LAWRENCE FERBER

We’ve had a big love for actress/muse Chloë Sevigny for years. Having built a career on edgy roles—an HIV-infected teen in Larry Clark’s Kids, transgender Brandon Teena’s girlfriend in Boys Don’t Cry, Michelle Williams’ lover in If These Walls Could Talk 2, Michael Alig’s partner-in-drugs in Party Monster, and Vincent Gallo’s oral-sexer-upper in Brown Bunny—Sevigny has recently garnered more mainstream visibility thanks to HBO’s Big Love, in which she plays Nicolette, one of polygamist Bill Paxton’s several brides.

Next up, Sevigny co-stars alongside Sandra Oh and Olympia Dukakis in out director Thom Fitzgerald’s powerful 3 Needles, as a young nun who goes to extreme, sexual lengths to combat the spread of HIV in South Africa. We caught up with Sevigny to chat about shooting in Africa, her increasing public fame and her pretty darned queer life.

A lot more since Big Love. Before, I think people kind of recognized me, but couldn’t really place me. I have a whole new audience with Big Love and it’s mostly women, in their 30s to 60s, which I love.

We had a writer on staff who was Mormon [openly gay Dustin Lance Black], and I have a couple of friends. Mostly, I just read a lot of literature and watched a lot of those Dateline exposé shows.

Um…no. I think polygamy is a lot more serious than having multiple partners. But, I think a gay audience is interested in how they portray an alternative family.

When I showed up on location in Africa. I immediately warmed up to him. I’ve never worked with a director who was that kind before. We were in very frustrating situations, trying to translate and dragging generators over hills. Almost every day was an impossible situation, and he was so calm.

I’ve always been interested in people who work in a religious vocation. I grew up in a Catholic household and was always interested in priests and nuns. I loved the character and how she sacrifices herself to help these people using the only leverage that she has—her body—but she kind of enjoys it at the same time. Reading the script, I also learned a lot about the disease, which I didn’t know before, and all the horrors that are happening. It was so shocking to me, and I wanted to help tell the story and have other people see it and become more active.

Not so much. I mean, Sandra and Olympia have really great senses of humor and they’re both really funny and fun to be around. But, in the villages, the locals had never even seen white people before, or a camera. And whenever I was in my nun’s outfit, I would get respect—as opposed to when I was in my western clothing and they would snicker and laugh and point at me.

Walt Paper—I worshipped him. He was a big club kid back in the day. I’d go over to his house before we went to Disco 2000 and he did my makeup and stuff. I thought he was the most beautiful creature in the world. I was so enamored with him.

No. Because, with the drugs, it was really sad what was happening to a lot of people. In the beginning, it was more rave-infused, happy-happy-joy-joy ecstasy or whatever—making out with boys and girls. Then, heroin came and it took a really dark turn and went to a really bad place.

Every day on the set, he shocked me! I knew all those guys. I used to try to buy drugs from [Alig’s victim] Angel and he wouldn’t sell them to me, because he was saving them for the cute boys. I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but I did always think of him as a dick!

I never saw the movie, because when we did the initial table read, Ellen DeGeneres walked in, took one look at me, and said, "You can’t play butch!" So, now I’m scared to watch it. I worked doubly hard, because I wanted to prove her wrong.

She was. She was in a very different place then—just getting out of Dawson’s Creek, and she had a terrible boyfriend. But, she was very sweet, pretty and nice to touch and kiss.

I’ve had lesbian tendencies my whole life, I think most girls do. In high school, I was teased by the other kids—they called me a lesbian. I never really had full relationships, just kissy-smoochies here and there.

I guess so. I think I have a lot of masculine qualities.

One day, we were on set and I saw him scribbling on a little piece of paper. He walked away from it and I walked over and picked it up and it read, "Note for a movie idea: Pauly Shore is the last person left on earth." And that was it! I was like, "What!?" I wish I’d kept it, but I was afraid he’d go back and be like, "Where’s that paper?" So, I left it there. The craziest idea I’ve heard in my life.

Oh, I don’t know! That’s a close call! I don’t really see her out and about, but I’m traveling right now [to the Hamptons] with 2 gay friends. A close call.