A: Yes. I want to be a director, a painter, a writer, a mother, an actress… all of these in the future.
Q: How are you enjoying your first year of college? Is this one of your greatest challenges?
A: I just finished my paper the other night for History of Modern Architecture and bought my ethernet card which I was too lazy to buy before. Going to college is very difficult. I am living in a dorm. People had a funny reaction at first, but then they realize I pick my toenails like everybody else and they don’t care anymore. They are really respectful and nice. Some will say “Hey I really like your work.” Others come up and say nice things and go away, or just give a nice smile, or just exclaim “Oh!” and run away. Everybody at school is interesting and has a goal of his or her own. They have lots of things going on in their mind. While they may have a reaction of momentary shock, it goes away really fast. Everybody jumps back into their life. It is nice to be away from the industry and around lots of young smart people.
Q: What school are you going to?
A: Brown. It has a really open curriculum. I could also take off first or second semester to do films, whereas it is difficult to do that at other schools. It is also very liberal. Classes are great, and the school has a partnership with RISD.
Q: Have you begun to develop a sense of school spirit?
A: Actually I have never been to a football game or basketball game—a real one—in my life. Frisbee! I played Frisbee for the first time in my life yesterday. I would like to go to some [Brown] games because I’ve never been. I am not so much of a cheerleader.
Q: What projects do you have in the future?
A: I completed another mini-series, this one by Jon Avnet who directed Fried Green Tomatoes. It is called Uprising and it is about the Warsaw ghetto uprising. It is an important story that needs to be told. I also completed L’idole, which is a 100 percent French film shot in France. I am also in Christine Lahti’s My First Mister alongside Albert Brooks. I play a goth chick, complete with a black wig and piercings.
At the next break in conversation a Fox representative interrupted to inform the interviewers that Leelee had to leave. However, she refused to do so before saying goodbye and accepting our many thanks.
Her director, John Dahl has said of her, “I was impressed with what a thoughtful, articulate, beautiful young lady she was. And I believe my jaw hit the ground when I found that at the time of our first meeting she was 16. Leelee is potentially a very good dramatic actress and given the right opportunities she will have a long career ahead of her.” But one with her ambition, intelligence and level-headedness will most likely have a long career ahead of her regardless of her success in Hollywood.