Int: Asia Argento

The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things is an unflinching account of
the true story of J.T. LeRoy: a young boy who survived a childhood of
drugs, sexual abuse, prostitution, alcoholism, and religious fanaticism
while growing up in the heart of America’s bible country. Ultimately, at
the age of 20, J.T.would write an autobiographical book and celebrities
like Madonna, Winona Ryder and Liv Tyler would be friend him and authors
such as Dennis Cooper and Mary Gaitskill would champion his work. Later,
with Asia Argento (Dario Argento’s daughter) J.T. Leroy would see his
life story finally hit the big screen. Finally after all of that had
been accomplished, the truth comes out: the whole story was a lie and
there is no such person as J.T. LeRoy.

The author of the synonymous book wasn’t in fact written by a “J.T.
LeRoy”, but by a 40-something Brooklynite name Laura Albert. Laura
decided to create a pseudonym and alternate personality in order to get
her work published. She continued to write and publish books as this
character for six years; even going as far as asking her husband’s
half-sister, Savanah Knopp, to play the real life incarnation of J.T. at
public appearances. Now that the truth is out about J.T., one is left to
wonder why Laura Albert had to do all this to get her worked published?

And what does that mean to the viewing audience? That means they should
check out this film as they do any other film. But though it is just a
movie now with its’ story conceived by a talented writer and brought to
life by an equally talented director, it should be noted that this
director believed the story was an autobiographical tale. And in Asia’s
case, having that state of mind worked to her advantage because somehow
as the film plays out the viewer finds him or herself also wanting to
beleive that this real life horror story is true.

The press kit that went along with this film states:

“The filmmakers, in conjunction with Palm Pictures kindly request that
you withhold plot points from the film in your pieces so viewers
unfamiliar with the story of J.T. LeRoy can discover his story as it is
revealed in the film.”

Based on that there is little for me to say of the direction the movie
takes. This is a story of a boy who is strung through the depths of hell
on earth with his insane mother at the helm. He survives whatever
environment he is in by adapting to it. The editing is like a
drug-induced trance. The camera is always on the move, rarely static.
The music switches from punk to hardcore to a vulgar country western
song bound to be remembered after the film is over. The perspective
stays in the mind of the child who never knows what’s coming next,
where’s he’s going, or when and if he will ever be saved.

This is Asia’s Argento sophomore effort; her first in six years since
the release of The Scarlet Diva, and again she pushes the limits and
puts herself out there in the darkest, most disturbing light she can. I
sat down with her at a round table interview.

Question: Why this movie?

Asia Argento: I read the book and I thought the book was very powerful;
I could see it as a movie. To spend two, three, ten years with a
project, it has to be something that is really personal to you. It has
to touch you somehow and that’s what this book did. At the time when I
read it, I thought it was an autobiography, though since it has proved
not to be, but at that time it moved me because I thought it was a true
story.

Q: How were you introduced to the book?

AA: I had read Sarah before and then I was contacted by J.T.’s
publishing company in Italy to do a reading of The Heart is Deceitful
Above All Things. That’s when I first read that book.

Q: How do you think the book is in terms of literature?

AA: I think it’s brilliant, very cinematic.

Q: What is your relationship with Laura Albert?

AA: She’s a very tough woman. She was kind of like the bulldog behind
J.T. I was always asking J.T. Why can’t I be alone with you? Why does
she always have to be there? With J.T., I had a better relationship.
J.T. was more relaxed, Laura was very demanding. She was ball buster. It
was hard to satisfy her, but at the same time I love her, I appreciated
her as woman. I thought she was a very bright woman. She had an almost
psychic quality about her. She would look through you, make you feel
very naked. You couldn’t hold secrets with her. She was too honest at
times. She’d embarrass me sometime in front of journalists. Then when
the truth came out of the story, I remembered that Laura had once tried
to tell me, not in a direct way, that she had written the story, but I
just thought she was an egomaniac and I dismiss that idea right away. To
tell you the truth if I knew that it was written by her, I wouldn’t have
paid attention to the book. So I also think she was smart to do al
l that. I hold no grudge with her.

Q: How long after completing The Scarlet Diva did you come across the book?

AA: I did The Scarlet Diva when I was twenty three and this one I
started writing when I was twenty six or twenty seven. It was after The
Scarlet Diva came out in the States, that I knew it had finally come out
everywhere possible, and I could stop talking about it and start
thinking about another story. Right now I’m at a point where I am still
not detached from this film and the thought of writing another film is
my worst nightmare. Luckily I have a ton of other jobs, DJing and Acting
in other films, that will keep me distracted from what I really love.

Q: Can you talk about the casting of Jeremiah?

AA: One of the actors, Dylan had a twin brother, but if he didn’t I
would of cast him away because it made things a lot easier. In America
you have four hours with a kid and when they told me that, coming from
Europe where, when I was kid, I was working for twelve hours a day, I
thought yeah right. There is this film term, “The child explodes at
5:15.” You are not going to get one minute more. So with the twins I
could get fours hours with them each. So I used that to my advantage
because though they were twins they were so different: in terms of
personality. I studied the two kids for eight months before the movie
started shooting and I understood who would work best for which scene.

Q: How do you think you differ in terms of directing children than your
father, since you were a child when you were in his terms?

AA: My father despises actors, even kids. I saw him treat them like
shit. It was a very shocking experience to see him directing other kids.
But for me, I know him very well, it bothers him to have to explain
himself. I know that he talks to you by the way he moves the camera, so
I would know what he wants from me by the way he’s approaching me with
the camera. I’m the opposite. I enjoy working with actors, with kids
especially. I learned a lot about directing, working with kids. I’m an
acting coach for kids, ages 7 through 13. I like to give assignments to
the kids, in fact to all the actors, and even if I don’t use what they
bring, they feel more involved and know their characters more.

Q: What are these assignments you give?

AA: They have to come up with their own clothes and furnish their room.
They have to come up with alternative dialogue. Little things like that.

Q: Can you talk a little about acting and directing and which one you
prefer and why?

AA: Well, being a control freak, the best thing is doing everything and
directing is perfect for that because directing has music, acting,
lights, photography, everything. So it’s the ultimate control freak’s
dream. Acting, the good thing is that it’s very easy. Most of the time
you just show up on the set and nothing is really required from you.
You’re spoiled. You feel like you are a mercenary going two months on
this job and two months on another. Directing is a bit more demanding.
Acting is good when I feel lazy or tired.

Q: Knowing you are lazy as an actor, then what approach do you take when
you direct yourself?

AA: I give myself a lot of homework. I ask a lot of myself. I wanted to
do this role well. I would drive myself crazy to play some of the
scenes. I would do physical things to drive myself to that point. I’d
stay in the car with the music blasting, then come out and do push-ups.
All these stupid things just to look crazy. I never ate. I was really
physically tired. A lot of shit that came out of me when I was in this
mood I’m embarrassed about, but it was necessary at the time.

Q: Can you talk about the accent?

AA: I paid for a voice coach because I had no idea about the southern
accent. I didn’t pay for a voice coach on the set. The production
couldn’t and I couldn’t afford it, so I didn’t have anybody on the set.
All the work I did, I did before production began. After that, I tried
to do my best with tapes. It’s not perfect but it’s the best I could do.

Q: You cast Kip Pardue very much against type, why?

AA: Because I’m pigeoned-holed as an actress and I play the same role
over and over again. I even give myself the same role. It is fun when
I’m asked to do something totally different and when you’re given that
chance you give back a lot more, so I tried to do that with Kip and also
with Marilyn Manson who is in the film.

Q: How did Peter Fonda get involved?

AA: He was abused as a child, I didn’t ask to what extent, and he has an
organization involved in helping abused children. Even though he didn’t
want to play the bad guy, it must have been some personal reason for him
to do this film.

Q: Do you use any of your father’s techniques as a filmmaker?

AA: He told me that he stole a shot for this movie for his own, it was a
time lapse study that he had never done. I learned a lot of old school
techniques from him that a lot of directors my age might not know. He
never sat me down and taught me filmmaking, but I had the luck to
observe him for many years.

Q: How did you get Sonic Youth involved in the film?

AA: I’m a huge fan. They came to the wrap party and they came to me and
said they liked The Scarlet Diva, so I immediately asked him if they’d
be interested in being apart of this film. They were very generous in
giving their music.

Q: Can you explain a bit about the editing process for this film?

AA: That was the only happy time I had. Jim Mol is Abel Ferrara’s editor
and Abel Ferrara is my mentor. I really admired Jim Mol as somebody who
really brings a lot to a project. He changed the movie and I let him do
that because I trusted him. We would work mostly from 1 to 3 in the
morning. We worked mostly at night. I like working at night.

Q: Do you think there is any hope for Jeremiah and Sarah at the end of
the story?

AA: In their world there is, that’s why I ended the movie differently
than in the book. In their world it is the perfect ending because there
is no ending, no conclusion. The only conclusion to life is death.

Q: What was it like to work with Sofia Coppola in your next film Maria-Antoinette?

AA: Well my role is a supporting role, so it wasn’t very hard but it was
really fun and interesting to work with a young female director who is
really the opposite of me. I’m a very nervous person, maybe because I
work with very little money. I’m also very solitary and I don’t mingle.
She’s the opposite. She’s very nice, very calm and kind of detached but
in a good way. I wish I could be like her. One day, we were walking in
Versailles all these costumes and wigs and I thought what a genius. When
people put money into my films I feel like they are paying for my
therapy, for my obsessions and I feel like a thief and when I looked
around at her set I thought what a genius you tricked them all.

Palm Pictures releases The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things on March 10th in New York and Los Angeles with a wider release to occur in the weeks to come.

Photo of Asia Argento: Justin Ambrosino (c) 2006.