Milla Jovovich Talks "Stone," "Dazed and Confused"

Milla Jovovich's character Lucetta in Stone is a study in contradictions -- she's madly in love with her husband (played by Ed Norton), but she freely sleeps with other men with apparently no qualms (or guilt). Part of that could be because her husband is in jail, and one of the men she seduces (Robert De Niro) is to engineer an early release. But even if there weren't something to gain from the encounter, there's a sense of relish to her half-innocent, half-femme fatale who only knows how to get what she wants, when she wants. Jovovich talks about joining the project, becoming Lucetta, and stoners from days long past.

Q: What was your first response when you read the script?

A: It was really refreshing! It deals with so many grey areas in people, how things aren't always black and white, and there are so many flawed personalities, not just my character. I really respect how it raised so many questions about the hypocrisy of people, how they get caught up in habits or routine, how they're not always happy or able to express what they want or need, so they're part of the problem.

Q: Is your character a hypocrite? Do you consider yourself a hypocrite?

A: I think everybody's a hypocrite. It's hard to follow your own advice, you know? And we all make mistakes.

Q: Lucetta doesn't seem to have a moral code...

A: She just sort of does what she feels. She lives in the moment. She's a free spirit, and she's got a real positivity about her. But she doesn't come from a huge education or a good family, so she just sort of drifts along. She's very forward, and she loves to help people, save other people, even if she should be trying to save herself. 

Q: You would normally think her behavior was a kind of betrayal to her husband, but she thinks his reaction to her behavior is the betrayal...

A: She loves him, but I don't think she knows what she's getting herself into. She doesn't think about it, because she doesn't think about consequences. She doesn't think about life, death, the past - she doesn't see the forest for the trees. And so she's surprised and hurt and she feels manipulated, because in her head, there was a positive reason to do it. And to be judged for it, and questioned about it, and made to feel guilty about it? She feels like the man she loved is on another planet. She did all these things to get her husband back, and he's not the same man anymore, so she doesn't really get him back at all.

Q: Even though her actions could be construed as cold, she actually seems very warm to Robert De Niro's character at times. Would she have been with him even without the payoff?

A: She's very sexual, and she's got a joyous nature, so she's kind of open to anything. But in the end, it was definitely in my head that she was running away to a situation she could control.

Q: So how do you relate to any of that? How do you understand her and become her? What's your method?

A: It's weird. A character like that doesn't come along very often, and it's hard, because she is not like me in that sense, so it's a real challenge to get in that mind frame and support her choices. I respect certain qualities about her, like that feeling of joy, like she's a kid, the anything goes part of her. But I probably wouldn't want to be her friend. 

Q: Would you have wanted to be friends with any of your other characters? What about Michelle Burroughs from Dazed and Confused -- the cool hippie chick? 

A: Oh, man! I mean, that was sort of a life-changing experience for me. The part was very small, the cool girl that everyone knew, there's always one in every school, and I was just a kid, so I wasn't even sure about acting, or what I wanted to do, or who I wanted to be. But I got to sing one of songs in that movie, so I was definitely testing the waters for singing and acting at the same time. You know which character I loved in that one? I loved Rory Cochrane in that movie, who played Slater. Anytime he was on set, or in a scene, he was busting me up! That's the character I'd want to be friends with.