Interview

LH: Everything you try, everything you do at that age-it's all to find out what moves you.

LL: I feel like the modeling industry is a little bit more accepting of women who make mistakes. They appreciate the idea of icons. I found that when I worked with Bert Stern on re-creating the Marilyn Monroe shoot for New York magazine-the one she did right before she passed? When I was able to shoot with him and do that . . . Although I was also terrified to do it because, I mean, we're two very different people, and I was only 21.

LH: But you had to channel her.

LL: I did. But when I did that shoot, people didn't frown upon it. People were like, "That's a bold thing to do." People looked at that shoot more than they've looked at any film I've done in the past four or five years. And I like to do movies, because I love becoming different characters, and telling different stories through different eyes, and affecting someone's life in one way or another.

LH: What emotions do you find easiest to access as an actress? Which ones do you find difficult?

LL: It's funny because being comedic and happy and lighthearted is who I am as a person, so they're easier emotions for me to connect with. The challenge is accessing pain, angst,   depression. . . It's more exciting because it gives me somewhere to go and allows me to tap into a part of myself that everyone can relate to. But movies can change things. If you're fighting with your boyfriend, you can go to the movies and cry it out and leave happy because the ending of the film is happy.

LH: Films certainly can get you through the rough patches.

LL: And I think photographs can do that too, in a lot of ways. To be able to have an effect on someone's life is extraordinary . . . But now all the other shit has ruined it. Even other actors-I mean, great actors who I want to work with-have such a misconception of who I am because of all the things that get said about me. And directors . . . I mean, aside from Robert Altman [who directed Lohan in the 2006 film A Prairie Home Companion]-I had a lot going on in my life when I worked with him, but he just believed in me. And Charles Shyer, who co-wrote my first film, The Parent Trap [1998]-I just got a new script from him. Charles did The Parent Trap with Nancy Meyers, his ex-wife, and they're both lovely people. And I spoke to John Maybury when I was in London. He's just the nicest guy. I was supposed to do a movie for him three years ago, but I was going through a really bad time then. Anyhow, I met with him, and he said, "I just want you to know that I think you're one of the greatest." Just to hear that from someone . . . You know, I was with this guy Jerry Inzerillo recently, who was running the whole Atlantis [The Palm resort opening celebration] in Dubai. And when I saw him, he started complimenting me, telling me how I reminded him of these other actresses. I literally just sat there . . . He was just saying these really nice things to me that people don't really ever say, and I started crying. I was like, "Oh, my God, I'm so sorry that I'm crying!" But I was just so emotional about it . . . I'm a Cancer, which means I'm maternal and emotional. So in relationships I'm screwed.

LH: I'm a Scorpio with Cancer rising. I don't really know what that means.

LL: [laughs] I don't know what it means either! I just know that Scorpio is a little more dangerous than Cancer, but that could actually be really balancing.

LH: But I do think that you have to protect yourself. My own life was in pictures, working with people like [Richard] Avedon and [Irving] Penn, and then making movies. But I found that by going away for two months to someplace where no one knew who I was-and, in fact, a place where if anything went wrong, I couldn't whip out a smile or a checkbook or tell them my name to fix it-I had to actually be human and figure things out for myself. I think that occasionally running away and crashing where people can't find you is important.

LL: You know who said something like that to me recently? Pharrell Williams. He's an amazing guy. He's only been really kind to me whenever I've met him. He said, "I'd love to make a great record with you, but I want to take you out of all the elements that you're used to. Let's go away. Let's go somewhere nice where you can be focused, and let's make an album there." I really respected that because not only is it hard for someone to just say something like that, it's nice that, as much as I admire him, he would even take the time to say that to me. But it's true. That's what it takes.

LH: You've just got to go someplace where no one knows you.

LL: But it's so impossible for me to actually do that. When I was in Dubai, there was still press lined up around the hotel. So I find it close to impossible to actually do that. I mean, it is what it is. This is what I asked for, and in this day and age that's what actually goes on. But what hurts me the most is that I work just as hard as any other actress around my age, like Scarlett Johansson, but I just don't get the opportunities that they get because people are so distracted by the mess that I created in my life. But that doesn't mean it's going to last forever.

To read the full Lindsay Lohan interview pick up a copy of Interview magazine's February issue, on newstands January 20th. 

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