But would you say that supermodels are really becoming an extinct specie?

In a certain way, yes. I think that the Supermodel Effect cannot be repeated today with the new generation and not because there aren’t any models but because of what I was just saying to you about fragmentation. Supermodels are a sort of brand of the 90s, they represent an epoch, they cannot be cloned and neither can the Beatles. Today, even if a model does everything and is on covers of magazines, one can’t define her as a Supermodel.

And a Supermodel is someone that one morning, without notice, can receive on their secret home fax number a proposal to take part in a Stanley Kubrick film. Something which countless of actors would kill to have. How did it happen?

I’m telling you, it was like being on the set of an espionage film. I’m still wondering how he managed to find my numbers. Anyway, I was in New York when I receive a call. The voice says, ‘Goodmorning, I’m Stanley Kubrick, in 5 minutes you will receive a fax with two scenes from my next film (Eyes Wide Shut). I can’t let you have the entire script as it is secret. Thanks for accepting.’ He had no doubt on what my answer would have been. So the fax arrives and I read it. First scene: I was naked and high on drugs. Second scene: beautiful dialogues, but still naked. Third scene: I’m dead and still naked. I call him back and say, ‘Great, but could I perhaps wear something?’ No. ‘You have to act naked.’ ‘Ok well in that case I’m sorry but I am not interested.’ End of my story with Kubrick.

Disappointed?

For not having worked with a maestro of the calibre of Stanly Kubrick, yes, but not for that role.

You have nevertheless acted in films, your first movie was Inferno, directed by the great photographer, Ellen von Unwerth.

To be honest my first was actually a short film, also directed by Ellen, which was called Blonde Devil, created with five friends, one of which was Vincent Cassel. It still makes me laugh when I think of it.

Speaking of blonde: is the rumour that you would bleach your hair with vodka and lemon true?

That is the classic ‘grandma’s recipe’ which is known amongst models: when you’re in the sun, put juice on your hair, which will bleach it, and then throw on some vodka, which lightens it even more, but also burns it. If you want to burn your hair, it’s the perfect recipe. Don’t try it.

Who me? With my white hair? No, definitely not.

Interview © Claudio Castellacci for A.

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