Leelee Sobieski: Leelee Land

Sobieski can't say enough about her father--"He's very handsome, hair everywhere, the essence of a man painter"-- and she clearly cherishes the time she spends with him. "I like to paint alone, but I almost like it better when my father and I work together on the same painting, because two different worlds come to bear. I'll go over to his side of the canvas and just destroy it, color over it, add a line, and then he'll define things, make them more precise. In the end, there are two energies that are in union but are also very different." She seems equally enamored of her mother, whom she describes as "beautiful, with a walk like the space woman in Mars Attacks!"

Sobieski's debut movie, Jungle2Jungle, notwithstanding, her upbringing appears to have predisposed her toward fairly arty film fare. Both A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries and Eyes Wide Shut were aimed at sophisticated adult audiences. With her new one, Here on Earth, she's aiming for the solidly teen audience that knows her well from Deep Impact and Never Been Kissed. The film presents Sobieski playing a girl who's torn between a gorgeous preppy brat played by Chris Klein and a gorgeous hometown childhood sweetheart played by Josh Hartnett. Then, quicker than you can say Love Story, fate deals all three a. blow that ought to have young moviegoers reaching for their handkerchiefs. "I thought the original script was really lovely," says Sobieski. "It kind of reminded me, in a teenage way, of that Bette Davis movie where she loses her eyesight." Like, Dark Victory? "Thank you," she says, laughing. "I'm awful on my film culture. On any culture, I'll bet if I asked you your top 10 movies, I haven't seen one of them. I'm just a mixed-up, awful teenager. Anyway, I think it's going to be a very, very charming film with some decent moments in it. I think teenagers will love it. Do you know something that should make the movie special? I don't want to spoil what goes on in Here on Earth, but I like that the movie acknowledges that people don't end up always picking the right person or thing, and that you have to live with the consequences."

Since the two actors who play Sobieski's boyfriends in the movie are fantasy figures for many young fans, what's her take on them? "I like Josh," she replies. "He's very mysterious, with his glance always shifting. He's always hiding under his hat brim because of the many teenage girls who are so in love with him. He's really become a great friend." And Klein? "This is Chris," she says, suddenly bolting upright, squaring her shoulders, pinning me with an earnest look and pumping my hand like a hearty politician. "Hi. Chris. Nice to meet you." Sitting back down and laughing, she adds, "He's crisp, with lots of 'young man' energy, from Nebraska and is very proud of his chest. What was also very nice about Josh and Chris is that they're both really tall, well into six feet, which is especially nice for someone who's five-feet-nine."

Since Sobieski is so effortlessly playful, I ask if she could capture the essence of Klein or Hartnett by saying what animal they're most like. Her eyes widen and she beams as she explains that she considers this very question all the time about people she meets in her life. "I've already thought about this," she declares. "Chris Klein definitely looks like a yellow Lab. I believe Josh looks like a ferret. He told me he thought I was a mouse and I got furious, and then he decided I was a bird. My mom thinks I look like a bird, too, but I think I look like a kangaroo. If I had my way, I'd love to run away and be with the kangaroos the way Anthony Hopkins was with the gorillas in Instinct."

Animal instincts aside, what qualities in a person attract her? "Mystery and intrigue," she answers right away, "When someone is hidden, I like to get to the core of them but to always be left not knowing everything. I like to be left uneasy, on the edge of my seat. I become easily infatuated, but, like most members of my obnoxious female gender, the minute there's some sort of commitment, I'm like, 'Well, that's enough of that.' I'm always on the quest. What doesn't attract me is a man who pays too much attention co the exterior. I'd rather be with someone who's handsome in an awkward way. I like weird, beautiful types." Such as? "Lukas Haas was really handsome and sexy in Johns. I find Jeff Goldblum really handsome. Anytime I play a game where someone asks me the one actor I would marry, I always end up picking Jeff Goldblum, who likes tall women. He's supposedly a womanizer to some extent, but he'd be constant fun because he's really smart. I found Kevin Spacey really sexy in American Beauty. I had a big crush on Morgan Freeman and when I met him a long lime ago, I turned bright red, and he said, 'I have a granddaughter your age.' Inside, I was like, 'I don t want you to think of me in that way.' When I was younger, I often said I was attracted to Johnny Depp, but now I'm not attracted to him anymore, Vanessa Paradis is certainly beautiful, but lately he hasn't been picking the women who are intellectually stimulating, has he?"

Given her list of crush-worthy men, I predict Sobieski could easily align herself with a much older guy. "I think so, too," she replies. "Maybe I'll fall in love with all my directors. I like it when someone teaches me. I can chatter on about my opinions for hours, but they're the opinions of a teenage girl whose ideas have been borrowed or stolen from others and infiltrated by those of her parents. I like it when someone tells me something that suddenly challenges what I've been saying all along. All I know is, it's tough to be in a relationship with an actor if you're a normal person. If I were a normal person, I certainly wouldn't want my husband to be an actor."

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