James Duval.
Jil: Two nakedly, naively romantic characters. What about those critics who think Araki's a nihilist?
James: Well, sometimes Gregg's film do make people shift in their seats; they're not always easy to watch. But life isn't always easy to watch. [Laughs] And as much as people say, "His movies are in your face; they're really wild and crazy; he has a negative view of the world," Gregg is still a very romantic, idealistic person.
Jil: As you are, too.
James: That's what he related to; that was definitely something I always used to talk to him about. "Gregg, I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die, because I can't be what I want to be. Nobody wants to see love, or let it be what it can be. Everybody has to shoot it down, or be jaded, or think that it doesn't exist, when all you have to do is open yourself up to it. Why can't people do that?" And in a way it was killing me - not physically, but mentally. I was definitely a tortured kid: "I just want to be loved!" [Laughs] "Why can't I get what I want to give?"
Jil: And what did Araki tell you?
James: [Staccato] "Ah, Jimmy, you're eighteen - it's not the end of the world." But it did feel like the end of the world, and he understands that. You know, we were both searching for the same thing - that one magical person, that one magical moment when what you want to give is given back.
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Jil: How realistic do you think "Nowhere"'s depiction of teen life is?
James: In a way, it's exactly the way I remember seeing everything. When you're a teenager and your hormones and emotions are raging out of control, you do develop this sense of hyper-reality about the world you live in. It's like, you are born, you fall in love, and you die, three or four times a day. Your world is the whole world, and if that falls apart, the world is over. And in that sense, I'm surprised at how accurately that Araki has it portrayed it.
Jil: You played a gay teen in "Totally Fucked Up," a young man experimenting with his bisexuality in "The Doom Generation," and now a character that's best described as sexually ambiguous. Why do you choose to go so far from the leading man route? I mean, a Christian Slater or a Tom Cruise wouldn't dream of taking the roles you've taken on.
James: That's exactly why I do it. I don't think that you have to worry about those things, especially in this day in age. And even though the characters in "Nowhere" are gay and lesbian and bisexual and straight, it's less about sexuality and the labels we put on sexuality and more about the everyday trials and tribulations of a teenager - you know, "God, do they love me? Am I going to have sex? I want to run away from this, I want to go the big party tonight, I want to get high. What are you doing with him, what are you doing with her, don't you love me?" You put those labels aside, and it becomes nothing more than the struggle of the human condition. Or the teenage condition, I should say.
Jil: What about your condition, coming from a culturally mixed background? And what, exactly, is your background?
James: My mother is French-Vietnamese from Saigon, and my father is American-Indian and Irish. And when I was going to elementary school in Redondo Beach, California, in the mid-'70s, at the time of the Tet Offensive, looking the way I looked...You know, everyone else was blonde and I was considered a "dog eater," or a nip, or a chink. And if I wasn't that I was "Tonto" or "Bruce Lee." Coming from that, I always felt strange and disconnected. Even in junior high, when I was living more towards downtown L.A. and meeting African-American, Latino, Hispanic, and Asian kids, I still knew that I would never be full-blooded anything; my parents aren't full-blooded anything. I had this anger and resentment towards people, and towards my parents, until I began to understand the human condition, which is the herd instinct.
In the herd, if an animal breaks their leg or gets sick, they kill it. You think, "Well, we're human beings, we have thoughts and reason and we can think and feel on a much higher level." Or, we are supposed to. But I think that will always be a struggle for people, that fight against the animal instinct, that rush of emotion that comes so easy.
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Jil: You're such an idealist.
James: When I was a kid I had faith and believed in certain things, and have become so disillusioned by them. But yeah, I haven't lost my ideals in life or in people. I'd take the shirt off my back for someone; I don't have to know them. But you get to the point when you see so many people who need your shirt and you don't have enough shirts for them. That eats at me.
James: Well, sometimes Gregg's film do make people shift in their seats; they're not always easy to watch. But life isn't always easy to watch. [Laughs] And as much as people say, "His movies are in your face; they're really wild and crazy; he has a negative view of the world," Gregg is still a very romantic, idealistic person.
Jil: As you are, too.
James: That's what he related to; that was definitely something I always used to talk to him about. "Gregg, I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die, because I can't be what I want to be. Nobody wants to see love, or let it be what it can be. Everybody has to shoot it down, or be jaded, or think that it doesn't exist, when all you have to do is open yourself up to it. Why can't people do that?" And in a way it was killing me - not physically, but mentally. I was definitely a tortured kid: "I just want to be loved!" [Laughs] "Why can't I get what I want to give?"
Jil: And what did Araki tell you?
James: [Staccato] "Ah, Jimmy, you're eighteen - it's not the end of the world." But it did feel like the end of the world, and he understands that. You know, we were both searching for the same thing - that one magical person, that one magical moment when what you want to give is given back.
-
Jil: How realistic do you think "Nowhere"'s depiction of teen life is?
James: In a way, it's exactly the way I remember seeing everything. When you're a teenager and your hormones and emotions are raging out of control, you do develop this sense of hyper-reality about the world you live in. It's like, you are born, you fall in love, and you die, three or four times a day. Your world is the whole world, and if that falls apart, the world is over. And in that sense, I'm surprised at how accurately that Araki has it portrayed it.
Jil: You played a gay teen in "Totally Fucked Up," a young man experimenting with his bisexuality in "The Doom Generation," and now a character that's best described as sexually ambiguous. Why do you choose to go so far from the leading man route? I mean, a Christian Slater or a Tom Cruise wouldn't dream of taking the roles you've taken on.
James: That's exactly why I do it. I don't think that you have to worry about those things, especially in this day in age. And even though the characters in "Nowhere" are gay and lesbian and bisexual and straight, it's less about sexuality and the labels we put on sexuality and more about the everyday trials and tribulations of a teenager - you know, "God, do they love me? Am I going to have sex? I want to run away from this, I want to go the big party tonight, I want to get high. What are you doing with him, what are you doing with her, don't you love me?" You put those labels aside, and it becomes nothing more than the struggle of the human condition. Or the teenage condition, I should say.
Jil: What about your condition, coming from a culturally mixed background? And what, exactly, is your background?
James: My mother is French-Vietnamese from Saigon, and my father is American-Indian and Irish. And when I was going to elementary school in Redondo Beach, California, in the mid-'70s, at the time of the Tet Offensive, looking the way I looked...You know, everyone else was blonde and I was considered a "dog eater," or a nip, or a chink. And if I wasn't that I was "Tonto" or "Bruce Lee." Coming from that, I always felt strange and disconnected. Even in junior high, when I was living more towards downtown L.A. and meeting African-American, Latino, Hispanic, and Asian kids, I still knew that I would never be full-blooded anything; my parents aren't full-blooded anything. I had this anger and resentment towards people, and towards my parents, until I began to understand the human condition, which is the herd instinct.
In the herd, if an animal breaks their leg or gets sick, they kill it. You think, "Well, we're human beings, we have thoughts and reason and we can think and feel on a much higher level." Or, we are supposed to. But I think that will always be a struggle for people, that fight against the animal instinct, that rush of emotion that comes so easy.
-
Jil: You're such an idealist.
James: When I was a kid I had faith and believed in certain things, and have become so disillusioned by them. But yeah, I haven't lost my ideals in life or in people. I'd take the shirt off my back for someone; I don't have to know them. But you get to the point when you see so many people who need your shirt and you don't have enough shirts for them. That eats at me.