I need to fact check a story that I've heard
for years.
[ROSSELLINI] Yes.
[SMITH] Is it true that when you went to be
in "Blue Velvet" that David Lynch first wanted
to cast Helen Mirren?
[ROSSELLINI] Yes, and I had just finished
a film with Helen Mirren.
So David sat next to me and said, "Can I have
her phone number?
"Please, she turned me down, "I want Helen
Mirren."
[SMITH] He wanted Helen Mirren for that role?
[ROSSELLINI] Badly, badly.
[SMITH] And you convinced him, "No, it should
be me."
[ROSSELLINI] No, no, I didn't convince him.
I said, "I cannot give you her phone number."
[SMITH] Is that what you did?
You totally stopped David Lynch, really?
[ROSSELLINI] You know, I mean, I said, "I
don't know, you don't give out the numbers
of actresses."
And then the next day, the door rang and it
was a messenger with the script and a note
from David Lynch that said, "On second thought,
since I was turned down by Helen Mirren, "will
you consider it?"
[SMITH] Did you know that you were doing that,
that you were pulling a fast one on him?
That's great.
[ROSSELLINI] No, I didn't know, but I did.
[SMITH] Listen, you know, I know that over
the years, you've said you like modeling more
than acting.
[ROSSELLINI] Yes.
[SMITH] That's the truth, that's true?
[ROSSELLINI] Yes, I explain why.
Sometimes, sometime it has to do with being
a momma, because when you do a film, you have
to commit three months.
And sometimes a film, we live in New York,
and sometimes a film I shoot in Poland which
is really difficult for the children, or me
taking the children, with the tutor.
Modeling was three, four days.
There were jobs that were, and then if the
child was sick, I can cancel the job, they
can get another model, I can be at home.
So, it was much more easy to manage- [SMITH]
More in control.
[ROSSELLINI] More in control of motherhood
and that's why I liked it better.
[SMITH] I love the fact that that's your answer.
You understand, that on the acting side, even
if you like modeling better, "Blue Velvet"
is probably the movie that people think--
[ROSSELLINI] Yes.
[SMITH] And you're okay with that?
[ROSSELLINI] Yes.
[SMITH] It's a little creepy.
[ROSSELLINI] Yes, but it a really good film.
[SMITH] But it's a great movie.
[ROSSELLINI] You know, and it's about women's
abuse.
You know, it's about women abuse, and I think
we were very open about it and sincere about
it.
And I think what confused, at first the film
was controversial because Dorothy Vallens,
the character I play, is a nightclub singer.
And she hides behind her beauty.
She's all made up and she has the perfect
hair.
And she hides, she makes herself like a doll
to hide this devastation.
She's raped, ritually- [SMITH] Horribly abused.
[ROSSELLINI] Horribly abused, her child has
been kidnapped, her husband has been dead,
she thinks he might be dead or not, but eventually
was killed.
And, but, you know, I grew up in Italy in
the '70s where we had a lot of kidnappings,
which is a horrible crime.
And people that are kidnapped, when they come,
if they're not killed, and they come back,
they often suffer what's called, The Stockholm
Syndrome.
Which is they become complice of the people
that perpetrate the horror on them.
And that's what I shaped my Dorothy Vallens
to be.
[SMITH] Well, it's one the most extraordinary
performances, in an extraordinary career and
I, you know, it's, what a treat to get to
talk to you about this stuff.
I wish we had more time.
