Журнал Andy Warhol's Interview Россия Interview № 5 | Page 173

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“What?!” And they go “Don’t worry, it’ll be cool,
just give us some money to make a living”. I lost
ten million dollars on the South Kensington Her-
rington Club.
NAOMI: You yourself have been painting since
childhood!
RONNIE: Yes. I have always had art and music
in my life. But if I were to pick up one, I would pick
art. Because art is where I come from. Art became
part of my life way before I picked up a guitar.
NAOMI: Who taught you to paint?
RONNIE: I’ll put it this way: in my dreams I was
taught by Rembrandt, Caravaggio, and Leonardo...
DiCaprio. (Laughing.) Generally speaking, I really
love Picasso, the Impressionists, and the whole Re-
naissance period from Giotto to Michelangelo.
NAOMI: Уour brothers were also involved in art?
RONNIE: They were 8 and 10 years my senior
and I copied them in everything they did. By the
way, it was them who got me hooked on music.
Whenever they played any instruments, I would do
the drums. And I would also get into their high
school girlfriends. I would be chatting with them on
the sofa, thinking “Oh, my, they are such hotties!”.
Terrible little mischief boy I was.
NAOMI: Do you remember who bought your
first art?
RONNIE: Yes. That was Miss Peckham, my mu-
sic teacher at school. I was twelve at the time and
I painted an oil copy of Rembrandt’s self-portrait. She
paid four pounds for it. That nice lady is still alive.
I saw her recently and she said “You are not getting
it back! But you can borrow it for a short while”.
Actually, music and art have a lot in common:
you just follow your imagination. I guess somebody
up there took a liking to me because when I create,
I do it on autopilot. You just lay it on the canvas and
it happens magically right, better than you thought.
And the same thing with music. So I am just blessed
by heavens, I guess! Guitar and art are spiritual
things; I think that is what saved my life. I think
that a lot of people end up doubting themselves so
much, they might think there is no point in living.
The reason why I am still alive is because I’m always
learning.
NAOMI: And teaching others! In the 70s, for ex-
ample, you started painting on photographs and the
whole photo realist movement sprang to life.
RONNIE: I think this is only gathering momen-
tum now, at least, for me. I paint portraits from pho-
tographs or do sketches and color them on my iPad.
Then I transfer them to the canvas and paint them
in oil. I would also quite often paint with my fin-
gers, smudging them with wine, coffee or whatever it
might be.
NAOMI: You like drawing celebrities. Why?
RONNIE: I draw those who are dear to me:
James Brown, Count Basie and Duke Ellington, Sam
Cooke and other great jazzmen. And then, obvious-
ly the Stones. Now I also like painting landscapes.
By the way, Lucian Freud liked my landscapes. And
I think that it was an incredible compliment!
NAOMI: If you could choose, would you rather
have a portrait done by Lucian Freud or by Leonardo
da Vinci?
RONNIE: Leonardo, for sure. Having said that,
it is hard to think of somebody as talented as Lucian.
His passing away last year has left a hole that can
hardly be filled.
NAOMI: Do you have any favorites among the
up-and-coming artists?
RONNIE: I read about this boy wonder, Kieron
Williamson. He is only nine and he already paints
landscapes like Monet. And his works are sold for
hundreds of thousands! Such talents spring from no-
where; we don’t know how and when it happens.
So it is like the Beatles phenomenon — if it is needed,
it will happen.
VANESSA
PARADIS
p. 118
by GASPARD ULLIEL
Paradis’ new role in the drama “Caf é de Flore” is
fundamentally changing our idea of the univer-
sal notion of a sweet girl from Paris. The actress
grew up under the floodlights and can now stand
on her own.
In her fortieth year, Vanessa Paradis has the sta-
tus of one of France’s most important artistic exports.
Fellow actor Gaspard Ulliel, who played young
Hannibal Lecter in 2007, met with Vanessa in To-
kyo: both came to support Karl Lagerfeld’s photo
project “The Little Black Jacket”. Ulliel, Paradis and
other friends of the designer were photographed for
the exhibition in the brand’s legendary black jacket.
During the break between the press conference and
the show, Vanessa and Gaspard lock themselves up in
a room on the 67th floor of the Park Hyatt hotel
in Tokyo in order to have a heart to heart talk. The
futuristic stone megalopolis lies outside the window
as if in the palms of their hands, reminding them of
astronauts flying in space capsule.
GASPARD: When they proposed that I meet
you, I didn’t hesitate for a second, I immediately said
“yes”. And only then did I think: “How terrible! How
stupid journalists must feel”. Even giving and inter-
view is at times far from pleasant.
VANESSA: Relax, think of it as a conversation
between two fellow actors.
GASPARD: And so it shall be! You are already
doing something similar with Patti Smith for Ameri-
can Interview. Do you frequently visit Japan?
VANESSA: No, I just flew here for the second
time in my life. My first trip here was 18 years ago as
part of the promotional campaign for the film “Elisa”,
I worked like mad, I didn’t really see anything.
GASPARD: That happens a lot. People come
here to work. I’ve been here five or six times. First my
fianc é wanted to settle here, and I came for her. And
then for work. Frankly, I don’t like Tokyo—it’s not
very hospitable for foreigners. There are no signs in
English, orienting yourself is impossible. There are
people who simply love it, but this is really not me.
VANESSA: Yeah, most of my friends love Tokyo.
I’m amazed by the politeness and delicacy here, the
local residents are very touching.
GASPARD: There is an island here called
Naoshima. It was created completely by the architect
Tadao Ando—he is considered to be a living god.
This is real contemporary art—and the entire island is
filled with art objects. It’s worth seeing. Although it
seems that this time we again won’t manage to see
anything, Karl thought up a full program. Have you
known him long?
VANESSA: In 1992 I was already the face of the
perfume Coco by Chanel, where Karl was creative
director. And in 2005 he chose me for a handbag
advertising campaign. Unfortunately, almost all our
time together we are working. I feel an incredible
respect and fondness for him. He is very witty, is nev-
er angry or rude, even as a joke. His deliberate polite-
ness is something from the Japanese.
GASPARD: How did the shoot for The Little
Black Jacket go?
VANESSA: Everything was decided in five min-
utes, thanks to Karl’s energy. The photographs
turned out so spontaneous, people are totally relaxed
in them, so that you feel each one’s personality.
GASPARD: You know, in studying your biogra-
phy, I noticed that we have a lot in common. I got
into cinema completely by accident. I’ve been in
films since I was 11–12 years old, after I became ac-
quainted with a friend of my mother. At the time she
was working in an agency and was looking for
a young actor. It was only after some time that I be-
gan to have real passion for this work. But at first...
VANNESSA: It was just by chance?
GASPARD: Yes. Well, you also got into movies
early. I wanted to ask you: did you work towards
a film career for a long time, or did someone offer you
a role right after your first album?
VANESSA: I always wanted to work in cinema.
Musical comedies were my first love. There is every-
thing there: music, film, dance. I also began to sing
due to this love. The first 10 years my own uncle was
my manager, so my meeting with music wasn’t acci-
dental. He took me everywhere, including to the stu-
dio, where I met the producers of Franck Langolff
and É tienne Roda-Gil, the future writers of my
first album. Before that they worked with Sophie
Marceau. I remember when I met her...
GASPARD: No way, you met Marceau?
VANESSA: Just imagine! On that day I stopped
by the recording studio for the first time. I had never
before seen how it all worked, and a new place
is opening up before me, where you sing and music is
recorded. I was impressed! No less than by meeting
with Sophie Marceau herself. Our friendship essen-
tially began then, if it’s really appropriate to speak of
a friendship between a teenager, a grown woman
and two 40-year old men. Franck and É tienne were
just trying to please me: I was always singing under
my breath, and as a result they wrote me one song.
Not with a career in mind, but just for fun. And al-
though “Joe le Taxi” became wildly popular, we
didn’t create it for profit.
GASPARD: It was all spontaneous?
VANESSA: Absolutely. However, soon these
adult men decided that they needed to sell this song,
that someone would be interested in it. It came out in
April, and it was a number one hit already in July.
GASPARD: I remember this moment perfectly.
Unforgettable!
VANESSA: Such things very rarely happen.
After this stunning success I also began to think
about a film career. Everything actually happened so
fast that I didn’t even have time to say to myself:
“When I grow up, I will be a singer or an actress”.
GASPARD: I get it! I didn’t have this heavy phase
when you wonder what you’ll do after you finish
school. The opposite, you’re already working with all
your might, while your friends are worried about how
best to finish college...Do I understand right that
Jean-Claude Brisseau (the director of Paradis’ debut
movie.—Interview) himself got in touch with you?
VANESSA: Well, Brisseau was prompted by fi-
nancial problems. First it should have been Charlotte
Valandrey: Brisseau gave her a lot of work, she even
lost weight for the role. But he could only get money
for the project if it had a big star, and so to complete
filming he decided to put me in the role.
GASPARD: That was your first offer?
VANESSA: No, there were others, but it didn’t
want to do them, I wasn’t interested. But Brisseau is
a serious, respected director.
GASPARD: But did you have time for school?
VANESSA: Nah. I quit. I didn’t have brilliant
marks in school: there was no time, I was on tour in
Germany. Do you mind if I smoke?
GASPARD: Of course not!
VANESSA: It was very difficult in school. (Rolls
a cigarette.)
GASPARD: The same. When I returned after
a film, it took a long time to adapt to school life. I was
spending all my time with adults.
VANESSA: And in extreme conditions!
GASPARD: For sure, where you start growing
up fast. Then you suddenly find yourself at your
school desk, but you feel absolutely out of place.
VANESSA: I agree. You know there is this thing:
in film you feel more protected than in music,