[[CANDIDS]] Street style

On a frosty evening in Hollywood, Selma Blair cloaks herself in London's charm with a stunning tweed poncho.



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[[MEDIA-VIDEO]] Selma Blair And Boyfriend Mikey Day Return Home

X17 Xclusive - November 21, 2009: We spotted couple Selma Blair and Mikey Day returning home together on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles.

[[APARICIONES PUBLICAS]] Dinner Bvulgari

Selma Blair, Woman of Simple Tastes?

November 20, 2009 5:41 pm

It was a reunion of sorts: Ginnifer Goodwin, Selma Blair, a host of fabulous Bulgari jewels, and me. The occasion was Bulgari’s dinner at L.A.’s Sunset Tower last night, in honor of the upcoming Christie’s auction of the Italian jewelry house’s 125th Anniversary Collection. It was just six months ago that we’d all celebrated Bulgari’s milestone birthday in Rome. Any favorite pieces? Of course. “I’m just a simple girl—I’ll go for the rubellite tourmaline and diamond ring, 37 carats,” Blair deadpanned. (It certainly wouldn’t have been out of place in more-is-more Houston, where she just finished a run in the new play Gruesome Playground Injuries; we hear its next stop is Broadway.) Goodwin, in a Rebecca Minkoff blouse and Antonio Berardi skirt, made sure to tell her boyfriend, Joey Kern, “I would bid on any and all of the Serpent bracelets.” They won’t be cheap, but at least they’ll be virtuous: The auction profits go to benefit Save the Children’s Rewrite the Future campaign, providing funds for the education of children living in war zones and other areas of conflict.

—Cameron Silver

Photo: Donato Sardella, Getty Images

tags: Bulgari, Ginnifer Goodwin, Rebecca Minkoff, Selma Blair

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[[APARICIONES PUBLICAS]] Gold carats for a worthy cause

• Cassandra Murnieks
• From: The Australian
• December 01, 2009 7:25PM

BLACK and white was the theme of an elegant dinner Bulgari hosted at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles last month.

The scent of white gardenias filled the hotel's Terrace Room as A-list celebrities mingled around black mirrored tables and white lounges scattered with black and white cushions.

Bulgari vice-chairman Nicola Bulgari, Ben Stiller, Ginnifer Goodwin, Maria Shriver, Rosanna Arquette and Selma Blair were among the crowd invited to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the venerable Italian house on November 19.

The party was the second gathering for the elite jeweller staged in a fortnight, following a cocktail soiree the week before in Miami, at which guests such as Jennifer Lopez, Gloria Estefan and music executive Tommy Mottola sipped champagne and viewed some of the company's creations.

But the two events had a purpose beyond the usual branding and celebrity endorsement opportunities such companies often seek from them.

Both were staged to preview a $5 million collection of the jewellery and watches Bulgari is auctioning in New York next month, with all funds raised from the sale to be donated to Save the Children's Rewrite the Future campaign, dedicated to providing quality education for eight million children living in conflict-affected parts of the world.

"For Bulgari, being part of history and at the same time being able to help change it by giving less fortunate people the possibility of a new future is the best possible way of celebrating its 125 years," says Francesco Trapani, Bulgari Group's chief executive.

The Italian jewellery powerhouse originally announced its support of Rewrite the Future in October last year, donating E1m ($1.6m) towards the cause immediately and pledging an overall goal of E10m to be gathered through a series of fundraising initiatives, including the jewellery auction through Christie's at Rockefeller Plaza next Tuesday.

A silver ring with the Bulgari branding was also created to support the campaign, with a percentage of worldwide sales from each ring going to Rewrite the Future.

Italian photographer Fabrizzio Ferri donated his time to shoot a campaign to promote the initiative, starring Willem Dafoe, Jason Lewis, Ben Stiller and Isabella Rossellini all wearing the ring.

The collection to be auctioned in New York, which was first revealed in May at Bulgari's first retrospective exhibition at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, is the centrepiece of the ambitious plan.

Since then it has toured the world, making pit stops in cities including Shanghai, London, Sydney and Los Angeles on its way to New York, where the jewels and watches will be on display in Bulgari's Fifth Avenue flagship before heading to Christie's.

The auction will feature 11 exclusive jewellery pieces and seven timepieces, some made for the auction and others to celebrate the anniversary.

The most expensive item is a multicoloured sapphire and diamond necklace with a retail value of $US1.05m ($1.14m).

The show stopper comprises 169 sapphires of differing size and colour, totalling 400 carats sprinkled through 951 brilliantly cut diamonds, forming a collar-like necklace with a slightly Egyptian appearance.

Its variety of colour, gems and cuts is emblematic of the Bulgari aesthetic, which is also exemplified by a sapphire and diamond ring designed around a rare cabochon-cut purple star sapphire with a total weight of 60 carats, flanked on by tapered baguette-cut diamonds.

Another highlight is the Lucea, a striking white gold necklace with diamonds totalling 84 carats. Seven rows of circular and square-shaped diamonds end with a fringe of large marquise and circular-cut diamonds in the piece worn by Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen in another of Ferri's campaigns for the house.

Earrings, diamond-studded watches, bracelets and rings make up the remainder of the collection to go under the hammer for Save the Children.

"I am convinced that we will succeed in achieving, and hopefully in exceeding, the ambitious target we have set ourselves," Trapani says.

[[CANDIDS]] Selma on a gas station in Los Angeles

[[GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES]] "Injuries" playwright wins national award

Rajiv Joseph, whose play "Gruesome Playground Injuries" is enjoying its world premiere at the Alley Theatre, has won the 2009 Whiting Writers Award in the playwriting category.

The awards, of $50,000 each in ten categories, have been given annually since 1985 by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation to honor writers showing "exceptional talent and promise in early career." This year's awards were presented last week in New York.

"Gruesome Playground Injuries," Joseph's newest play, depicts two troubled soulmates, Kayleen and Doug, chronicling their 30-year relationship through the injuries each acquires in pursuit of attention and love. Selma Blair and Brad Fleischer star in the Alley production.

Joseph's other plays include "Animals Out of Paper" and "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo," which premiered to acclaim in Los Angeles earlier this year.

[[GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES]] Selma Blair And Brad Fleischer On Vomit, Gore And The Ick Factor

By Margaret Downing in Stage

Fri., Oct. 23 2009


Selma Blair playing Kayleen picks at the blood on on fellow actor Brad Fleischer's face -- an action designed to be both comic and in keeping with the title of the terrific new, two-actor play now on the Alley's Neuhaus Stage -- Gruesome Playground Injuries.

It's always a big step for someone whose best-known work is on the movie screen (Hell Boy, Hell Boy 2 and Legally Blonde), to suddenly do live theater -- but for Blair, it's bigger than most.

She's scared to go onstage, but she picks a show when she shares 90 continuous minutes of duty with Fleischer who plays Doug. She's not a big fan of ick, but gore and vomit are crucial parts of the plot of this dark comedy by playwright Rajiv Joseph.

Blair and Fleischer, who most recently starred in Joseph's play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (and who, if you Google, you can see in a guest role of Timmy the soldier on Jericho), sat down with Hair Balls to answer a few questions between shows. They're relaxed and clearly friends; knew each other before this play, and seem in some (but not all) ways close to the characters they play: the outgoing and athletic Doug who gives too much for love and the more tightly-wound Kayleen who loves and cares, but perhaps not as much, and who cuts herself.

The play bounces back and forth in time as the audience learns of one injury after another that each of the leads incurs from the time they meet at age 8 to when they are both 38.

The injuries are horrendous and have earned the play its mature advisory from the Alley. At the same time, while extreme, they are more than suitable metaphors for the way people have of hurting each other in relationships.

"I think the ick factor of the play is something that keeps the audience visually in check. It keeps testing them. Where did those scars come from?" Blair said. "I'm not an ick fan. I had trouble even looking at him when we were first dealing with the prosthetics in the rehearsal process, just dealing with any blood is very frightening to me."

In contrast, Fleischer said he felt right at home the first time he covered his face in blood. "I come from the horror movie background so I love that stuff. I put the stuff on and I think that's great. I love putting that stuff on."

But Blair is nothing if not a trouper: "I keep my scars on to stay in Kayleen's skin when I'm not at work and then just touch them up before shows."

The length of the one-act show is tough, both agree.

"Having done a bunch of theater before, this is the hardest thing I've ever done," Fleischer said. "It basically is a one-man show where you're lucky enough to have somebody else out there where if you start faltering at all or if your energy starts to drop, you can look at the other person and pick it up."

"Rehearsal itself was really exhausting to me, but the payoff is so important," Blair said. "It's a blessing to get to do a play like this with Brad and with Rajiv's words. I love this play but it does require an endurance I need to find and it's an important play and I need to do it justice eight times a week."

Fleischer was an easy pick for his role, but playwright Joseph said they tried out several actresses for the Kayleen part before they found Blair, who wanted this role for a lot of reasons.

"This play is so close to me. This is a huge huge factor in my life, this play, and it was something I also wanted to prove -- can I do this? I'm terrified of stage, never really sure if I'm a good actress or not and this is a play where you get to figure it out; you get to work through a lot of choices and do it so many times."

At this point, Fleischer broke in to say: "I can tell you exactly why she got it ... We walked in and Selma is nervous and I was nervous for her and we started and ...all of a sudden Selma says 'I've got to stop,' and blood's coming out of her nose. For no reason at all, blood's coming out of her nose."

"I look over to Rajiv and he sits back and goes 'Oh, my God' and was just smiling and I'm thinking 'Rajiv, you can't start smiling when someone's bleeding out their nose.' And Rajiv says to me, 'Are you kidding? This is Kayleen!' "

Gruesome Playground Injuries runs through Sunday, November 15 on the Neuhaus Stage at the Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue. For tickets, go to www.alleytheatre.org or call 713-220-5700.

A special First Affinity Series Symposium with playwright Rajiv Joseph and Alley Dramaturg Mark Bly is scheduled for Saturday, October 24, immediately following the 2:30 p.m. performance. They will discuss the genesis of the play, the rehearsal process and the societal issues raised by the play.

[[THEATRE]] Gruesome Playground Injuries

Stage Performances

[[GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES]] Review: Taking risks pays off for Gruesome Playground Injuries

By EVERETT EVANS Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

Oct. 22, 2009, 5:41Pm

Whew! Sigh-of-relief time!

We'd heard so much about Rajiv Joseph as a promising new playwright that a more-than-ordinary pressure accompanied Wednesday's opening of Gruesome Playground Injuries at the Alley Theatre.

Happily, the Alley's world premiere of Joseph's newest play — his first presented in Houston — delivers on that much-touted promise. From its opening scene, and increasingly as it progresses, GPI reveals an original voice with a knack for blending quirky humor and unexpected poignancy.

Happily, too, the subtle but sure direction of Rebecca Teichman and the achingly human performances of Selma Blair and Brad Fleischer (they're the entire cast) do Joseph's script proud in a terrific rendition.

We first meet Kayleen (Blair) and Doug (Fleischer) as 8-year-olds in their Catholic school's infirmary. Kayleen languishes on the bed with a tummy ache. We discover that chronic “sensitive stomach” and vomiting (with traces of blood, or does Kayleen just imagine them?) will be a lifelong concern for the lass.

Doug bursts in displaying the bloody wounds of his latest escapade: He just rode his bicycle off the school's roof! We discover that Doug is perpetually “accident prone” or, more accurately, an accident enabler.

Doug and Kayleen's conditions draw them to each other in a prickly attraction — Doug eagerly expressing his fascination, Kayleen denying hers. But with the scene's convincingly kidlike obsessions (“Does it hurt?” “Can I touch it?”) and, especially, as it closes with Kayleen tenderly plucking bits of gravel from Doug's hand, we realize the two have forged a lifelong connection, whether they admit it or not.

GPI (if that sounds like a medical diagnosis, in this case it's entirely appropriate) chronicles Kayleen and Doug's relationship through the next 30 years, jumping back and forth in time. We find them at 23, or 13 or 33. Usually, one or the other is in a hospital or institution, or has lost an eye in a fireworks mishap (guess who?). As adults, their encounters occur after periods of estrangement. Though their emotional bond remains strong, the two are never willing to admit that at the same time. Joseph gradually reveals Kayleen's deeper emotional disturbances, her more secretive equivalent of Doug's overtly self-destructive tendencies.

Doug comes to believe Kayleen has a healing power for him — or could. Kayleen rejects that notion and its responsibility. And when the situation is reversed, she doesn't want Doug rescuing her, either.

At first you think, oh cute! a comedy about two oddball kids growing up through a string of crazy mishaps. Yet with its unaffected humor and deep sympathy, Gruesome Playground Injuries exerts a peculiar power to involve us in Doug and Kayleen's troubled lives. That's enhanced by wordless interludes in which the actors prepare for each new scene, donning whatever makeup is needed to suggest the injuries. At one point, simply pouring liquid becomes a potent ritual expressing anger and loss. (Trust me, you'll get it.)

Gruesome Playground Injuries finds a fresh way of expressing human vulnerability, and two individuals' struggle to understand their need for each other. Joseph takes risks, as in a key scene in which circumstances force one character to do all the talking, in a big confessional monologue that pays off emotionally. The unaffected humor, catching what many will recognize as normal weirdness, keeps the play fun and unpredictable. An adolescent first kiss scene is nothing new, but the one in GPI boasts the funniest payoff I've seen in any play or film.

Blair is excellent in her role, challenging because moody Kayleen so often shields herself with a surly, hostile and dismissive exterior. But Blair conveys her real pain, too, her sarcastic humor and her confused longing for Doug.

The engaging Fleischer proves a natural stage energizer in the live-wire role of impulsive, mercurial, energetic and ever kidlike Doug. The contrast between these two may be what makes the team playing so effective. They're the two-car emotional pile-up on the highway of life that you just can't look away from.

Taichman capitalizes on that factor with her shrewd staging of their interplay, from horsing-around to sullen spells. She also guides them persuasively through that tricky now-we're-kids, now-we're-adults stuff.

Taichman capitalizes on that factor with her shrewd staging of their interplay, from horsing-around to sullen spells. She also guides them persuasively through that tricky now-we're-kids, now-we're-adults stuff.

Accident and injury are the human condition, Doug and Kayleen seem to tell us. My own mere half-century on this planet leads me believe there's a lot of truth in what they (and the playwright) are so vividly expressing in Gruesome Playground Injuries.

GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES

• When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays, through Nov. 15

• Where: Neuhaus Stage, Alley Theatre, 615 Texas

• Tickets: $40-$55; 713-220-5700

[[GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES]] Official Web Page

World Premiere – Thought-Provoking, Darkly Funny Gruesome Playground Injuries By Rajiv Joseph Directed by Rebecca Taichman Neuhaus Stage Previews start October 16, 2009 Opens October 21, 2009 Ends November 15, 2009

Gruesome Playground Injuries charts two lives, using scars, injuries and calamity as the mile markers. An imaginative tour de force, the play explores why people hurt themselves to gain another’s love, and the cumulative effect of such damage, of such demands. Director Rebecca Taichman will make her Alley debut. Recommended for mature audiences. Strong language, profanity, violence.


http://www.alleytheatre.org/alley/Default_EN.asp

[[PROJECTS]] Selma in a play titled “Gruesome Playground Injuries”

Blair and Fleischer Set for Premiere of Gruesome Playground Injuries

By Adam Hetrick
08 Oct 2009

Selma Blair and Brad Fleischer will co-star in the world premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries at the Alley Theatre in Houston.

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Rebecca Taichman, who directed The Scene Off-Broadway at Second Stage, will helm the premiere that runs Oct. 16 through Nov. 15 on the Neuhaus Stage. The production is the first play presented as part of the Alley's New Play Initiative.

Blair ("Hellboy," "Legally Blonde," "Kath & Kim") will portray Kayleen opposite Brad Fleischer (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Coram Boy, Streamers) as Doug in the two-hander.

According to the Alley, "Gruesome Playground Injuries charts two lives, using scars, injuries and calamity as the mile markers. An imaginative tour de force the play explores why people hurt themselves to gain another's love, and the cumulative effect of such damage, of such demands."

Designing the production are Riccardo Hernandez (scenic design), Miranda Hoffman (costume design), Christopher Akerlind (lighting design), Jill BC DuBoff (sound design) and Mark Bly (dramaturg).

Blair's extensive screen credits also include "Feast of Love," "The Big Empty," "The Poker House," "In Good Company," "A Dirty Shame," " Storytelling" and "Cruel Intentions." She will appear in the forthcoming film "Columbus Circle."

Fleischer has appeared on stage in Pig Farm at South Coast Rep and Paris Commune at the La Jolla Playhouse. On screen he has appeared in "The Good Shepherd," "Jericho," "The Unit," "Prison Break" and "Over There."

Playwright Rajiv Joseph has penned Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which was produced by Center Theatre Group and directed by Tony nominee Moisés Kaufman last spring. His plays also include Animals Out of Paper, The Leopard and the Fox, Huck & Holden and All This Intimacy. He is the recipient of the 2009 Paula Vogel Award.

Tickets are available by visiting AlleyTheatre. The Alley Theatre is located at 615 Texas Avenue in Houston, TX.

[[PROJECTS]] Selma in a play titled “Gruesome Playground Injuries”

Selma will be in a play called “Gruesome Playground Injuries”, which will be going on in Houston, TX. The show begins performances Friday, October 16 and runs through Sunday, November 15 on the Neuhaus Stage at the Alley Theatre.

The world premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) Gruesome Playground Injuries features Selma Blair (Hellboy, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Storytelling, Legally Blonde, NBC’s Kath & Kim) playing Kayleen and Brad Fleischer (Center Theatre Group’s premiere of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Broadway’s Coram Boy, Off Broadway’s Streamers) playing Doug. Gruesome Playground Injuries charts two lives, using scars, injuries and calamity as the mile markers. An imaginative tour de force the play explores why people hurt themselves to gain another’s love, and the cumulative effect of such damage, of such demands. Recommended for adult audiences. Strong language, profanity and violence.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets to Gruesome Playground Injuries are $21 Cheap Thrills pricing, for the October 17 matinee performance. Tickets for other performances are $40 – $55. All tickets to Gruesome Playground Injuries are available for purchase at www.alleytheatre.org, at the Alley Theatre Box Office, 615 Texas Avenue, or by calling 713.220.5700. Groups of 10 or more can receive special concierge services and select discounts by calling 713.315.3346. The added convenience of reservations by phone or Internet is available for a nominal fee. Tickets purchased in person at the Alley Theatre Box Office have a $1 facility fee.

[[MEDIA-VIDEO]] Selma Blair And Boyfriend At The Beverly Hotel

The paps caught up with Selma Blair and her boyfriend Saturday afternoon. They were on their way to the Beverly Hotel, and as they walked they chatted with the paps about his troubles trying to parallel park.

[[APARICIONES PUBLICAS]] Dinner Of Champions To Attract Stars For Multiple Sclerosis

James Blunt, Selma Blair and Marlon Wayans will be amongst the celebrity guests at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s 35th annual Dinner of Champions in Los Angeles on Wednesday, September 16.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Annual Dinner of Champions will honor Rob Friedman, Co-Chairman and CEO of Summit Entertainment for his continued support in helping the Society move closer toward a world free of multiple sclerosis.

This annual event sponsored by and benefiting the Southern California Chapter of the National MS Society, raises funds that support MS research worldwide, as well as vital programs and services for people living with MS and their families.

The event – which will be hosted by Joe Roth and Tom Sherak and will take place at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel – will also attract stars such as Nia Vardalos, John Corbett and David Lander.

Nota del 14/09/2009

Link nota

Link pág web official

[[MEDIA-VIDEO]] Selma Blair At Dry Cleaner On Sunset

The paps caught up with Selma Blair on Sunset Blvd. Monday afternoon. She was spotted leaving a dry cleaner and getting into her car.

[[CANDIDS]] LOUIS VUITTON BAGS BRIGHTENS SELMA BLAIR’S ATTIRE

Selma Blair was seen carrying Marc Jacobs’ Robert Lexie Bag and a Louis Vuitton Bags. We’re not going to talk more about the LV Luggage, and instead, focus on the handbag since the LV Luggage is already known as every actress’ choice for vacation suitcase.

This type of bag is indeed one of Marc Jacobs’ latest designs, and it’s a good thing that Selma Blair managed to keep up with the trend. The pop of red against her tough black ensemble is simply fascinating that you’d probably even want to stare at it. It is quilted and it is designed with metallic print pattern all over. It opens through a leather drawstring closure with contrasting leather toggles accented with studs. At the front you’ll see a padlock detail with multicolor floral tassel.

This louis vuitton handbags measures at about 21 x 16 x 3 inches, which is enough to give you plenty room for more than just your essentials. This can be carried through its unique metallic webbing handles, which you can place either over your shoulders or arm just like what Selma Blair has shown in this picture.

Now if you want to let this louis vuitton purses stand out as what Selma Blair did, matching it with any of your casual block-colored ensemble would obviously do the job.

[[CANDIDS]] Selma Blair in Monrow

Selma Blair wore a pair of Monrow vintage sweat shorts in heather grey while returning home from a workout. The shorts are retail for $88 and are available for purchase here.

[[CANDIDS]] Selma Blair Likes Titties N' Beer

Actress Selma Blair returns home from a morning workout. She was spotted wearing a pink shirt with the phrase 'Titties N' Beer' on it, that is the name of a track on the late Frank Zappa's album 'Have I Offended Someone?' Selma was once married to Frank Zappa's son, Ahmet Zappa, they divorced in 2006.


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[[CANDIDS]]Selma Blair in Current/Elliott Jeans

Actress Selma Blair is seen out and about in Hollywood wearing an ambulatory electrocardiogram device on her Current/Elliott Boyfriend Cropped Jean in Super Loved Destroy. I hope all is well with Selma.

[[MEDIA-VIDEO]] Selma Blair's Hand Is Feeling Better

We caught up with Selma Blair and boyfriend Mikey Day in Los Angeles. She held onto her hand and said that it was feeling a lot better.

[[MEDIA-VIDEO]] Selma Blair Waves And Says 'Hi'

Selma Blair smiles for the camera and seems genuinely flattered when the photographer compliments her taste in shoes.

[[CANDIDS]] Selma Blair Carrying Groceries

Actress Selma Blair steps out in a black jumper and saddle shoes as she carries home groceries.





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[[MEDIA-VIDEO]] Selma Blair And Boyfriend Mikey Day At Palihouse

Actress Selma Blair leaves The Hall At Palihouse with her boyfriend, actor Mikey Day. The two costar in the NBC series "Kath & Kim."

[[INTERVIEWS]] Playboy

By Stephen Rebello

The Hellboy hottie talks about those girl-on-girl kissing scenes we love so much and insists, with a straight face, that she's the flattest woman in Hollywood

Q1

PLAYBOY: You've starred in movies like Legally Blonde, The Fog and Hellboy, but how does it feel knowing fans would love nothing better than to see you kiss Sarah Michelle Gellar again the way you do in Cruel Intentions?
BLAIR: It's insane how big an impression that kiss has made. It's the one thing people remember me for. No matter what their age, they say, "Oh my God, you're that girl from Cruel Intentions who kissed Sarah Michelle Gellar." I'm flattered. I think it was the first girl-on-girl kiss in a popular mainstream American film, so it broke the door down.

Q2

PLAYBOY: In a short story you wrote for the erotic anthology Stirring Up a Storm, the main character enjoys sexual thoughts about a beautiful young woman she happens to see one day. Are we detecting a trend here?
BLAIR: The assignment was to write an erotic story, and I don't have an erotic bone in my body, so I thought, Just go the girl-on-girl way. Now that I think of it, though, I have done three girl-on-girl kisses on-screen -- Cruel Intentions and Feast of Love, and I just finished Driving Lessons, in which I kiss a young girl. I didn't realize I had done so much lesbian exploration, yet I've never done any in my real life. Gay women do hit on me a lot, though. When lesbian friends tell me they're in love with me after our friendship has been cemented, it always shocks me. Why would they think I'm gay, except maybe because I'm open, loving and don't mind gayness at all?

Q3

PLAYBOY: You just said -- jokingly, we hope -- you don't have an erotic bone in your body. We beg to differ. Don't you think you're sexy?
BLAIR: I do feel like a sexual being but not especially when compared with other people. While I was making The Sweetest Thing with Cameron Diaz and Christina Applegate, I felt like a different species. They're such girlie girls -- adorable, endearing, typical blonde, beautiful-figured women -- whereas I'm a brunette tomboy. I'm kind of missing the gene that immediately endears people to me, but that's okay.

Q4

PLAYBOY: You've done offbeat movies like Storytelling and others like Cruel Intentions that enjoy a huge cult following. But what movie plays closest to what it's like inside your head?
BLAIR: Cruel Intentions holds up after all these years, so it's okay to have it as a guilty pleasure. It paved the way for everything on TV now. It opened people up to how good teenage stories can be. But sadly, inside my head it's more like Woody Allen's Interiors or Bob Rafelson's Five Easy Pieces -- lonely movies with strong imagery and something a little off. I don't have a lot of the teen-genre spirit in me, which is funny because that's pretty much all I've been playing the past 10 years.

Q5

PLAYBOY: A Dirty Shame, which John Waters directed, strays pretty far from the teen genre. Do you know there are Internet threads debating whether your freakishly massive breasts in that movie are real?
BLAIR: I remember some people were shocked when they thought I would disfigure myself like that for a movie. I thought, People are daft. I mean, those breasts are gargantuan. Hideous. Nobody would find them attractive -- well, okay, maybe two people out there would be fascinated by them. No, I wouldn't do that to myself in real life. I remain the flattest woman in Hollywood.

Q6

PLAYBOY: Growing up, how did you deal with the crap you must have been handed for being named Selma?
BLAIR: I've always thought of it as an old woman's name, so I demanded that everyone call me Blair. In high school, when people found out my name was Selma, they'd call me things like Smell-ma or Salmonella. That stuff basically came from friends, and I never really had any enemies, so I just kind of smiled through it. I still don't like my name. It does not fall prettily off the tongue. In fact, it's hideous. My middle name is James, and I like to be called that.

Q7

PLAYBOY: What sort of kid were you?
BLAIR: Creative, artistic, always drawing and writing. Going to school, I dressed differently every day so I couldn't be categorized. Like, one day I'd dress like an equestrian -- very strange. My mom gave me a necklace when I was six; on one side was a smiley face, and on the other was a frowning face. She'd have me flip over the necklace to suit my mood. She introduced me to her friends as her little manic-depressive child. My home life came out of a movie by Wes Anderson -- too stylized to be believed.

Q8

PLAYBOY: Speaking of Anderson, is he on the list of directors you would love to work with?
BLAIR: A long time ago I dated Jason Schwartzman, who is in Rushmore, so I've met Wes, but I don't think he was taken with me. I could definitely see being in one of his stories, and I would love to be. I've prayed to work with Roman Polanski. I wish I could've been in Bitter Moon, exploring that world of heartbreak with him. Whenever I'm in Paris I see him in restaurants, but I've never met him. I keep meaning to write him a letter, but I'd just come off like a stalker.

Q9

PLAYBOY: Did you always want to become an actress?
BLAIR: I started at a great small private school in Michigan, Kalamazoo College, where I had a photography scholarship and was introduced to theater. I transferred to the University of Michigan, where I majored in photography. When I moved to New York, I didn't know whether I'd pursue photography or acting, but I would lock myself in the darkroom for 12 hours at a time. It turned out it was harder to make money as a photographer than as an actress.

Q10

PLAYBOY: Describe some of your photographs.
BLAIR: I didn't have many models I was comfortable asking to pose for me, so I did a lot of self-portraits. But I didn't want them to look as if they were of me, so I made myself up like Magritte's mother, who drowned herself and was supposedly found with her nightdress wrapped around her head. I took a bunch of self-portraits in that state and some very macabre, victim-y ones in which I'd torn off my clothes, found a ditch at the side of the road and jumped in.

Q11

PLAYBOY: Is it true you lost out on an early acting job on Dawson's Creek that put another actress on the map?
BLAIR: I had tested for the Joey role, and it came down to me, Katie Holmes and one other girl. Holmes got it fair and square. She hadn't done anything before that. I remember seeing her walk into the room and thinking, She is just the tallest girl. There's no way they'll give it to her. She won't even fit on camera, she's so tall. Then I ate my words. She was adorable.

Q12

PLAYBOY: In the first Hellboy movie, your pyrokinetic character torches a lot of cool stuff, flirts with Hellboy and looks hot. Do you get to do more in Hellboy II: The Golden Army?
BLAIR: In the first movie, Liz is very much a wounded little girl coming to grips with whether Hellboy is her boyfriend or not. In the new movie she's more sure of her powers. She lives with Hellboy, they have lovers' spats, and there's a lot of humor in that because of our superpowers -- he's so strong, and I'm so fiery. Evil creatures come from the underworld to destroy Earth, and without spoiling it, I'm right along with Hellboy. I'm a part of the force and more of a superhero in this one.

Q13

PLAYBOY: Did you have any trouble unleashing your inner butt kicker?
BLAIR: The one note Guillermo del Toro -- the director and writer -- always had for me was "No, you're strong. You're strong!" I found it difficult to play a really strong woman once I had established her as a kind of child in the first movie. I hope it works. I'm in it a lot.

Q14

PLAYBOY: Have you ever had an erotic thought or two about Hellboy?
BLAIR: Oh my God, yes. [laughs] I have such a huge crush on Hellboy. I find him very sexy. I find his body appealing. He has a great physique, and his personality and humor are really laid-back. It's funny because I'm such good friends with Ron Perlman, and when he was in costume, I was always flirtatious, hanging onto Hellboy, touching him, holding and kissing him. When he'd take off his makeup at the end of the day, I'd be like, "Oh hey, old buddy, put your costume back on."

Q15

PLAYBOY: A guy could get scorched being around your Hellboy character. Who should stay clear of you in real life?
BLAIR: People who abuse animals or children or who throw cigarettes out in the canyons and paparazzi who take pictures of me at six in the morning when my face is still bloated from sleeping. Please, it takes a village to get me ready. Can't you wait until the village has put my face on?

Q16

PLAYBOY: The four years since Hellboy opened have been especially eventful for you, including a marriage and subsequent divorce from Ahmet Zappa, a relationship with actor and model Matthew Felker and a reported rehab stay. Do you think those life experiences informed your performance in Hellboy II?
BLAIR: I was having a much harder time when we shot the first one, going through a terrible breakup and feeling like crying every day. It was appropriate that I played Liz as wounded. In this new one Liz is more confident and, of course, not only older but ready to be in a relationship. I learned a lot in my marriage, and I remain friends with Ahmet. I'm so glad I married him, and I'm so glad I divorced him, because he turned out to be such a wonderful friend after the marriage. I didn't know someone could remain so loving after a certain type of loving was gone. I'll probably be single for a very long time, because I don't want to get into something lightly. I can't repeat former patterns. I admit I know nothing. It's scary.

Q17

PLAYBOY: Do you want to say anything about the 2007 press reports that said you spent a month at the Promises rehab facility in Malibu?
BLAIR: It was written about, but it's something I'm not prepared to talk about.

Q18

PLAYBOY: How big of a bummer is it to have to see a famous ex in a magazine or on TV, dating someone new?
BLAIR: It's very difficult. I pray I don't run into my ex-boyfriends around town. I wish they'd move back to where they came from in the Midwest or someplace. I don't want to see them on billboards or in magazines. It's heartbreaking. I'm very sensitive, and it's hard for me.

Q19

PLAYBOY: What is the most absurd thing the tabloid press has printed about you lately?
BLAIR: That Kevin Federline and I were dating. People were asking me about it. [laughs] Oh yeah, it's going really well. We're really happy. I'm pregnant. Seriously, that was strange. We had exchanged phone numbers at some place, but we didn't even see each other on the night in question. Weird.

Q20

PLAYBOY: You're about to co-star with Molly Shannon on an American TV version of Kath & Kim, the hit Australian comedy series about a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship.
BLAIR: I have long hair for the show, and I feel like a Mormon. Talk about Goth-looking. Thank God I play a brat who says whatever she wants, isn't the friendliest girl, is juvenile and dresses like she's 13 -- in unicorn hoodies, tight jeans and Ugg boots. It's a real comedy, very funny, but a little daunting because everyone's so up in arms that we're going to ruin an Australian show. That's fine. I'm best as the underdog.

[[INTERVIEWS]] Selma Blair - The Pocker House

SELMA TAKES NEW RISK AS ABUSIVE MOM
EXCLUSIVE Selma Blair, The Poker House Interview by Paul Fischer

Selma Blair is one of those actors who rarely repeats herself. On the small screen she played the spoiled teenager in the US version of the Australian sitcom Kath and Kim, and prior to that reprised her fiery role of Liz in Hellboy II. Now she returns to Indie film territory as a drugged out abusive mother in Lori Petty's feature debut, The Poker House, a tough and damaged character. Blair talked to Paul Fischer in this exclusive interview.


QUESTION: So, clearly this was a character that must have spoken to you when you read your script.

SELMA BLAIR: I did. I read the script, and I thought it was beautifully written. And I thought-I love playing characters that have really fallen apart. You know, in ways. I really enjoy that. That's what I think is kind of one of my strengths. [LAUGHTER] And my weakness, you know? As an actress. But-so, this is a woman that fully lost her way, and was so filled with-you know, rage and hate and victim-complex, that there was no way she was probably going to be likable. But, you know, I don't think, really, one is, when they're so gone with drugs and alcohol. I think this is a very honest look at it.


QUESTION: Very strung out, very intense character. What do you do to - or, how difficult is it for you to identify with a woman like this? I don't think you've played a Mom before. I don't even remember if you've played a mother before.

SELMA BLAIR: I might have played a Mom, little bits and pieces where the kid wasn't much of a focus, and as a young Mom, or who knows, you know? But this is the first time playing a Mom who is, essentially, not a Mom at all. I mean, there was nothing maternal about the woman. It was too painful for my character to look at her children, after how damaged she was, and how far she had already come with-with being such a painful experience in their lives. So, my character really-I was just always trying to push the pain away, and numb out and numb out. And it just left me spewing more hate. And wanting to be sexy to make money, and to feel good about myself. It was really refreshing to get to play a character that walks differently, and is really, really ugly at that period in her life.


QUESTION: How important is it for you to take risks as an actress?

SELMA BLAIR: I think it's always important. To stretch your mind and your muscles, and how people perceive you. I mean, people might not agree with me. You know, I think some people think, "Oh, God, couldn't you have stuck to one thing so we'd know who you are? You know, and ever decide if we like you or dislike you. But I don't even know what kind of films you're doing. It's all over the place. But that's important to me. You know, I'm an actress. I'm not a personality. And I want to be a really good actress. So, I think all these experiences-and ones that people don't want to take, because they don't want to be so unlikeable. Well, you know, my hand's up. I'll take it. You know? It's the role. I don't-I'm not in this to be liked. I mean, it's to tell people stories.


QUESTION: Did you try to do any research on this woman? I mean, did you try to meet any recovering addicts?

SELMA BLAIR: No. I mean, God knows, I have enough of that in my life. You know. I mean, my life is filled with people that have completely screwed up and gotten back together and haven't, and-you know, everyone has had such major screw-ups. Almost everyone that I know. So it was easy to go to that place. And I know plenty of people, you know, that are in the midst of major, major drug use, that have abandoned their lives. And it's heartbreaking. But, you know, I didn't meet Lori's mother, who it's based on. And so I was a little nervous, but Lori kept me in check. And - but her mother-she has a great relationship with her mother now. You know, her mother's one of the biggest supporters of this film, and as a fan, and loves it, and wishes she had a bigger part in the movie. You know, she can really look out of this-- you know, a time in life that everything went wrong. So, they've all recovered now.


QUESTION: Now, what's happening with you next? I mean, I take it Kath and Kim is gone.

SELMA BLAIR: Yeah. Kath and Kim is buried. Although you can get it on DVD, I hear.


QUESTION: Was that a learning experience for you?

SELMA BLAIR: It was a real learning experience, and I'm glad we got our season out of it. And it was kind of, in a lot of ways, my goodbye to playing a teenager. You know, it was this arrested development, vapid young woman I'm playing. And for me, that role was a real stretch. To let go of my vanity, to play Kim on this Technicolor show on a network, where you have so many cooks in the kitchen kind of messing with a creative process, if you're not used to that medium. It was a real challenge for me, and I'm glad I had that experience. And I'm glad I'm getting to flit around on film again.


QUESTION: What are you doing next?

SELMA BLAIR: I'm shooting a film called Columbus Circle, that George Gallo wrote and is directing. He wrote Middlemen, and directed Middlemen, that was just at Cannes with Luke Wilson and Giovanni Ribisi, and that's an amazing film. I loved it. So I saw that film, and was very eager to do this one. And so we're shooting it right now, in LA. I play an heiress who's a shut-in. A complete shut-in, in her apartment.


QUESTION: And do you think there'll be another Hellboy?

SELMA BLAIR: I wish there would be another Hellboy, but I don't know. I don't see it, and Guillermo's busy for the next four years doing hobbit movies. And-you know, I just don't know. But I would love to. You know, the second Hellboy really paved the way for an amazing third one, and I feel like the characters are owed it. But, you know, that's not how this world works.


QUESTION: What else would you like to do besides acting? I mean, do you want to direct or produce?

SELMA BLAIR: I would love to produce, I would love to direct. But honestly, I don't know if I have the confidence right yet. I really would love to get a place where I feel safe with my career. But maybe one never feels safe until you take a chance, and break out of the mold, and make things happen. But I really want to write. Writing is the one that I feel a calling for the most.


The Poker House
Starring: Selma Blair, Bokeem Woodbine, David Alan Grier
Director: Lori Petty