Photo: David Armstrong
No matter how much we love a woman like Tilda Swinton, there are only so many pages in a magazine. Here are a couple choice quotes from the extended interview she gave Out Editor in Chief Aaron Hicklin.
On becoming a part of gay director Derek Jarman's circle:
When I went to live alongside Derek in Derek's world, I was sort of a changeling. I was stepping into living in a gay world, as someone of indeterminate sexuality. And I was looking at it again, and I was wondering why that's my home, and it continues to be my home. And I think the thing is this -- and I've never thought of saying this before, so I hope I say it right -- but this feeling of pressure, this projected pressure to conform which I know gay children feel from a very early age. You don't have to be a gay child to feel it. That feeling is real, and it's real for people even outside the question of sexuality. It's not a willful gesture on my part, it's a resistance.... It's like the moss grows over again, and you have to cut it back.
And a slightly longer version of her story about going bare-faced on red carpets and the battle over making Narnia's White Witch do the same:
Here I am, in this town, going to these events, and it's still remarkable to turn up on these red carpets with no makeup. It is remarkable, apparently. I mean, remarks are made. It is extraordinary for women not to wear eye makeup. It's not a huge deal when you think of all the radical gestures you might be making, yet even that... And it's not doing it for effect, but just to keep clearing back space in which one can be oneself. When we made the Narnia film I remember we were putting together the look of the witch, and one of the first conversations we had was about her look, black hair, and red nails, red nails, and black eyeliner, and I sort of said, "Oh really, why?" and they said, "Well, she's the epitome of evil." And I said, "Well, that's interesting. Why did you want me, then, because I'm very white, and is she not the White Witch?" And I gently started suggesting that she would have no makeup. When it came to the question of eye make up I remember suggesting very specifically -- we're talking about a committee, not even a creative committee, but a committee of executives -- that I have no eye make, and it came back, "But you do know she has to be beautiful, don't you?" and I said, "Well, are you saying that it is impossible for a woman to be considered beautiful without eye makeup?" and the answer came back, "Yes." These are the sorts of tiny, tiny battles that one has to deal with, and it's ridiculous.
Read the full profile with Swinton at Out.com.
Previously > The dream life of Tilda Swinton
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