13 minute read
Becoming Julia
JULIA STILES on coming of age in New York, the evolution of the entertainment industry, starring in ‘Riviera’ and her newest role, motherhood.
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Actress Julia Stiles first burst onto the big screen and into our hearts with her iconic movies, like 10 Things I Hate About You and Save the Last Dance. Since then, the New York native has starred in the Bourne franchise and appeared in shows like Dexter and The Mindy Project. Today, Julia is star of the hit series Riviera, where she plays Georgina Clios, an American art collector who tries to grapple with the mysterious death of her husband in the glamorous world of the south of France. I caught up with the actress in her hometown to talk about coming of age in the spotlight, how the industry has changed since she first started, her new film Hustlers and her most rewarding role yet, motherhood.
You’re a born and bred New Yorker. Even though there are millions of people that live in the city, you are a rare breed! What was it like to grow up in New York?
It was awesome and I probably didn’t realize it at the time. The city was wild but it was normal to me. New York was very different back then, so it’s easy for me to get territorial or possessive about the nostalgia over the city. But one of the great things about it is that it’s fluid and changes so much. I grew up in a loft in SoHo and attended public school through high school. I didn’t realize how much New York is a part of me until I traveled elsewhere. Each time I come back, I realize that it’s in my blood. I do remember at one point as a child begging my parents to move to the New Jersey suburbs because I wanted to be outdoors more. I’m so glad that they didn’t because by the time I got to high school I was exposed to so much. Living here, you have this level of independence where you can take the bus or the subway and easily go wherever you want to go.
What age did your parents let you ride the subway by yourself?
It was a gradual process and it was always an ongoing negotiation (laughs). I remember being really mad at my parents because they wouldn’t let me walk home from elementary school. We would carpool to school and then I could take the bus back with friends, but you always had to be in a group and everyone took the same bus route. By the end of high school, I could take the subway by myself.
When did you start acting?
When I was 12, I started working with the Fringe Theater Company. My mom, who is an artist, was friends with the production designer. The company was this cool group of adults that I got to play dress up with. They gave me a part in one of their shows and then I became a member of La Mama Experimental Theatre Club. I definitely didn’t think that this was going to be my job until much later, like high school.
So, what made you realize?
When I was in high school and I started auditioning for film and television, then it became something that I really wanted. I eventually got my big break, 10 Things I Hate About You, in the summer before my senior year of high school—the movie came out after I graduated. I still decided to apply to college because I knew that I wanted to go. I took a gap year off to work and then at the height of my career, when I started working a lot more and getting more recognition, was when I went back to school. While I was studying at Columbia University, I was experimenting with the idea of maybe doing something else as a profession. Everyone else was trying to figure out what they wanted to do with their life so I asked myself the same question: what’s my path? I knew that I really enjoyed being an actress, but I was still questioning what all this meant and that maybe I could be open to other things.
As you said, you studied at Columbia and majored in English Literature. Was having a college education something that was always important to you?
I remember thinking when I started becoming really successful as an actress, that if I didn't go to college I would later wish I had that experience when I got older. I think I also, somewhere intuitively, felt like I started to become more recognizable and college was in some ways a bit of a buffer in terms of that whole experience. Back then I was doing a lot of interviews and press for Save the Last Dance, and the story was always ‘she’s going to college’ or ‘she’s a freshman in college’ and I was like, well now I know I have to finish.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of 10 Things I Hate About You. Where does the time go? I, like many other teenagers, identified so much with your character Kat Stratford. She beat to the tune of her own drum and didn’t care about fitting in. Was that role at all familiar with how you were when you were a teenager?
Yes, absolutely! It was one of the reasons I was so excited about that part, which I wanted so badly. It was the first time I had read a role for a teenage girl who was so feisty, opinionated and outspoken. She was a fish out of water but not sullen about that, you know? She didn’t feel sad about it like poor me, nobody likes me. It makes me really happy though that people do still care about the movie and talk about it 20 years later—that’s really special.
How did you manage to stay on the straight and narrow once the floodgates of fame opened?
I definitely had my fun but I didn’t do anything super destructive. I had my embarrassing moments, but for one, social media didn’t exist or it wasn’t as prolific. I was definitely grounded by my family and growing up in the city. There was also a little part of me that didn’t trust fame. When I was coming up in the industry, there were other actresses and famous girls that got a lot of attention for their wild behavior so it was a weird temptation to mimic that, but I didn’t trust it at all. Somehow I knew that would backfire. Today, I couldn’t even imagine; everyone photographs and tweets about everything. It’s like you can’t go through those experimental years privately. You have to be careful, too. You know Facebook, Twitter and Instagram—it’s all permanent and your potential employers could see that. I know, I sound like a mother (laughs).
I read once that you said that you were really hard on yourself about how you looked on the red carpet when you were younger. It’s crazy because I wanted to look like you, so did my friends! I find it interesting why as women we are so hard on ourselves.
Oh my goodness, this is a subject that has been on my mind so much. I was recently talking to a costume designer for a movie that I just filmed. He said something really fascinating to me because we were talking about body image, wardrobe fittings and fitting into sample sizes. He said that women will come into a costume fitting and they will be apologizing for their bodies and saying, ‘I’m going to lose weight, I’m going to be smaller. I’ll fix it; I’ll fix it; I’m sorry. Basically saying ‘I’m bad.’ But hands down, male actors come into a fitting and it’s never about them. Even if they’ve gained weight or something has changed over the course of a film shoot, they’ll say that something isn’t right and the suit needs to be tailored because it’s the wrong size, so fix the clothing. It’s essentially the clothing’s problem. I’m trying to be as a grown up as possible and be aware of all that more. But it’s such a complicated subject. My mom was really good at instilling confidence in me and teaching me to take care of myself but I have insecurities like anyone else. I think as I get older, I’m trying to remember, it’s a meditation and learning how to be grateful for all the things that your body can do, especially after having a kid.
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Do you feel like a superwoman?
Yes! It makes me feel really proud of what my body can do. I’ve learned, as I’ve gotten older, to treat that part of my profession as something outside of me, like a science. I’m sure women in any profession struggle with these issues of body image, appearance and all that, but it’s obviously more exaggerated as an actress. I say this to myself: ‘nobody feels bad for you, Julia. It’s part of your profession that a lot of people would kill for.’
But from an outsider’s point of view, I think that your talent should speak for itself. It should be about what you are offering and how you are making people feel, ultimately.
I agree with you in an ideal world, but I don’t think that’s the way it is, and sometimes I get really cynical about being an actress in that you relinquish so much control. We gravitate towards the pretty face on the camera, but really for a sustained career, you need to have something more interesting about you. But thankfully it’s changing a lot, too. It has really has changed over the course of my career with the Me Too Movement.
That’s actually my next question. So much has changed within the past few years, there is so much more transparency on how women are treated in the entertainment industry and beyond. How have things changed since you first started?
Yes, I think it has 100 percent changed, but we still do have a way to go. If I look back on when I was starting out in my career, I would have been nervous about being an actress in my late 30s and approaching 40 because opportunities were much more limited then. Now I feel like there’s a lot more, and in some ways, I’m more interested in the roles I’m playing now than what was available to me as a teenager.
There’s also certainly more women I see behind the scenes, which is really great. I just worked with director Lorene Scafaria on the set of Hustlers and there was a trickle-down effect because there were a lot more women on the crew. But on the other end, I’ve also worked with bullies and in hostile work environments that I would handle differently now. At the end of the day, it’s an industry that’s driven by economics, so as long as there’s this rallying cry to have more stories, more diversity in those stories and those movies are successful, the more we will continue in that direction.
Speaking of stories, congratulations on season two of your show Riviera and for signing on for a third season! What was it about the script that hooked you?
Well, talk about body image issues or appearance obsession. I decided to be on a TV show that’s all about glamour and the way that these women dress! I think there was a part of me that wanted to explore that facet.
How did you land the role?
I was in the airport coming back from shooting the last Jason Bourne movie and my agent called me and said that I needed to read this script right away. It was definitely in a time in my career when I was having to audition more and pursue things, but they sent it to me. After just reading the first episode I was really taken by it. It was a bit of a leap of faith because I didn’t quite know where the show was going to go, but I thought, this is an amazing setting for a show. I hadn’t really seen anything like it. At the time, the trend in TV was a lot of hyper-realism and gritty material—this idea of a patina or gilded world was interesting and then to get to play the lead in a sophisticated drama was also appealing. There was a lot of dialogue with the producers and the writers. They kept talking about her being an anti-hero and that appealed to me and it was something that I kept fighting for.
Have you had any creative input with your role as Georgina Clios?
Yes! I remember the first episode, they had written a scene where Georgina is told that her husband has been killed. It was originally written that she burst into tears and collapsed on the floor. I thought no, I think that’s expected and something that we’ve seen before. People handle grief in many different ways. I suggested it would be more interesting to show this woman repressing all of that in the way that she presents herself to the public. I'd rather see her vary her grief and then have it come out either with her best friend or in private moments. By just changing that one scene, it changed the whole approach.
Let’s switch gears, you recently became a new mom, congratulations! Did you have any uncertainty about entering into this new and exciting life stage?
I definitely wanted to be a mom, especially after I met my baby daddy (laughs). Before I started dating my husband, the only thing I was hesitant about, in terms of becoming a mother, was making sure that I’d have a good partner. There was a little bit of asking myself, ‘when is the right time to do this,’ but I also felt like, there’s never a right time. Eventually, I said, okay, it’s now. I remember people giving me advice by saying, ‘maybe you should wait until this or that’ and that used to really frustrate me. I was a little bit afraid, but you can’t wait too long, so then I was like this is a priority to me. Let’s get going!
How has having your son changed your life?
It’s the most amazing thing ever! I mean I could gush and gush and gush. But I feel a little bit hesitant to do that out of respect for people who can’t have kids.
You can gush, it’s a happy time!
I love him. It’s totally changed my life in the most wonderful way. He keeps me present. I mean it’s this feeling of utter joy, even in the most sleep-deprived moments. It’s also terrifying at the same time because you have this thing you love so much who you have to protect in the world.
How have you managed hectic filming schedules and the duties of a new mom?
I feel really grateful that I have a profession that will cater to my needs in terms of being a working mother, and not everyone has that experience. It’s changing more, but that’s only a privilege you have being the lead of a show, not necessarily every job. My son would come to visit at lunchtime because I wanted to be able to really focus on him. I didn’t want to constantly be pulled away. I also didn’t want to rub it in the nose of other crew members who maybe have kids and couldn’t bring them to set. But he turned out to be the mascot for our show and it made it a more friendly set, and other people would bring their kids just to visit.
Does having a child reshape your priorities about what types of jobs you’ll accept?
Well there is a lot more to plan for sure, and I have to really love the project that I’m going to be working on because I do feel torn when I’m away from him.
You have said that you and your husband are quite nomadic and move around quite a bit. Now that you have a little one, do you see yourself putting down roots somewhere?
Definitely, I feel like New York is such a part of my soul and I kind of want that for my son. But we fantasize all the time about actually living in France. I think that travel is really beneficial for our family and it’s certainly eye-opening for a child, but one thing I’ve noticed is that since we travel so much, just when we start to make friends, build a community and have other kids to play with, then we get up and go somewhere else. So that will probably wind down eventually.
What is one of the best lessons that you’ve learned about life that you would like to share one day with your son?
Oh wow, that’s a good one, lessons. I guess it’s actually something that my husband said recently. My son was playing with a fire truck, and this woman asked, ‘Oh are you going to be a fireman when you grow up,’ and my husband just said to our son, ‘I just want you to be kind. I thought that’s such a good lesson for a little kid.
It doesn’t matter who you are or who you are dealing with, I feel like being kind is so important. People will always remember how you treated them. It’s the only thing they remember.
Yeah, let’s stop with all the obsession over professions, masculine and feminine traits and what defines you. At the core, the most important thing is to be kind to other people.
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Photographed by Sharon Radisch
Styled by Sarah Slutsky
Interview by Alison Engstrom
ROSE & IVY Art Director Monica Picca; Makeup by Lisa Aharon at The Wall Group; Hair by Michael Thomas Lollo at Honey Artists; Photography Assistant Kyle Aaron Lacy; Styling Assistant Cameron Cipolla; Interns Mia Martins and Calleigh Sheehan
