DRAMA QUEEN PART II

DREAMLANDER FAMILY

Mink Stole.

CCF: (LOL) That whole experience with the Dreamlanders, how crazy was that?

MS: It wasn’t crazy at all.

CCF: It wasn’t?

MS: No, we were actually incredibly professional. People seem to have this image that we were all just hanging around, taking acid, going out shooting stuff and making it all up. We weren’t doing that.

CCF: Really?

MS: John wrote every word. He was adamant that every word was spoken as written. We didn’t have time or money to be fooling around. This was way before digital and film was expensive. We had to come prepared. There just wasn’t any money for retake after retake after retake. We had to come in and do it the first time.

CCF: Right.

MS: Everything was done in master shots, which meant if a scene was five minutes long, we started at the beginning and finished at the end. There were no cutaway shots, so if somebody blew a line four minutes and thirty-eight seconds into the scene, we had to start from the beginning. It was five minutes of wasted film. We were really incredibly disciplined. We started and we worked until we finished. There were no drugs on the set that I was ever aware of and we were incredibly disciplined. And nobody wants to hear that.

CCF: (LOL)

MS: (LOL) They like the other story better, but it wasn’t like that at all.

CCF: You watch these films and you just wonder. I figured it was either one way or the other. It was either crazier than it seemed or not at all.

MS: It was not at all. We had a good time. We weren’t marching around like autompatons. We laughed. We liked each other. We had a good time. But we did all our laughing and got all of that stuff out of our systems at our rehearsals. By the time we got to the set and the cameras were rolling, we knew what we were doing.

CCF: Do you ever go back and watch any of those movies?

MS: Nu-ugh.

CCF: No?

MS: No, I was there. For me those movies are very bittersweet because so many of the people that I love are no longer with us.

CCF: Right.

MS: They’re fun and every so many years somebody will try to persuade me to come over and watch one and I just can’t. For me, they are almost like home movies.

CCF: Yeah, it’s sad. There’s you, John and Mary…

MS: Mary Vivian Piece, yes.

CCF: But most of the original people are no longer with us.

MS: Pat Moran is still with us. She’s one of John’s producers. She actually knew John before I did. She was there since the beginning of the beginning. With the loss of (costume designer/makeup artist) Van Smith last year, that was really devastating. He’s a guy that should have won an Oscar.

CCF: I had read something you said, that working on John’s movies always felt like a family reunion.

MS: It does. I really enjoy going back to Baltimore and working on his films. Not only do I get to be with people that I love and respect and all that mutual touchy-feely stuff, but I also get to spend time with my actual family. I still have family in Baltimore.

CCF: What was it that made you move to L.A. and get away from Baltimore?

MS: Well, I left Baltimore in ’77. I actually spent years in New York. I haven’t lived in Baltimore for 30 years. I was actually recently considering moving back, but I changed my mind. There are people there that I love, both family and friends, but I like it in L.A.

Mink Stole and Jim Verraros.

CCF: When you’re working on a movie now, like this “Eating Out 2,” what’s the biggest difference between being on the set for a movie like that and a movie you did way back in the early days?

MS: Actually, they are more similar than you would imagine.

CCF: Really?

MS: “Eating Out 2” was done in a very short period of time. It was done with a very tiny crew and in that respect it was very similar. It was digital so we could do more than one take, but it was still fast. It was, “Okay, scene done, move on” without the forty or fifty people that have to get in between this scene and that scene. In a sense, it was very similar. Also, the fact I wasn’t able to change my line when I wanted to. (LOL) So it was very much the same.

CCF: Looking back at all the stuff you have done, what are some of the movies, or scenes or moments in the movies that you are the most proud of?

MS: I love my character of Taffy Davenport in “Female Trouble.” That will probably always for the rest of my life be the favorite role I’ve ever played. I related on a very deep level with Taffy.

CCF: Right.

MS: I love the court room scene in “Serial Mom.” In the early days, I love the scene in “Pink Flamingos” when I’m interviewing Sandy Sandstone (Nancy Crystal). There are other things as well, like a movie I did a couple of years ago called “Girl Play” directed by Lee Friedlander -- which we actually have another movie that is coming out. It’s called “Out at the Wedding.” I actually haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t tell you about any scenes I love in that movie, but I really enjoyed working on it. But there was a scene in “Girl Play” where I am eating in a Chinese restaurant with my daughter that I really enjoy. You know there are kind of bits and pieces here and there. I actually haven’t ever given it that much thought.

CCF: I haven’t seen many of the movies you’ve done lately. Is the part you had in “Eating Out 2” kind of typical of the stuff you’re doing?

MS: Well, it is the third time in a few years that I have played the mother of a gay person. In “Girl Play” I play the mother of a lesbian and in “But I’m a Cheerleader” I played the mother of a lesbian.

CCF: Yeah, that was one of them I didn’t realize you were in.

MS: “But I’m a Cheerleader”?

CCF: Yeah.

MS: I play Natasha Lyonne’s mom. Bud Cort and I were Natasha Lyonne’s parents.

CCF: That and also Gregg Araki’s “Splendor.”

MS: I had a moment in Gregg Araki’s “Splendor.”

CCF: (LOL)

MS: It was actually a fun moment though. I played an agent. It was actually a really good scene. I liked it.

CCF: What was it like working with Gregg Araki? I met him at CineVegas last year and he just seems like a really down-to-Earth person.

MS: He’s a sweetie pie. I had a great time with him. I’d like to work with him again. I just had a few hours because I did the one scene, but I liked him a lot. He was lovely.

CCF: Getting back to the John Waters movies and whole family aspect; something I read said people like Rikki Lake sort of immediately became a part of the family.

MS: Rikki Lake was a part of the family. She was instantly. So was Patricia Hearst. They just kind of walked into the door and were immediately comfortable. It doesn’t happen with all the actors. A lot of them come, do their job, they have fun while they do it, but you never really connect with them again. But Rikki and Patty, they instantly became family. And they’re both really fun to have around.

CCF: I was wondering with “A Dirty Shame,” did Selma Blair, Tracy Ullman and Johnny Knoxville become adopted into the family?

MS: Every now and then I run into Johnny because he lives not too far from me. I like him very much. He’s a real sweet guy. I never see Tracy and I never see Selma.

CCF: How often do you and John Waters stay in contact?

MS: We stay in touch. Not constant. We don’t chat on the phone every day or anything like that. Lately I’ve seen him quite a bit. I saw him in New York about a month ago. He came to a show that I did. We’ve also been talking because the “Hairspray” premiere is coming up. We talk not that often, but I guess regularly.

CCF: Does he have any projects in the works that you are going to be involved with?

MS: Well, he has a movie, I don’t know if it is in the works yet or not. I know he’s got the idea, but I don’t know the status of it. If you ask if I’m going to be in it? I don’t know. I would say probably, but we haven’t discussed it.

UNIVERSAL BIG SISTER

CCF: One of the things about you I was surprised to learn is you wrote an advice column?

MS: I did. Yes and it was actually really good. I mean I gave really good advice.

CCF: I imagine a lot of people are kind of shocked to hear that. What was the reaction while you were writing this column?

MS: It was interesting because it wasn’t published in L.A. It was published in Baltimore, so I didn’t have people stopping me in the street and asking for advice. People actually respected me. First of all, I am a middle aged woman. I’ve been around awhile. My life experiences have certainly not been the average. People would come to me as somebody they trusted who might actually understand what they were going through. There are people you can talk to and people that you can’t and I’m sort of the universal big sister. My whole life people have been coming and talking to me. I try and give really good nonjudgmental advice.

CCF: And you also have this rock band?

MS: I do have a band.

CCF: And you are still performing now?

MS: We haven’t performed for awhile, but yes, we will perform again. I just performed with the house band in New York. But I am still singing. I’m actually at the moment looking for material for an album. I have some stuff I would love to do, but I’m still getting the resources together. What’s fun for me is to take songs that were originally in one genre and change them to something else. I’m not the only person that does that or anything, but I do like to do that.

CCF: As far as material, you don’t do much writing yourself?

MS: I don’t write songs. There are so many people that do it so much better than I do that writing songs for the sake of originality is kind of pointless.

CCF: You kind of feel like “why do it bad when someone else does it good”?

MS: Exactly. If I had something that I really need to say, but I don’t. I can write prose, but writing songs is different and there are so many people that do it so much better. I can sing. I can front a band and I have a great time doing it, but it's two separate talents.

CCF: I’ve never heard any of your stuff. What’s the style you tend to perform?

MS: My range is sort of a little bit of jazz, a little bit of rock, a little bit of pop. I have a single on iTunes from the “A Date with John Waters” album called “Sometimes I wish I had a Gun.” It’s almost sort of like a stalker sung in sort of a Julie London style.

CCF: Were there actually two different bands or…

MS: Well, the personnel has changed. I’ve added musicians and swapped musicians, but there are a couple of people that have always been in the band.

CCF: What’s the name the group goes by?

MS: We call it My Wonderful Band. There’s no point in naming a band when my name is Mink Stole. Its like, “Oh, yeah and Whatever, blah, blah, blah will be playing.” Nobody would know who that was.

CCF: Right. Right. What’s the reaction you get from people when they recognize you on the street or they come up to you at one of your shows?

MS: People are generally nice. Usually if they hate you they don’t bother to come up. (LOL) People rarely approach any kind of celebrities unless they have something nice to say. A lot of people will come up to me and say, “Oh, I’ve seen you in all of your movies.” And I know generally that’s not true. They’ve seen all the John Waters movies, but I don’t challenge them on it. Because they are fans and they are trying to say something nice. But sometimes I’ll go, “Oh, did you see this one?” or “I have this coming out.” And they’ll say, “Oh, I didn’t know you did that.” So sometimes I’ll enlighten them, but I’ll never challenge them. I do get the occasional person that will come up and want to say all my lines to me. That does happen, but not that much. And people often express they are surprised at how I can sing. They say, “I didn’t know you could do that.”

CCF: You’re just one of those kind of people that seems like full of surprises.

MS: I surprise myself.

CCF: You’re one of those people that the more you peel away, the more you uncover.

MS: I’m really not that interesting or all that deep. I’ve just done a lot of stuff.

Mink Stole in “Out at the Wedding.”

CCF: So what else is going for you right now? Are you working on any other movies or what exactly?

MS: I’m not actually working on one now, but I have one coming out. “Out at the Wedding” is playing the Seattle Film Festival in June. It is also playing the Frameline Gay and Lesbian Festival in San Francisco. I’m really excited about that.

CCF: To wind things down, I wanted to get back to the movie “Eating Out 2” real quick. I really enjoyed you in that…

MS: Thanks. I am really pleased with the movie. I wasn’t real sure how it would come out. I’m glad you like it. I thought it was a really fun little film.

CCF: I could definitely see you doing some drama and different things.

MS: Thanks.

CCF: I’d like to see that happen.

MS: Me too. (LOL) I think it would be fun. Every now and then I think, “I wonder what Julianne Moore’s reject script pile looks like?”

CCF: (LOL)

MS: She gets a lot of really good stuff. There are certain actresses that get really, really good stuff. Not that they don’t deserve it. They get a lot and there must be tons they don’t want that would be perfect for me.

CCF: Right. You’ve done some theater work though, right?

MS: Yeah, I’ve done a lot of theater.

CCF: Have you done any recently?

MS: Not for a while. It’s been four or five years since I did my last play. Every now and then I will pop into a play for a few weeks. I did that last year. But a play really requires an enormous amount of time.

CCF: Alright, well, I thank you for talking with me.

MS: Thank you too. Okay, sweetie, well I’m going to let you go. Thank you very much.

- CCF, May 2007