Jennifer Jason Leigh: Fearless Leigh

Q: You seem very far away from the troubled, on-edge people you play onscreen. What is your life like offscreen?

A: Low-key, actually. I hate parties. I don't like big crowded things. I like hanging out with my friends. A really great night for me is going out to dinner, then going to the movies. That's about it. I'm really quiet. I have dogs, so I play with them. It's not like I have all these amazing hobbies, though I love to take pictures. I love Polaroids and I have a Polaroid camera collection from the '50s.

Q: Do you want to settle down, get married and have kids?

A: I don't know. I feel pretty settled down, but I don't know if I'd do those other things.

Q: You've never talked about who you're dating. Why?

A: I just don't want to talk about my personal life. I feel like it's mine, I'm not trying to promote it. It's nice to have things that are your own, that you value enough that you don't have to use to sell a movie.

Q: What do you think of the younger crop of actresses, like Gwyneth Paltrow and Winona Ryder?

A: I love Gwynnie. She was in Parker with me and I think she's tremendously talented. Even then she shined, so beautiful and spontaneous. She kind of took your breath away. I love Winona Ryder. And I think Christina Ricci is just fantastic--she's really got something and she makes wonderful choices.

Q: Do you think you've been successful as an actress because, like Gwyneth Paltrow, both your parents were already in the business when you were a child?

A: I was on sets a lot so it never seemed like this fantastic, faraway fantasy. It's what people around me did. I always knew I wanted to act, because it's where I felt free and most natural, and most uninhibited. When I was a little kid, I'd put on plays in the backyard. That's how I could accept myself.

Q: You're admittedly not a careerist, but where would you like to be in a decade?

A: There are directors I'd like to work with, everyone from [Martin] Scorsese to Jane Campion to Todd Solondz.

Q: Any new directions you'd like to go in?

A: Yeah, I'd like to do more comedies, because I enjoy doing comedy. But they're hard to find. Maybe they don't naturally come my way.

Q: It's interesting that you have the same agent as Johnny Depp. You two must drive her crazy, because you're both so talented and yet so determined not to appear in stereotypical studio films.

A: I'm happy with where my career is now. I've turned down things that I wish I hadn't turned down because they ended up being great movies and would have been good for me. But what are you going to do? You're not always right. I've made some stupid-ass mistakes. But that's OK.

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Michael Fleming interviewed Joel Schumacher for the February 99 issue of Movieline.

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