Chloë Sevigny is a star of American independent cinema and worked together with artist Doug Aitken several times. An interview on SCHIRN MAGAZINE

Actor, fashion designer and downtown muse Chloë Sevigny has established a name in both art and cinema since her breakout role in Larry Clark’s "Kids". Her notable films include "Boys Don’t Cry", "Dogville", and "American Psycho", as well as the television show "Big Love". In Doug Aitken’s "Black Mirror" (2011), Sevigny plays an anonymous woman enmeshed in perpetual motion. Here she discusses with Schirn Mag the evolution of personal identity and human connections.

Megan Steinman: Throughout your career you’ve portrayed many different characters, all with their own histories. In "Black Mirror", you are a “nameless drifter.” Doug describes your character as a “blank canvas.” What does it mean to inhabit such a “non-person” or perhaps an “every-person”? What do you draw from to create such a character?

Chloë Sevigny: It was very challenging from an acting point of view, because Doug was very open to having no process, but then again had a very specific process. I tried to formulate who she was, drawing on my own personal life: feeling displaced and being on location for however many dates here and there, going to new cities, having to adjust and find some kind of normalcy. When you’re an artist like Doug you have a whole team around you, but I don’t. My job often takes me off by myself. I was trying to draw mostly on that feeling, on the monotony of it and trying to connect with people that aren’t there or on the phone. Trying to find some sort of life in that “life on the road.”

MS: Almost like finding a sense of hope?

CS: Yes, but really more normalcy because you feel like such a drifter. Right now I’m in Los Angeles, and with the time difference getting off work means it’s too late to call anyone at home. So, I’m just sitting here staring at my cell phone.

MS: How does place, or a specific landscape, affect or define our identities?

CS: For me it’s about familiarity. The landscape of Los Angeles makes me feel alien. I’m from New England, and it’s the vegetation here [in LA] that seems so foreign. The hills. I can never feel at home here, because I feel out of place with nature. I grew up in Connecticut and now live across from a park that might as well be Connecticut. Same trees, same patterns.

MS: Speaking about trees, do you think we can we have an identity without “roots”?

CS: I think it depends of your relationships. Some people never want a home. For instance, I dated a boyfriend who had a family that moved every year. He didn’t have the same relationship to home [that I do]. For me, home was very comforting and important. I always want to feel really safe. For other people, home is not a priority. I think it depends on your upbringing and how you feel about it.

MS: Even though it is foreign, you have spent a lot of time in California. Might there be specifics of a “California Identity” that you experience in Doug’s art, ideas and production process?

CS: Doug has a great sense of humor, which often doesn’t come through in his art. He’s very down to play. He’s relaxed, in a “California kind of attitude” way. He’s open to things messing up and just rolling with it. He doesn’t seem like a tightly wound New Yorker wanting things in line.

MS: Your character in "Black Mirror" is determined to “never stagnate, never stop.” Global movement is her methodology. But might time be another method? How does our identity change over time? What are the elements of our selves that we take with us as we travel time?

CS: Did you ever watch those documentaries "Seven Up!"? I found them really profound. And I do believe that who I was at 7 is who I am now. I feel like I gained tools, and with those tools came confidence. I can tackle things that maybe I wouldn’t have even in my 30s, now that I’m 40. I think it’s about gaining tools and information, like exposure I guess. Exposure comes with time. The more time you have to expose yourself. But I do feel very much like I am that same person.

MS: Thinking about these personal evolutions, is there one element of "Chloë" that remains unchanged after all these years? Do you remember being seven?

CS: I don’t know if I can think of one particular thing. More like being in the yard, and being within myself. Remembering how I thought about things…


MS: Doug has talked about movement in his work as a physical way to erase past and memory. Do you think your character in "Black Mirror" is running towards an unknown future, or away from a past?

CS: I have no idea what that girl is doing. I’m in the dark!

MS: What about when you are that girl?

CS: Well, I’m always moving for work, and I’d rather stand still. I like to go home and be on vacation. I feel like work is always taking me away from my family and loved ones and friends. In Black Mirror, she’s got to keep the momentum going. But this goes back to Doug’s work as an artist. I feel like he never stops.

MS: Doug said about your character in "Black Mirror", that he needed a “human to become the vehicle for his concept, to take the viewer into the work.” Do you think your already existing public personae helped with the connection between audiences and the artwork? 

CS: When Doug approached me, I said he should get a non-actor. I feel like often times in his work with Tilda or Chan Marshall, the characters have gotten away from me. I did think I’d get in the way of it, but at the same time I was newly single and felt I should be out in the world doing things. [laughs] Okay, my reasons were more selfish. I thought I would get in the way of the viewer, but the work has a way of sucking the viewer in.

MS: Have you heard any reaction to people who have seen it?



CS: When we were in Greece, there was definitely a lot of conversation. But it had more to do with the performance aspect.

MS: What should we know about Doug Aitken? 

CS: I love Doug and I’ve known him since I was a teenager. When he was directing music videos he put me in a video and brought me out to Los Angeles for the first time. I was 19-years-old. We just went to dinner a few nights ago. He’s very curious and persistent in his questions, always. So if you’re ever sat next to him, be prepared.