Mary Harron has very eclectic tastes. With her feature film debut, I Shot Andy Warhol, the writer/director introduced us a glimpse at her own unique indie style. She then unleashed American Psycho, which pretty much blew everyone away and made Christian Bale a star. Now, quieting down a bit, she’s given us The Notorious Bettie Page, a look at the infamous real-life pin up icon of the 1950s, starring former “It” girl, Gretchen Mol.
Hollywood.con: How did you become interested in Bettie Page and her life?
Mary Harron: A long time ago, when I was working on a TV magazine show, a friend of mine gave me these Bettie Page fanzines and said “Why don’t you do a little story about her?” So, we did some investigation and got very interested and did a proposal on it. But they rejected it because if Bettie Page wasn’t going to be on camera, there was no point in doing it. Of course, the whole thing about it was that she had become this recluse and had sort of disappeared. And would only be interviewed, if ever, over the phone. And wouldn’t be photographed. I wrote different, longer versions of it and kept trying to get people to do the story. Every time I tried, it got a little bit longer. Eventually it was going to be a longer thing for HBO but then it just turned into a feature film.
HW: Why shoot in black and white and color?
MH: Well, I was guided very much by the photographs themselves. The photos in the New York area were almost all in black and white, that ‘50s New York, where you think in black and white. Very beautiful, very high contrast black and white. Then in Miami, the photographs of Bettie are from Bunny Yeager, these gorgeous Technicolor shots. And emotionally, it works out. Florida was a place Bettie escaped to, it was a paradise to her. Whenever she’s really happy, the film bursts into color.
HW: Have you ever met Bettie Page?
MH: No, I haven’t met her. Unfortunately, we were negotiating with her lawyer and he ended up selling her life rights to somebody else, a competing project. She’s basically a very private person. But I was lucky enough to meet a lot of people who knew her. Her first husband, Billy Neal. Paula Klaw, who I met with several times before she died. Lot of people who photographed her. Her brother Jack. So it was a process of putting it all together. Also, my friend Sam Green, who gave me the original idea, was a researcher and did a lot of interviews too.
HW: You said a 20th Century woman’s life was defined by what year she was born, that if Bettie been born 10 years later, for example, how things might have been different. Can you elaborate?
MH: When you look at the jobs that were available to [Bettie] at the time–a typist, receptionist, telephone operator. She was bright girl but she came from a poor background and missed her one opportunity at a scholarship. So basically she could earn more in one day in the Klaw studio than a whole week in a typing pool. To her, it was the total freedom. She enjoyed doing it and making her life. She took the opportunities that came to her as a beautiful girl in the 1950s. And in that light, modeling was a fantastic thing. Of course, it was also the era of the pinup magazines. So the whole thing coincided.
HW: Why do you think she gave up her career?
MH: By the time she decided to quit, she was a little older. She became a model when she was 26, starting rather late in life. She was in her 30s when she quit. She was looking for something, a lot of her dreams had not worked out for her, like her dreams of acting, marriage. A lot of things had gone wrong. The Senate hearings. She was made to feel ashamed. Public shame is a very hard thing to deal with, very traumatic. So she went back to something that was a comfort to her when she was young, her religion. I think one of the keys to Bettie Page, particularly mysterious because of her Christianity, was that she was not judgmental. Even now, when she has an interview about it and she’s a Christian, she says, “I don’t regret the things I did.”
HW: Really, the pictures Bettie posed for are so tame compared to what we see now.
MH: I know. I think one of the ironies is that the Senate hearings [portrayed in the film] were coming down so heavily on Irving Klaw, but it was really just the end of an era. The ‘60s were just around the corner, bringing an avalanche of sexual material they never dreamed of. They had no idea what was coming next.
HW: I read this quote, too, that I liked on a Bettie Page Web site: “You mention her name to most, you get blank stares. You mention her name to some, and you get a knowing look that rocks the room.” It’s amazing how her popularity has grown over the years.
MH: She’s much more famous now than she was in her heyday. I think young women have discovered her and think her to be an icon. But think Bettie was just in her own world, in her own bubble and just loved posing.
HW: Has Bettie seen the film? Did she give it a stamp of approval?
MH: Paula Klaw’s son saw it and said it was a very accurate portrayal of Paula [played by Lili Taylor]. Bettie has seen it but I think it’s still difficult for her because she is still dealing with it. I think the Senate hearings were the most upsetting to her, even though that’s one part of the movie that’s taken from the actual transcripts of the hearings. I think she found that upsetting to be reminded of that. But she was very impressed with Gretchen.
HW: Gretchen Mol does an amazing job as Bettie. She was an “It” girl herself at one time, but then fell off the map.
MH: Because Gretchen had that experience she could bring more to the role. She knew about the pitfalls of being a pinup girl, or you know, a movie girl, “It” girl, whatever. She knew a lot about it and brought that to the table.
HW: It was also a pretty gutsy performance as well.
MH: Yes, a lot of nudity. That was very brave of her to do. But I think one of the reasons Gretchen was able to play Bettie so well is because she also has that attitude towards her body. She’s very natural, like Bettie was.
HW: Anything new on the horizon?
MH: Yes, I’m working on a new script with a friend about New York punk rock in the ‘70s. And some of my favorite people will make an appearance.
The Notorious Bettie Page is currently playing in limited theaters.
