Diane Lane: Sudden Lane Changes

Q: Are you a clothes-buyer?

A: I don't like spending a lot of money on them. Every once in a while, it's fun to buy one outrageous article of clothing that, for some reason, becomes like a talisman and gives you more power than your other shirts and stuff. I'll stick with things for too long. If they're not broke, don't fix it. Like my Ann Taylor leather jacket here.

Q: Do you have road rules in terms of how you dress?

A: Work with your body type. Some people wear clothes they get swallowed in. Some people wear clothes that accentuate nothing. Other people wear clothes with something in their mind, but they're kidding themselves. There are some clothes I just can't wear because I don't have the body for them. I live in this leather jacket. It works no matter what color hair I have, which changes with work.

Q: I like that it's broken in.

A: So do I. I feel that way about everything. [Laughing] There are on-duty clothes and off-duty clothes. You know when you watch footballers strap on all their gear? That's how I feel about dressing for the red carpet. Part of the social graces expected in my culture entails wearing expensive clothes. The minute I'm home, though, they're off, and I'm in my civvies.

Q: Are you a brands person?

A: I've never branded, though Kiehl's has made some products that I've used. Some of these modern perfumes smell, to me, like nuclear fallout. It's sad that the human animal's olfactory system has adapted to these petroleum distillates. When I was pregnant, I got nauseous in an elevator from one of those inorganic-smelling, big-name fragrances that women and men wear. I like scents that only exist in nature, things that nobody can really put their brand on. So, what I like is probably hippie stuff, right?

Q: What do you do to de-stress?

A: Yoga. I've been doing it for eight years. I'm not religious about it. It's like a patch job. But any yoga is better than no yoga, so I'm not a snob about where I get it.

Q: What's your idea of a great getaway?

A: Hiking in the forest. I love uphill walks. I like differentness from my everyday experience, not a fluffier pillow. I love to go camping, although I don't know if I'm really good at it. When my mom and I go, we bring so much stuff, it doesn't really count as camping. But they're unforgettable times that do more for your soul than going to the Hilton on Waikiki.

Q: How did Under the Tuscan Sun happen for you?

A: I was in the middle of this very flattering dinner where the director, Audrey Wells, was telling me I was her first choice for Under the Tuscan Sun. I had to get over my ego and decide to believe her. I remember stepping back and really listening to her vision of the screenplay and realizing in the conversation with her that I had a lot of the spirit of the character's journey in my past, in my life.

Q: Such as?

A: The fact that she's a survivor, that she's able to reinvent herself, that she's willing to thrust herself into an environment that she has no frame of reference for. And also that she leaves the outside world and turns on a place inside that had been turned off. So I was sitting in this dinner, and it was almost like hearing, "This is a gift. Just accept it." I put aside my usual analysis machine. I felt the heart of the story and wanted to be part of that. It's a gift of hope to those who are willing to be touched by it and maybe put aside their own analysis machines.

Q: In the book, Frances Mayes goes to Italy with her husband. In the movie, she's apparently a recently divorced, depressed woman who refurbishes a house and takes an Italian lover. Why do so many movie heroines only find sexual fulfillment with some exotic guy in an exotic locale?

A: Because they're written by Americans. No, I'm kidding. You mean why doesn't she find her essence in line at the grocery store [Laughing]?

Q: I mean, why can't her restoring a great house in Florence be transformative enough? Why does she have to have a sexy young Italian?

A: In our story, it is the house. You see her try the other, and it doesn't work.

Q: How are things with you and your daughter?

A: We've had our best year so far in terms of her emotional life, in terms of growth. That means challenges, but we're growing through them. A new male figure in her life is a real paradigm shift. She teaches me about the requirements of emotional honesty, about what is expected. I'm pretty good at denial, at skipping over things and saving anything dramatic for the camera. I can't do that anymore. She gives my report card, without even meaning to.

Q: Does it make you nervous that, after the Oscar nomination, people will be scrutinizing Under the Tuscan Sun more closely?

A: Here's the thing. This is not a secret, but it's not pretty. When a movie role isn't the greatest thing that ever happened to the actor's career, they usually pay you more money. When the role is something that someone would kill a family member to be in, they won't offer you the lottery ticket of salaries--because they know they can replace you. The screenplay is the irreplaceable commodity. So when you have the situation of, "We want her! We want her!" and they start offering you money that wasn't offered to you before, are you a bad person or less of an artist to let that affect your choices?

Q: That pressure has to be even tougher on women over 30.

A: I don't want to make any decisions out of fear, whether it's fear of financial security in my future or of maintaining the respect that I worked so hard to earn. I was employed because people hired me, not because my name on the poster sold tickets. I was a single working mom, and I never knew whether any job was going to be my last. So you walk through the open doors, and you pray. Sometimes you're really grateful that nobody's seen the movies you've made, and sometimes you wish that more people had.

Q: Well, you've certainly earned the downtime you're enjoying now. You've earned it all, I'd say.

A: I'm very good with downtime. And thank you for saying I earned it.

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