Chloë Sevigny discusses the most important film of her career
Chloë Sevigny emerged from the 1990s New York’s underground scene as the face of cool, starring in music videos for Sonic Youth and the Lemonheads after getting scouted in Manhatten. Throughout the decade, she modelled and worked as a seamstress, becoming known for her unique and eclectic style, with The New Yorker dubbing her an “it girl”.
In 1993, she met Harmony Korine in Washington Square Park, who was working on the screenplay for the film Kids, directed by Larry Clark. She was quickly cast in the movie, but two days before filming, the lead actress dropped out, leading to Sevigny being offered the starring role. The low-budget controversial drama marked her film debut, setting the tone for the rest of her career, in which she has heavily involved herself in independent, experimental and subversive productions.
Over the last few decades, Sevigny has collaborated with Korine multiple times, most notably donning a leopard print swimsuit and bleached eyebrows for her role in the highly contested Gummo. She also garnered significant attention when she starred in Vincent Gallo’s The Brown Bunny, which Roger Ebert labelled the worst film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival. Sevigny performed real sexual acts on Gallo during the film; however, she maintains: “When you see the film, it makes more sense. It’s an art film. It should be playing in museums. It’s like an Andy Warhol movie.”
Despite Sevigny’s reputation for starring in risqué pictures, her break into the mainstream came when she starred in 2000’s Boys Don’t Cry, the story of a transgender man, Brandon Teena, who falls victim to brutal hate crimes. The actor played Brandon’s girlfriend and was highly praised for her performance, earning herself an Academy Award nomination. With reviews that assured her performance as “burn[ing] into the memory” and portrayed “with haunting immediacy,” Sevigny was set for even bigger heights. Yet, the actor continued to star in mainly independent films.
Looking back at her career, Sevigny selected Boy’s Don’t Cry as the most important film she has ever starred in. She said, “If I am recognised for one film, it’s probably Kids, but for me, Boys Don’t Cry is still so relevant and I think it’s the most important. And people are always crying and emotional at the Q&As. Everyone, especially from the LGBTQ community, has a very emotional attachment and response to it, and I am really proud of it. It’s the most important film I’ve made, I think.”
Sevigny’s performance as Lana in Boy’s Don’t Cry is incredibly powerful – she is headstrong, defiant and loyal, accepting Brandon’s identity when no one else will. In 2018, she shared: “I just think at that time when [Boy’s Don’t Cry] came out there just wasn’t a lot of representation of that community, on screen or on television or anywhere.”
She added: “It was important to the world. Not even one community in general. As far as building tolerance and acceptance and educating people and portraying a person and seeing the violence acted out against them and how heart-wrenching it is and humanizing a story, it was a really important thing to be a part of. I had read all the articles about Brandon Teena and was already obsessed with the story before being offered the audition and I wanted to be a part of telling that story.”
