"Where Movie Critics Get A Taste Of Their Own Medicine"
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AN INTERVIEW WITH:
GINA GERSHON
by Peter Sobczynski

October 29, 2003

Gina Gershon, she of the ultra-photogenic sneer and charmingly acerbic attitude, represents many different things to many different audiences. For fans of serious independent films, they treasure her performances in such films as "Bound" and the shamefully little-seen "This World, Then the Fireworks". Camp aficionados revere her for her priceless turn in the immortal "Showgirls" (the one aspect of the film that every viewer, whether they loved or hated the film, agreed actually worked) and she has inspired enough lust in audiences of all proclivities that she managed to land on the covers of both "The Advocate" and "Maxim" at the exact same time.

However, will her fans buy her as a Rock Goddess? In her latest film, "Prey for Rock and Roll" (which she also co-produced), she plays an aging rock singer still struggling for that one big break and trying to decide if turning 40 means that your are officially too old to still be dealing with band in-fightings, low wages and the chaotic lifestyle of someone who hasn’t yet made it. In the film, she does her own singing (written by Cheri Lovedog, who wrote the original off-Broadway musical that the film is based on) and she is ferociously convincing both on the screen and on the accompanying CD. To capitalize on this, Gershon has not only been doing the standard cross-country publicity tour but has also been doing a full-scale concert tour of rock clubs (in Chicago, she recently played at the House of Blues) with the group Girls Against Boys to positive audience response for both the songs from the film and some of her own original tunes to boot.

After the show, Gershon sat down to discuss the film, the tour and the big names that helped her to get in touch with her inner rock star.

THE INTERVIEW

What was the sort of rock and roll prep that you did for your role in "Prey For Rock and Roll?"

Well, I had to deconstruct my training. When you are doing Broadway musicals, you have to project and enunciate your words very crisp and clear. I had to throw that training completely out the window and just sang more from my gut. It was a different sort of music from what I had done before-I’ve always been more of a country/folk singer when I play guitar-so I had to learn head-bobbing and things like that. I was playing a character so it was just like acting out how that character would sing. What is fun about the show now is that I get to do whatever I want and sing what I want.

How did the idea of actually staging a live concert tour to promote the movie come about and do you find that this kind of performing satisfies you in a different way than straight stage or film acting does?

The idea of touring came about when I went to promote the film at Sundance. We were trying to sell the film to distributors and someone said that I should perform. That sounded great except that there was no band-the girls don’t really play. They said they could get a band and this was only two days before the screening. Weirdly enough, things just kind of clicked into place and in five hours, I had Duff and Matt and Slash from Guns n’ Roses as my little pickup band. It was very surreal and weird but we did a gig there and it went over so well that the distribution people started thinking that we could actually go on tour to promote this, even though they obviously couldn’t get those guys because they were recording an album as Velvet Revolver. Also, since the movie ended, I had become wildly obsessed with writing music-it was all that I did for three months-and when they suggested it, I thought "Why not?" I get to do songs from the movie and some of my own material. It seemed like a different way to promote a film.

It is different being on stage and performing rock and roll, especially if it is your music. First of all, you aren’t acting-that is really you up there doing your thing. That in itself is really scary and really exciting at the same time. It feels different because you aren’t hiding behind a character.

You mentioned that you had played music when you were younger. Is this whole experience sort of the fulfillment of a childhood dream?

It is funny because this is something that has come up a lot in my life-different people have always wanted me to record or do music. I had a lot of musicians in my family and as friends and at that time, for some reason, I thought that I really wanted to just act and that I should keep the two things separate. I used to sing-all my first professional jobs were singing and dancing in musicals. I was in a band and I recorded a long time ago but I generally just stayed away from it. It was more because I was writing but I didn’t really have anything to write about that meant anything to me until the last few years-I hadn’t lived through enough things to make me want to write.

A good part of "Prey For Rock and Roll" deals with the struggle and frustrations of someone struggling to make it in show business. Now that you yourself have made it, what sort of struggles do you still face?

Well, I’ve made it to a certain point but I don’t feel as though I have made it to the point that I want to. It would be nice to get the best scripts that are there that go to the five or six top actresses who get the blockbuster movies. I’ve been doing a lot of independent movies but there are a lot of films that I will watch and think that I could have really done something with that role. In a way, that is where the music also came into play. I was getting frustrated with the parts I was getting and I was becoming a little bit annoyed with everything. In a way, doing music was something fresh and new.

People typecast me as sort of that tough, aggressive type-maybe that is my own doing because I have chosen a lot of those parts. I look at my career and think that I am a character actress and that I have never played someone who is that close to myself. This role is probably the closest to myself in some way. When she is with people, she is really tough but when she is by herself, she is kind of geeky and silly and that is something that I like.

You’ve worked with any number of top directors over the years-people like Paul Verhoeven ("Showgirls"), John Woo ("Face/Off") and John Sayles ("City of Hope")- but you have also done a lot of work with first-time directors as well, such as the Wachowskis with "Bound" or with Alex Steyermark on this film. For you as an actor, is there an extra sort of energy that comes with working with a new filmmaker?

Obviously, I have to believe in them the second that I meet them and I always put them to the grill to find out what their ideas are. After that, I feel very protective of them and I love the fact that this is their first time. I give them extra support because I am always there for the underdog. At some point, people wanted to get rid of Alex on this film-this was even before I became a producer-and I really believed in him and just said that I would go as well.

Joan Jett was originally involved early on at some point in "Prey For Rock and Roll", wasn’t she?

Joan was originally going to play on the soundtrack so when we recorded it, I got to work with her for five days. She showed me guitar things and she was really cool. Unfortunately, through a series of managerial things, we had to take her off the soundtrack. It really had to do with the first producer and some stupid things. She gave me the leather necklace that I wore in the film.

Were there any other performers that you modeled your character on besides Jett?

I watched so many other people. I watched Exene Cervenka from X and Patti Smith and Neil Young-anyone and everyone. Basically, though, I had Cheri Lovedog around and I just started vibing her a little bit and picking up bits of her personality.

Now that you are a full-fledged rock goddess, any sordid tales of life on the road? Hotel trashings? Hot-and-cold-running groupies? Fits over brown M&M’s?

No. I feel like a very boring rock person. I’m doing the show and promoting the film, so I am doing double-press. We are also doing a documentary at the same time so I am just trying to get through everything. Besides, I don’t like trashing things-I like creating things.

-- PETER SOBCZYNSKI

Copyright © 2003 Peter Sobczynski
All rights reserved.
Used with permission
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