Lauren Bacall: with that voice, that look, and above all that spirit, it's no wonder this legendary actress is so expert at making waves—and riding them. And as her performances in two daring, cult-ready new movies prove, she's not about to rest on her laurels

Interview, April, 2004 by Brad Goldfarb

When the facts surrounding a life are as well known as Lauren Bacall's, it's often easy to take them for granted. For starters, there are the fairytale circumstances surrounding the launch of her career (she was discovered twice, first as a model by then Harper's Bazaar fashion editor Diana Vreeland, and a short time later by Hollywood director Howard Hawks and his glamorous hawkeyed wife, Slim). Then there are her famous and well-documented romances with Humphrey Bogart (to whom she was happily married for 10 years), Frank Sinatra (to whom she was briefly engaged), and Jason Robards (to whom she was also wed, though this time less happily). And, of course, there's the work: the 36 movies that she infused with her indelible presence, ranging from the smash success of her first few films To Have and Have Not (1944) and The Big Sleep (1946)--in which she co-starred with Bogie and showed what chemistry really is--to her comic turn in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). And while plenty of actors give lip service to the importance of live theater, Bacall has given her heart to the stage with unforgettable performances in a whole range of productions, including Goodbye Charlie (1959) and Cactus Flower (1965), not to mention the musicals Applause (1970) and Woman of the Year (1981), for which she won Tony Awards. Through it all, however, Bacall has never stopped pushing--be it for better roles, greater respect, or for social change (she's stumped for Adlai Stevenson and Robert F. Kennedy, among others, and is currently sounding the horn for her preferred Democratic presidential candidate: "I'm going to break my ass for John Kerry," she tells me). Bacall defiantly believes in the responsibility of the individual, as her remarkable 1978 autobiography, By Myself [Knopf] attests. (Note to those who ate it up: More is on the way.) Never one to move through life quietly, it's easy to imagine that Bacall has ruffled a few feathers in her day, an approach to life that made speaking with her about her two upcoming projects--this month's Lars von Trier-directed Dogville and Jonathan Glazer's forthcoming Birth--all the more engaging.

BRAD GOLDFARB: Let's start by talking about your new film, Dogville. I'm curious how you got together with Lars von Trier on this.

LAUREN BACALL: Well, they contacted my manager, Johnnie Planco, and said they wanted me to be in it. Of course, I was very flattered to be asked by Lars von Trier because I loved Breaking the Waves [1996]: It was a brilliant movie, and I thought, God, it must be fascinating to work with him. And I also have a Danish daughter-in-law, so I figured I'd better get to know a few Danes. So I read the script of Dogville, and my part was kind of an incidental one--the film is very much an ensemble piece to begin with. Nicole Kidman is the core of the story, but some of the other actors had real parts. I was part of the town, but I don't consider that I had much to do. But I'm very glad I did it. At this point in my life I am interested in younger directors and new ideas and things that are unusual. I'm not interested in a lot of the Hollywood hype. I'll take a little of it, mind you, but I don't want a lot of it. So to be offered anything like that, the snob in me comes to the top. And thanks to the film my friendship with Nicole Kidman began, and I'm very happy with that because she's such a great girl.

BG: Where did you shoot?

LB: We were stuck in Sweden for between six and eight weeks. If we'd been stuck in Stockholm I would have loved it, but unfortunately we were in Trollhattan, a town that's, how you say, very much on the outskirts. We started in January 2002; it was freezing cold, of course, and there's no light there in winter. It was a fascinating experience, though. I remember Paul Bettany saying to me at one point, "We have to now unlearn everything we learned about being in the movies." And in a way that was true of Lars's technique--you know, he shoots carrying the camera on his shoulder. He had some harness contraption made for him. They get him in it, and he whisks around the set photographing as he pleases. And you never know when you're in the shot. There were no walls on the set. Everything was just drawn on the floor.

BG: It was like a big soundstage, right?

LB: I guess so, but it was weird because it doesn't look like any soundstage I know from California days. It was a very odd, rather grim-looking set: an all-black floor with things drawn into it. Like, my gooseberry bushes and the dog were just drawn in, so one had to adjust to that. And by God we did. Well, there were a bunch of professional actors there, which was terrific.

BG: Have you seen the film?

LB: I saw it at the New York Film Festival, and I liked it. I had terrible apprehensions about it because it's so odd. I thought, Oh, my God, they're going to kill him. But, of course, I didn't realize what I do now, which is that in Europe, Lars can do no wrong; when the movie was first shown in France they went crazy. I really liked it so much better than I ever expected to--you kind of get caught up in his mood. The narration and the way the times--"one month later," "three months later"--just flashed on the screen threw me a bit because I got off the track of the story, but he has a reason for doing these things. I don't know what the reaction is going to be in America because audiences here have never seen anything like it.