Neon Interview
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Good Vibrations
After appearing as the narrator in the Woody Allen musical Everyone Says I Love You, 19-year-old Natasha Lyonne takes centre stage as the generously endowed Vivian in Tamara Jenkins' coming-of-age comedy drama, Slums of Beverly Hills...
Is it true you had to wear fake breasts while playing Vivian? I'm a 32A. You could have fitted eight sets of me into Vivian's bra. I'd sit on my bed listening to Carole King's 'Tapestry' with these prosthetic breasts, crying my eyes out. I really began to see how Vivian would feel listening to the words 'Doesn't anyone stay in one place anymore?' while staring at these ponderous new breasts. This girl is a nomad surrounded by wealth and opulence, but we're nothing alike. I have no naivety left but I know how she feels. So you weren't from the Slums of New York? I was brought up in New York, but my parents and I spent two years in Caesaria in Israel while they tried to patch up their marriage. They failed. My mother then sent me to this very posh private school in Manhattan where I hated every single second. The school suggested I leave when Woody Allen wanted me in Everyone Says I Love You. I just couldn't believe that stuff! It was bad enough being with these kids who all lived in mansions while you were in one bedroom with your family. But my grades were just getting good when they suggested I leave. You'd imagine they would have been thrilled for me. Instead they looked down their noses. You have a scene in the film with a vibrator. Ever held one before? No way. The vibrator scene was very stressed. My thinking for that was, Look, anything Traci Lords can do, so can I. That was my motivation. There was a camera over my head and I was lying down thinking, This is not exploitative. Then I heard a voice saying,"Here, take the dildo...now use it," and another voice saying to the director,"How long do you want this to be?" I was thinking, What does a 30-second orgasm look like? I was thoroughly confused. I don't know what women feel about vibrators. I sure hadn't had any experience of them before, I promise you that. Is it true that Alan Arkin took an enthusiastic interest in your 'breasts'? Men's fascination with breasts is totally weird. To me and people like Alan Arkin and Marisa Tomei, the whole thing was just a joke. Alan and I ended up playing ball with them when I didn't have to wear them. We even gave them names - after all, they did kind of get to star in the movie. 
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