned by Disney, paid $3.5 million to buy the worldwide distribution rights of this film.

Harvey and Bob Weinstein (the co-chairman of Miramax) were forced to buy back the film from Disney, and created Shining Excalibur Films, a one-off studio name to release the film, due to Disney's policy forbidding the release of NC-17 rated movies. Eamonn Bowles was hired to be the chief operating officer of Shining Excalibur Films.

The film, which was made on a budget of $1.5 million USD, grossed $7.4 million in the United States, and $7.6 million internationally. According to Peter Biskind's book Down and Dirty Pictures, Eamonn Bowles has stated that Harvey and Bob Weinstein may have each personally profited up to $2 million each.

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