Venice: You have three movies coming out almost in a row. Did you shoot them without a break?

I took six months off starting [last] September and just went to high school for a little while because for two years before that I had just been working. And I wanted some real time because I was feeling really depleted and hollow. And I didn't feel like I could give any more emotions. I felt like I couldn't cry for myself or for anybody else. I just needed some life experience, because I didn't have a life anymore. And that was six months long enough, so I went back to work.

Venice: How are you planning on balancing your schoolwork and your career?

I'll just go to school for six months, and take six months off. I wish I could go solidly but I just don't think I can do that. I'm so excited about going to college; I can't wait.

The classes I want to take are some sort of conglomeration of literature, psychology, philosophy, fine art, art history, film, film history, and that's it.

Venice: Are you one of those people who loves to learn?

I like being fascinated by new things and I like discovering new things. I don't think I'm one of those people who's like, "I've got to learn about this. I've got to learn about that." I'm a little lazy sometimes, too. I really love sleeping more than anything else. And I'd rather just sleep all day long. I'm pushed to work. I have to wake up in the morning to go to work. If something really excites me I just delve into it. And if it doesn't, I get so bored and annoyed.

Venice: What excites you?

Invention; creating things; new things that are invented or discovered or created in everything-people, the design of a chair, the technology of a tape recorder. Anything. Literature.

Venice: What are some of your favorite books?

Love in the Time of Cholera, which I just read. I think I read A Hundred Years of Solitude maybe two years too soon. I want to read it again. But I loved Love in the Time of Cholera, just loved it. I don't know. I was in the mood for that romance, I think. I was so happy in that place. I didn't want to leave.

Venice: Do you have certain tricks, like reading romance novels, to take yourself out of a very difficult role?

I definitely read that to take me away. I read The Unbearable Lightness of Being right before. I did so much research [for "The Uprising"] that it was very depressing. Then I read The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which is a different atmosphere. But I have to be careful because sometimes I'll jump completely into another place. And then I really want to be in that world and all of a sudden I don't want to go back to the other one. Like if I bring a book with me on set it's really dangerous. If I have a good day away from work then I can really read, but I don't have days off very often. If I'm reading something that's not pertinent to work, then I end up being caught up in that other place.

Venice: You were probably doing a lot of reading lately. You put yourself through the ringer with The Glass House and Joy Ride.

Yeah, I guess so. [laughs]

Venice: What about The Glass House appealed to you?

I thought it was a really good film in terms of the fact that it could appeal to all different age audiences. It's quite suspenseful and a scary subject. I think when I first read the script way back when, my whole family thought, "Gosh, this would be one of our worst nightmares." What was quite incredible with the making of the film though, was that they built the house in a studio. So all the interiors that you'd think were an existing house, are in a studio. They built this million-dollar house with marble floors, running water, and a pool outside in a studio so they could move the walls, change the ceiling heights, and make the walls smaller and bigger depending on what the situation in the house seemed to be. It was incredible to shoot in this studio. And they had a 360 degrees blown-up photo that went all the way around the house so that in all the windows you had this view of the mountains taken from the actual exterior house. And you'd watch this sunset and you'd say, "Wait one second, I'm just going to watch this sunset," and you'd watch and you'd watch and you'd honestly forget it's a huge photograph. It was so real that we actually shot in the swimming pool and what's around me is a picture. So look for that next time you see it.

Venice: The character of Ruby is definitely the heroine, but when it starts out she is a bit of a:

Bitch.

Venice: I was going to say bad girl.

Okay. I think she's very much an ordinary girl put into unusual circumstances, and you end up having someone that's not that much of a hero in her life actually; she's just a girl with her clique and all of a sudden this girl who hasn't been a hero is forced to become one, and does become one, and I think that was kind of interesting.

Venice: How did you prepare for the role of Ruby?

A big key to preparing for me is observation, and observation of many different people. I think the Ruby character is a character that everybody knows. She's not really mean, she's not really remarkable at first, though she becomes remarkable in her way. I've been to school. [laughs] I've never been part of a group of four girls, but there's certainly something you can see. There's not that much research going into her because there's nothing at first that makes her that remarkable, and that's kind of a big key to her personality.

Venice: Tell us about Daniel Sackheim, The Glass House director. He did a really wonderful job.

It was actually his first feature film. He had directed a lot of episodes of "NYPD Blue" and "The X-Files," as well as this show called "The Harsh Realm," which got cancelled, but was really cool.

Venice: So you were familiar with his TV work?

I wasn't 100%, but I rented it. [laughs] I really liked "The Harsh Realm." I thought it was really great for TV. He also directed the miniseries "The Sixties."

Venice: Joy Ride is also a suspense film, but very different. What about Joy Ride appealed to you?

It was a suspense film, which I've never done before. John Dahl's an excellent director. The script was scary and funny. Whenever the predator isn't shown it's scarier. When you don't know what Godzilla really looks like, when you can't see the shark in Jaws, it's your worst fear.

Venice: Or when you don't see someone 100% naked on screen but you just see a little bit here and a little bit there it's so perfect in your imagination because you create what you find sexiest.

So in Joy Ride you never really see the evil guy in the truck. You see the truck, but you don't know which truck it is. And it's great. It's really exciting, and funny as well. It's got some comedy from the Steve Zahn side.

Venice: That scene where the shotgun is pointed at your head was pretty menacing.

Yeah, that wasn't too much fun. I had to keep checking the shotgun repeatedly. No, it wasn't too bad. I [hope] it's the only time in my life I'll ever be wrapped up in Saran wrap like that.

Venice: Since you were not experienced with suspense films prior to Joy Ride, did you have to place a lot of trust in John Dahl for some of the more grueling scenes?

Well, I really wanted to work with John Dahl. It was like, 'Oh my God, John Dahl suspense film, okay.' I think he's a really great director, and I love Rounders and Last Seduction a lot so I jumped on. Once a director is good it almost doesn't matter what they're doing. If they're confident and they want to do something, then I could be doing a total spoof comedy, which I'd actually like to do, and it would be great.

Venice: The role of J(ennifer) in My First Mister was a bit of a departure for you, at least outwardly. How did you prepare for J?

I had a friend who was a little bit like her and a lot of times when I say, 'through observation,' it's not just, 'Oh, she did that facial movement, I'm going to do that facial movement.' In fact ,there's never much of that. It's more, 'If I was in this person's situation, how would my life be different?"

For My First Mister I studied a few friends of mine; I studied a little bit of self-mutilation; Sylvia Plath poetry reading [laughs], that type of stuff.

Venice: One of the interesting things about My First Mister is that the character of J starts out very vulnerable. The standard progression in a film would be to see the tough-looking girl as hard in the beginning, then watch her softer side develop. Did she start out as a girl just wanting to be loved in the script from the beginning, or was that something you added?

I'm sure it was in the script in the beginning in a way; I'm sure it was in my interpretation in a way. I have to think back for a second. Filming always becomes like big holes because you do jump into another character and then you jump back out of it.

I'm sure if someone else played it, she might have been much tougher in the beginning. Okay, here's the difference. I think when you see a character like that with other people, she's one way, but when you see a character like that by herself, she's another way. If you could generalize and say, "That type of character," if you see that type of character on the street, they're very tough. The reason they're very tough is because they're very vulnerable, otherwise they wouldn't have to prove they're tough on the exterior. So if you see someone like that alone in her bedroom, she might be crying; if you see her on the street, she might say, "Fuck you." And the only reason she would say, "Leave me alone, I hate you," any harsh thing she can come up with, is because she wants someone to fight to be close to her because she wants someone to love and accept her.

Venice: You mentioned moving on to different roles. When we last spoke you said the character of J was closest to you. Now that you've had a little distance from the role, is that still the case?

She feels the closest to me in that she's strange. I'm stronger than she is, though I think she's strong at the end [when] she gains her strength and confidence and she doesn't need to present her anger or pain on her exterior. She's strong enough to contain it on her interior and she can share it with people, but she doesn't need to prove to anyone that she's been hurt or that she's had a hard life.

I think I feel closest to her in the way that she's kind of adventurous, has quirky tastes. So much of me kind of went into that character, I love her a lot. I guess in terms of similarities none of the characters that I've played yet have really been me, but they've all been people that I could kind of be friends with. But I think in terms of all the characters, she's the one I'd most like to be friends with at the end of the film. She's undergone a progression and I really like her inside; I think she's very interesting.

Venice: It's so interesting to listen to you talk about it though, because you refer to her as a completely separate person.

Yeah. At the end of the filming I got really depressed and for a little while I kind of became like the J character at the beginning of the film. I went a little bit too deep into her character and I was really sad at the end of the filming. I didn't choose to do that. I didn't say, 'I'm going to be a method actress and jump into this character.' But I ended up doing that. I really like her a lot. I don't mean I really like me a lot, but I feel she's an interesting person. Like a Joan of Arc was interesting to play because she's an interesting person.

Venice: How much of the development of J do you credit to Christine Lahti?

Christine Lahti gave me such a tremendous amount of freedom. It was really great. I really got to jump in and create this person. I had so much freedom. We went to a goth club together, which was very funky. I think it was like our third meeting or something, and so we went to this goth club, but we had gone to dinner before so we weren't very goth. But it was great and I've been back many times. I love it.

Venice: Since we're talking about directors, who are some of the directors you'd like to work with?

These are the questions I always get stumped on. I'll watch something and I'll think, "I've got to work with this director." But then I don't remember. It's almost too many things to desire. I really want to work with Monte Hellman. Then you want to work with all the good old masters, like the wonderful men of 70, so there's always that desire. I want to work with Kimberly Peirce.

Venice: Since you mentioned masters, were you surprised by how much attention [before I can finish asking about her part in Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, she interrupts]-

Yes, I thought that was crazy. I didn't quite understand that. I think it's really funny. If I watch those two scenes I can't stop laughing. I find it so funny, I think, because I don't know what he [Kubrick] thought, but I think he thought I didn't realize what my character was doing and I did. Then maybe he knew that and that's what he liked. I was 14 and I didn't have boobs and I had fake silicone things in my bra, so I can't watch those scenes with a straight face.

Venice: Did you have any expectations about working with Kubrick?

My mother did an independent study on him in college. So she knew a lot that she didn't tell me. In fact she knows a lot she never tells me. She's so secretive. She was definitely excited and she tried to let me know it was incredible I was working with him, but she also didn't say, "Oh my God, this is Stanley Kubrick, do you realize?" I just knew she was happy I was doing it, and she thought it was really cool I got to work with him, but I didn't know how important it was until afterwards, when every single person I met was like, "Ahhhh."

He was just so mysterious. Normally when you go to do a part, you meet the director. I didn't meet him. I auditioned on videotape in L.A. And that got sent to London; then I went out and the first three days I was there I didn't meet him. I was in this dressing room upstairs and I knew there was this man downstairs in the studio. And when I finally got to meet him, I shook his hand and he had these very intense eyes. We just sat there staring at each other and I was like, 'Wow, those eyes.' I was so fascinated by his eyes.

Venice: It's not everyone who would ask Stanley Kubrick for a lock of his hair.

I asked Donald Sutherland for a lock of his hair and I think I lost it. I'm so upset. So I'm hoping there's a premiere or press junket where I can get another one from him.

I remember when I asked Peter O'Toole for his hair, I don't know if his assistant was mad at him, but he just went up and took that big a chunk [holds hand up to indicate size].

Venice: Going back to Kubrick-and this could apply to acting as well-do you think because acting wasn't your first desire, you had a certain amount of fearlessness starting out?

Yes. That sounds good. [laughs] I think so. Sometimes when you want something to be so right and so perfect, it doesn't [work out]. Or even if you go to see a movie and everybody tells you, "This film is the greatest film you're ever going to see," then you go to see that movie and you just hate it, but people tell you, "Ahh, this movie is okay," you go, and a lot of times you really like it. Then you come out and you feel really happy because you think you're going to get something that's mediocre and you actually get something that's good.

So I think because it didn't matter to me so much-it was just something I thought was fun-I definitely didn't have as much invested. I mean, I wanted to do a good job, and I wanted to do a good job for the people that decided to hire me, so it's not that I didn't care, because I did care a lot, a lot, a lot, but, again, I didn't think it was the end of the world. It wasn't my dream to be an actress so I thought if I failed it would be okay.

Venice: What is most fun for you about acting?

It's so exciting. There are 100 or 200 people all of a sudden randomly thrown together, all working for the same thing. And it's so exciting to have all of these different people, all coming from different places, all coming together for the same thing-just to make a good movie. But they're all interested in different aspects of that film.

You think, 'When I'm filming, people are judging my acting.' Actually, the only person who's looking at my acting is the director. The cinematographer is looking at the lighting and the camera work; the make-up person's looking at my make-up. They don't care if I batter the scene. If my make-up looks good, that's the take they want. Everybody's looking at different angles, but in the end they all want the same thing; they all want it to be a good movie that people go see and enjoy.

I also love the traveling. I love meeting all the different people. That can also be sad as well though, when it's time to say goodbye. I've met so many fascinating people that I normally would not have met. I enjoy jumping into other bodies. It's a way that helps me understand other people a lot more. I think I've become much more accepting of other people by finding different parts of myself, which I think everyone can become everything and have everything in them. There's not any one aspect of it that makes me say, 'Oh my God, I love acting.'

And I kind of do love acting and I kind of actually don't at all. It's something that I feel I almost can't live without now, because I enjoy the pattern of it. I kind of enjoy saying, 'Oh no, I don't want to wake up at six in the morning and go to work for thirteen hours and be tortured and have Vaseline all over my body because I'm supposed to be in the middle of this sewer.'

Venice: At what point did you know you could act? Was there one epiphany?

I don't think there ever was. There were always fun little celebrations of it that made me enjoy it. When I first did this TV film and it came on, my family all had an ice cream cake and we watched it. We were all kind of happy and it was fun. But there wasn't ever a moment where I thought, 'Wow, I'm really good. I can act.'

There's always a moment with other kids where it's like, "So you're an actress. Cry." I'm like, 'Fine,' and I cried. I think that made me feel good. But I definitely never had a moment where I thought, 'Wow, I can act." There was a moment in My First Mister where I said, 'Okay, that's acceptable. That can pass.' There's one particular moment where Albert Brooks is in the hospital and I thought, 'There's nothing I can do, me personally, better. I wouldn't change it if I could go back.'

It's difficult to say there's a moment when you're doing it, because when you're doing it, you're just doing it. So you're just feeling things.

Venice: You've been nominated already for an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

It's like, 'Oh wow, they think I'm good. That's cool.' But it's like trusting the opinions of strangers. A lot of times people will like things that I really hate or that I find awful. And if lots of people will like my work, and lots of people like an actress or a singer I think is terrible, maybe if they like me, I'm terrible, too. So it can feel good and it can also feel: But I think awards do nominate good people for the most part, so it makes you feel good.

I don't think acting is the be-all, end-all thing. I don't think it's the greatest thing to be an actor. I just don't. I really enjoy it and I really appreciate it. If I meet someone and I love their work, I get really excited.

I think people, for some reason, put so much importance on actors, athletes, and musicians, and that's wonderful. But it almost feels like that's kind of become the God. That's what people worship; that's what they have instead of having a Torah, or a cross, or a Buddah. In their home they'll have a poster of an actor or actress, an athlete or a singer; that's what they'll kind of obsess over. It's almost like a religion or ode to live by. And it's very strange. These are the people that so many people admire; but why do they admire them more than a wonderful teacher?

Venice: Who do you admire?

I do admire actors, actresses, and athletes, but I just think it's strange, that's all.

Venice: Why do you admire them?

Because I'm interested in their world.

Venice: Even though to most people you're part of that world.

Yeah. When you see an actor you get transported out of your life into their life. And in a two-hour period what they go through is always so intense compared to an actual day in somebody's life that you feel like you've been in their soul and in their stomach and then that they're a real person and they're actually different. And that seems fascinating to you. Or a musician makes you feel the same way. Painters certainly don't get as much attention. Neither do authors, architects, or composers. I don't know. I think I'm just being annoying right now. Just ignore me.

Venice: Who have been your biggest influences outside of the world of acting?

My family. I know that sounds like the normal answer, but it's really true. Nobody would be who they are without their family. Whether their families are good or bad, they make an impact on that person. But it's like they've created a monster. I think people can be different from their parents, or very similar to them. And I'm very much myself, and very much a combination of them. I definitely have my own distinct personality, but they instilled so much in me. Just kind of introducing me to something and letting me discover it myself.

Venice: I've read where you're very close with them. Does that make the thought of going off to college a little sad for you?

I absolutely cannot wait to go away to college. I love them with all my heart, and I wanted them to come to France with me 'cause I had lots of sex scenes and I wanted my father to be there to let everybody know, "Hey, leave my daughter alone. I'm a tough French dude."

Venice: So when it came to shooting those scenes was your dad there?

[laughs] Oh, I kept my dad away. I was like, "Nope, you cannot come." My family has mostly been in the South of France. I kind of didn't want them for that at all. And I don't think they wanted to be there either,

Venice: Did those scenes go okay?

The French are very strange in their attitude toward love scenes.

Venice: How so?

They don't want to wear anything. [laughs] I mean nothing. And I guess they're more comfortable that way. I can understand being more comfortable that way, though it didn't make me much more comfortable. It was a kind of comical situation, but I think the scenes went really well. I think they are actually going to be very, very good ones.

Venice: Who's directing this film?

Samantha Lang, a young Australian director. She did an independent film called The Well, which was really good.

Venice: Let's talk about A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries. Tell us about working with Kris Kristofferson.

He's incredible. He is one of the most wonderful people I've ever met. I have such a huge amount of respect for him, and his family is so wonderful. He's one of the people that I'd really like to ask all the different paths and steps of his life that he's gone through. He has such a perfect life right now. And his wife Lisa is the most charming, wonderful woman, and he's got the greatest kids. I'm in such admiration of him. I just think he's incredible.

He is so real and so no-bullshit it's like people are incapable of bullshitting around him. You'll actually see the biggest bullshitters come near him and they either have to go away or be honest. He just exudes this energy of being such a great man that you're just honest with him. And he's so good and nice.

Venice: A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries was early on in your career. How valuable was that as an educational experience?

It was wonderful. I also made two great friends on that film. The young gentlemen that plays Francis [Anthony Roth Costanzo]; he goes to Princeton and he's so smart. And Jesse Bradford, who played my brother, goes to Columbia and he's so smart, interesting and nice.

Venice: What other actors would you like to with?

Philip Seymour Hoffman. Meryl Streep, of course. Al Pacino. I really love Kathy Bates. I think Whoopi Goldberg's great. Maybe I'll do a comedy with Whoopi Goldberg. That sounds great. I like Cate Blanchett.

Venice: I know you had a crush on Morgan Freeman.

I love him. He was my first crush. The first time I ever blushed in life when I was conscious of it was when he walked by me. I was in an elevator with him. I hadn't met him during the filming, but then at a press something for Deep Impact I met him. He said, "I have a granddaughter your age," and I just kind of went bright pink. He really had this incredible aura about him. I met him so briefly, but I'd love to work with him again. He's a phenomenal actor, and he's a really nice guy, too.

Venice: How was it working with Jon Voight in "The Uprising?"

Jon Voight's work came after [mine], but I met him randomly at a party in Los Angeles-it was like a teenager party for some teen awards show. And amongst all of these teenagers I see Jon Voight walking through. I was like, 'What is he doing here?' I couldn't figure it out. Then he came up to me, gave me a compliment, and I was just kind of shocked. He was so nice and charming. This was before we even knew we were going to be in ["Uprising"] together. And afterwards he invited my girlfriend Audrey and me to come sit down, so we sat down at his table. We just started talking and he was so lovely. So that was my experience with him. But it had nothing to do with filming.

Venice: You have such a rapport with older actors. Do you like working with young people, as well?

It makes it a lot more fun. It doesn't necessarily make it easier. I have a much better time because I get to act a little bit more childish. Like with doing an interview for a particular magazine, depending on my mood, sometimes I'll be with someone 70 and I'll want to act like I'm three. But if I'm with someone that's 70, I'm going to want to enter their world. So if I'm with people who are 40 all the time I'm going to be in that energy, and a lot of times I'll like it better than someone of 18, 19, 20, or 24. I recently have not been feeling age at all with people. I think that's because actors don't grow up. They just don't, especially male actors. They stay children. It's one of the strangest things.

I think it's also going to be strange to go to college, where everything is based on age. And people keep telling me, "Oh, well people actually pay attention to that." And that doesn't make any sense to me. I think that's actually going to be a bit confusing for me.

I'm kind of nervous about people saying, "Oh my God, you're Leelee, I love your work. Bitch." Or people who are like, "Oh my God, I really want to be your friend." Then others are going to be like, "Guess how she got into this college?" I'm kind of nervous about all those things. Or teachers giving me too hard or easy a time. I hope they don't care at all. And most of them won't.

Venice: Talking about age, do you see yourself as being in both the teen and adult worlds? Or is that not of concern to you?

It enters my mind. If I'm doing an interview, depending on the magazine, I'm going to act a certain way. Not meaning I'm not going to be myself, but I will be a different part of myself. Like if I know this is Venice magazine, I say to myself, "Okay, I'm going to show the Venice magazine side of Leelee." If I'm doing YM and it's the "love issue," I'm going to do the love side of the YM side of Leelee, which is still one hundred percent me, but that's just me on that subject, in that feeling, in that mood.

Venice: So, what's the Venice side of Leelee?

I don't know. All these random things I'm talking about. [laughs]