Joel Schumacher: Radiance and Shadow

Q: A Time to Kill presented a transformed Sandra Bullock and Ashley Judd, too. That sweat thing worked well.

A: When I think of Sandra in A Time to Kill, I see her in that little white tank top and skin-tight black jeans with cowboy boots, that beautiful face all sweaty, and that overheated scene with Matthew where they're licking lemon and hot sauce off their hands and drinking shots of tequila. But when you mention the sweat content in A Time to Kill, I say you mean Ashley Judd. Ashley is just one of the sexiest people I've ever met in my life, beautiful and smart. That scene with her painting the floor with with her skirt pulled up is pretty good. I just put sweat on her, the rest was Ashley. There was no makeup, just this little tank top hanging off her, and that beautiful face. But when I talk about women like Sandra and Ashley, I think of their kindness. Kindness and beauty is so appealing.

Q: What's your vote for the sexiest scene you've ever directed?

A: Well, it's not a sex scene per se, but I love when Nicole Kidman turns on the Batlight and gets Batman to come to the roof. I like the scene in St. Elmo's Fire where Ally Sheedy and Andrew McCarthy are drunk and Andrew tells her he's always been in love with her and they just make love all over this apartment. I don't know if that was the sexiest scene, but it was the most emotionally pleasing. Also, the moment Andie MacDowell rejects Emilio Estevez and he just bends her over this car door and kisses her, and she gives in. The first time we showed that scene it got great cheers.

Q: You mentioned Nicole Kidman. She's beautiful, but maybe because of To Die For, she's known more for her icy side. Yet you got her seductive side in Batman Forever.

A: All I really did in Batman was give her Veronica Lake hair, which doesn't make someone sexy. That comes from inside. I'd first met Nicole when I cast Flatliners. She'd just done Dead Calm and if you want to see sexy, fast-forward in that movie to the scene with Nicole in a lime-green bikini, shooting the harpoon on the deck of that ship. She came to my house to meet me, and I knew in three minutes that I was meeting one of the most beautiful people in the world, and that she was totally unaware of it. That skin, those eyes, that hair and that body. I think Tom Cruise wanted Julia Roberts to be in Days of Thunder, and that's why I was considering Nicole for Flatliners. Then Julia came back into Flatliners and Nicole did Days of Thunder and she and Tom fell in love. So I guess I'm responsible for that marriage. [Laughs]

Q: How do you coax the sexuality out of an actor? Do you bolster their confidence, show them dailies, tell them they're sexy?

A: If there were a secret, I'd sell it and make money. I swear, it's just how I see people. My tombstone will read "Here lies Joel Schumacher, a fool for beauty." I tell people how beautiful I think they are, but I don't emphasize it because I don't think it's healthy. I've seen too many people suffer from self-image and eating disorders. If they believe too much that they're beautiful, they're more insecure because their security is based on their looks and they know that can evaporate.

Q: When you direct love scenes, do you think it's sexier to show as much as possible, or imply it?

A: Love scenes are very difficult. Most are shot in a very self-conscious way, and I'm always aware of that and try to steer away. It depends on the actors and how comfortable they are.

Q: What are some scenes from recent movies that stand out in your mind for being flat-out sexy?

A: A great example is Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential. Her performance is just overwhelming sexuality, in a role that -would never have worked with a 25-year-old. Now, she was born beautiful but was never as sexy as she is in Confidential, where you see lines on her face. She plays a woman who's lived and been used and seen the other side of midnight, and all of it makes her seem more sexy.

Q: More, please.

A: Jennifer Lopez in Money Train. She's out in an alley outside a bar doing salsa all by herself... Sean Young's opening scene in Blade Runner, where she's fully dressed and they're doing an eye test on her... Cameron Diaz's entrance in The Mask... Gwyneth Paltrow in Flesh and Bone, 19 and a dark soul, hard as nails... Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction, as soon as you hear her voice over the intercom, you know John Travolta's dead meat. That dance in the club, very sexy... Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe in The Last of the Mohicans, a lot of chemistry ... George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight, sexiness that's not at all forced... Interview With the Vampire, deeply sexual... Nic Cage and Elisabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas, profoundly sexual in that desperate-need-to-connect kind of way--you see romantic sex a lot, violent sex, but that was the kind of sex where disconnected, dysfunctional and damaged people heal themselves... Brad Pitt and Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise....

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