All hail Juliette Lewis -- Hollywood's most inscrutably eccentric Queen of Cool, inside of whom pounds the beating heart of a born rock-and-roller. Whether suiting up to play Iron Maven, the reigning badass of the Whip It roller derby, or fronting her own rock outfit, which she started just six years ago and is now touring with the likes of Cat Power and The Pretenders, Lewis will knock the wind right out of you. We caught up with her at a hotel in West Hollywood shortly before Whip It's L.A. premiere, where she riffed on her music, her movies, and getting inside the mind of the Maven.
You move now in two separate pop culture realms -- rock and movies. I wonder, what's your assessment of the current state of entertainment geared towards young women? Does Whip It fill a void?
I think of it as a youth movie -- I think males and females will like it -- but yes, it is a coming of age story from a female's point of view. But it's sort of this timeless, universal thing of finding your own voice in all of our own lives, trying to be more fearless, bucking convention, and all that good stuff. But roller derby has that idea of, well, why do this? OK -- but why not? And what it can give you, because it's so outside the norm, this concrete universe we live in. But yeah, thank god. Let this be the antithesis to the fucking MTV youth culture crap that has become the norm, with this reality show, fame obsession. Who wants to see a movie about girls shopping? I don't.
It does seem like there's been a resurgence of the '80s mall movie.
It's all about shopping and getting the guy. So even though there's elements of that in Whip It, the heart and spirit of it is in coming into your own, and doing something against the odds, and against your better judgment. I like that idea. It's important to be in cinema today. And meeting with Drew from the very beginning, she wanted to make the kind of movie that we grew up on, that have all of our youth sensibilities in it with hormones and relationships and all that good stuff, but other colors, other textures that we don't see enough of in younger entertainment today.
The '70s was really the golden age for those movies. I remember my sister and I used to quote Little Darlings to each other at the dinner table.
Yes! Now girls are expected to be desirable -- there's this over-sexualization thing going on.
Do you ever think you were born into the wrong decade?
No, my decade was all right. I could have had some '60s love, that would have been fine with me. Go to a Hendrix concert -- I kind of missed out of that. But, no, Little Darlings, My Bodyguard. Matt Dillon, Kristy McNichol. I loved those movies. And that's what was so fun for me, playing the baddie in a more traditional sense.
You are cast as the baddie in Whip It, but is that how you perceive Iron Maven?
When you approach a part, you have to know what she serves in the story. I am a nemesis of sorts to Ellen Page's character, but I'm also her hero. So even though you have those traditional story aspects, I, just as Juliette, try to root everything in depth, in something truthful.
So with this character, I'm the captain of my own derby team, and all my girls that I was working with and skating with every single day, they're all real derby girls. So I'd just check with them. "Did you ever push someone in a locker who's just trying out?" They're like, "Yeah!" "Did you ever call her names in the parking lot?" "Yeah!" So they would be my radar of what's too brash, and it's sort of anything goes in the spirit of roller derby. I liken it to sort of, Muhammad Ali and Frazier, and all that verbal jousting that comes along with the world of sports.
Plus she's just sort of a born badass.
She's a badass. She's also kind of a hero, and I worked with the wardrobe girl Kat to make her someone you want to look at, and be. I've related to girls like that in my life, and maybe I've been that to somebody. So I wanted to make sure she was like that -- sort of the hero.
There's a moment when she definitely lays bare why she's acting the way she's acting, and why she might be a little harder on Ellen's character -- because she feels that she's paid her dues, and it's owed her. And that's a very legitimate reason.
It's that scene that sold me on the part. I loved the dynamic between youth and experience. All my history of what I bring to the table, and that Ellen is this incredible, highly intelligent and unique talent, and I just love that relationship between the two characters. You see that it's a little bit about the young up and comer maybe moving in on her turf and maybe stealing a bit of her glory.
I also found a parallel between Maven and the fact that I started leading my own band at age 30. That that was the dividing line, that was the deciding factor. I find a lot of people find this in their life around 30, and you make some big decisions. I always knew then that I'd be living in a world of regret if I didn't go for it, if I had played it safe. So that scene had a lot of parallels to my own life.
Let's talk about your music. Can you describe what the rush of performing live in front of a cheering crowd means to you?
Well it's not just about the crowd, but it's about my relationship to the music. Because I wrote it, so it's my relationship to my own songs, and what I'm putting out to people. Exposing my heart and soul. I'm working with all these primal energies. The sound is blues, moody, psychedelic. Some songs are really celebratory, really invigorating. I have a relationship to the sounds and rhythm -- especially in this album, Terra Incognita -- because I worked hand in hand with the producer, who's from The Mars Volta. His name is Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and he's kind of a genius.
But to answer your question, that live exchange with the audience, it's kind of what I live for and relish. I really just attack the hearts of every single person in that space. I don't allow people to be innocent bystanders. A live show is an interactive medium. If I'm going to give something up, so are you. And people do! That's what's so wonderful.
Have you learned anything from Chrissie Hynde from your months on the road with her?
I learned what you re-learn over and over. Just be true to yourself, trust your instincts, develop your own voice and through time, you can and will and should endure. It's like when I met Patti Smith as well -- I love seeing people that stay true to their own convictions. And unlike more superficial mediums, you could live and breathe in that zone for quite a period of time. I don't mind seeing the Stones in their 50s and 60s. It's been a real honor and privilege and I really felt moved to be invited along with her on this tour.
You just shot Sympathy for Delicious, Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut. How did that go?
I have to go on record saying he's my favorite actor of the last decade. It was a very profound experience working with him as an actor and he as my director. It was a part I was scared of.
Why?
Because it's really dark. It's riddled with potential cliches. It's almost like booby traps. You know, because she's a drug addict, a bass player in a band.
Are you worried that it might be a step backwards from places you wanted to get away from, as far as how people perceive you?
Oh no, not at all. Because I'm a character actor, and every character I do is going to be different. If I'm playing in a dark realm, it's primal colors and energies -- your blacks, your purples, your reds. But she's not similar to anything else I've ever done. So that was really awesome to work with him -- a very special experience in a really small film.
Then after that I did a cameo in a Hilary Swank movie called Betty Anne Waters. She was based on a true character that convicted her brother. That was another role that was super dark, super raw. But from there I did The Baster, which was a colorful, broad comedy with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman. So that's my style. I like diversity, I'm not big on repetition, and I like characters.