Kim Kardashian and Chlo? Sevigny Bond Over Serial Killers, Ryan Murphy Shows and Accents: ‘My Voice Is So Distinct and Annoying’
Kim Kardashian and Chlo? Sevigny share a love of high fashion, classic Hollywood glam — and Ryan Murphy, one of television’s most prolific creators, who also happens to be their mutual boss. Kardashian has appeared on television as herself since 2007; she currently can be seen on Season 5 of “The Kardashians” on Hulu. Now the reality star and influencer is transforming into an actor and producer of scripted projects. Kardashian’s first series regular role was on the recent season of FX’s “American Horror Story: Delicate,” in which she played Siobhan, a personal publicist with a double identity as a witch who draws power from Satan. It’s quite a debut! (For her next show with Murphy, an as-yet-untitled legal drama also for Hulu, Kardashian will use her legal expertise to play a divorce lawyer.)
In Murphy’s anthology series “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans,” Sevigny, herself a style icon for decades, plays C.Z. Guest, the elegant New York socialite. Guest — with her understated, patrician glamour and biting wit — was one of Truman Capote’s few friends who stuck with him after he published a vicious story in Esquire. Sevigny will next be seen in Murphy’s upcoming Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” playing Kitty Menendez, the doomed mother of the brothers.
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Here, Kardashian and Sevigny share notes on fame, adopting accents and how Murphy portrayed Kim’s family — including her late father, Robert — on “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.”
CHLO? SEVIGNY: You have appeared as yourself on camera since you were …
KIM KARDASHIAN: … in my 20s.
SEVIGNY: And now you’re transitioning to being somebody else on camera. How was that?
KARDASHIAN: I really enjoy it. It started off as something that was a challenge to myself, and I got an amazing opportunity to work with Ryan Murphy, who you know.
SEVIGNY: Did you go to him, or did he go to you?
KARDASHIAN: He came to me with an idea that was kind of reality-based, and I wasn’t into it. And then he said, “I really want to write something for you. Would you consider doing ‘American Horror Story’?” I obviously know the franchise — and it was an honor. Sometimes it just takes that one person to really believe in you and give you that push.
SEVIGNY: Playing a publicist — I’m sure you’ve had many. Or have you been devoted to one throughout your career?
KARDASHIAN: I’ve had two. One always told me to be more realistic about my goals, and just didn’t believe in me. And I just was like — you kind of believe them for a minute. But once I got a little bit of confidence and figured out what I wanted to do, I just changed.
SEVIGNY: She rang very true. Maybe too true.
KARDASHIAN: It’s funny, I was really channeling my sister Kourtney and someone that I work with. And everyone, when it came out, they were like, “That is Kris Jenner all the way.” And I was like, “I guess I had that preparation already, but it’s not what I was thinking.” But I so see it now.
SEVIGNY: Everybody asks me about C.Z.—I think I’m playing my mother. Or who my mother wants to be, or an interpretation of how my mother thinks a woman should be. In the moment, sometimes you don’t realize it, and then after, it crystallizes.
KARDASHIAN: I know that you wore C.Z. Guest’s clothes. Does that help you channel your character?
SEVIGNY: I guess. The whole process — hair and makeup, wardrobe, especially of a woman from a certain time period and of a certain class — all of that helps.
KARDASHIAN: I’m a big fan in owning memorabilia, or pieces with energy from people that I love. I wore Marilyn Monroe’s dress once, and I just took it all in. And I actually bought a watch of Lee Radziwill — or Jackie’s, but Lee had it. I would always probably just take a moment and be like, “This is so fucking cool to have her pieces!”
SEVIGNY: It’s cool! But there’s such a level of responsibility to, obviously, her memory and her friends and family. I was thinking about you, and you must’ve seen the Ryan Murphy “O.J.”
KARDASHIAN: I loved it. Some people were over and they hadn’t seen it — I watched it years and years ago — and I wanted to see if my recollection was right on the portrayal of my dad. I thought it was just done so well. I remember asking Ryan, who were your sources? Because that was my dad’s exact bracelet. That was our home! They actually rented the home that we grew up in at that period of time. Little things were wrong, but minimal. But it was just fascinating to watch and see it from a different perspective, especially now, since I’m in law school. Seeing it from a legal point of view is just fascinating.
SEVIGNY: And are you talking about anything you’re developing?
KARDASHIAN: We can talk about anything.
SEVIGNY: Playing a lawyer?
KARDASHIAN: I’m going to be playing a lawyer, a high-powered divorce attorney. I will be channeling Laura Wasser, if that resonates with anybody.
SEVIGNY: And you can really own that legalese.
KARDASHIAN: Lawyer talk is a completely different language.
SEVIGNY: I don’t want to play one! That’s too much dialogue to learn. I’m losing my memory.
KARDASHIAN: I’m really excited about it. And, again, that confidence that he believes in me to take this project on means so much to me. And it feels so right as a character that I could be a lawyer in real life and play one on TV.
SEVIGNY: Ryan Murphy’s great to have on your team.
KARDASHIAN: I’m obsessed with serial killers — anything morbid, I’m obsessed with. I was on set of “American Horror Story,” and one of the producers came up to me and said, “You’re not going to believe the next series we’re working on. It’s the Menendez brothers.” Tell me everything.
SEVIGNY: I’m playing Kitty Menendez. We’re playing interpretations of her, so I’m not necessarily playing her truth, which I’ve found very difficult.
KARDASHIAN: I grew up right down the street from the house that all happened in, and everyone went to the same schools. I remember hearing about that case. But my dad drove me by the house and told me the story. And he had been in the house. Since the boys are still alive, if they tried to connect with you, would you be open to it?
SEVIGNY: I think it’s a slippery slope, and I think the legal aspects are really dangerous as well. I’ve done a lot of true crime, and, honestly, I find it a little mentally exhausting just thinking about those responsibilities to the victims, to even the killers and their family members. But I was reading a lot of Dominick Dunne’s pieces that he wrote for Vanity Fair about the case. There’s no footage of Kitty, who I play, but I’m working with the great Javier Bardem. He’s playing my husband, Jose.
KARDASHIAN: What’s that like working with him?
SEVIGNY: It’s a little intimidating. Although he’s more of a goofball than you might expect, he takes his craft very seriously. He’s never on his phone, which is so weird. We’re all in our phones all the time, and he just sits on set and communicates with people.
KARDASHIAN: The one preparation tip that I got from an acting coach is never bring your phone on set. I was like, “Can it be in the trailer? Where does the set start?”
Do you find it difficult to take on an accent and to really become a character?
SEVIGNY: I do find accents very challenging. I’ve done accents before and have been asked to then drop them. So now I’m super in my head about it and really paranoid that I’m just bad at them. And even actually with “Feud,” C.Z.’s accent. I don’t want to use the word “nuts,” but her accent’s pretty nuts. Are you going to do an accent?
KARDASHIAN: I would be open to it, especially because I find my voice is so just distinct and annoying.
SEVIGNY: Don’t we all find our voices annoying? But yeah, because people know you — I mean, they know the way you move, the way you talk, because you’ve been on camera for so long. Trying to hide within a character must pose a different set of challenges. I think also you have that aura. You’re like this persona, like a movie star, where you’re so magnetic that I think you can play anything and people will be drawn to you. So you’re blessed.
KARDASHIAN: That’s so nice of you to say!
SEVIGNY: I heard you have a hundred different projects in development.
KARDASHIAN: Not a hundred — maybe four. Yeah, it’s been fascinating, learning the business in such a short period of time.
SEVIGNY: But you grew up so adjacent to the business, and having a famous family from being so young.
KARDASHIAN: My feeling was that “OK, every year I want to do something that makes me terribly uncomfortable,” to where I can just grow and hopefully be a better person because of that terrifying experience. And the first one was “SNL,” and I just was like, “I don’t know if I can do it.” I had said no a few times. And then finally I got the confidence to say, “I’m going to try it. It makes me so uncomfortable, but it’s just a week and in one week it’ll be over.”
SEVIGNY: Live. You’re crazy.
KARDASHIAN: Actually, on the day of, I wasn’t nervous.
SEVIGNY: I love how much you love working.
KARDASHIAN: I do. Maybe it’s a deflection of other stuff, I don’t know. But no, I generally genuinely love working. It’s like my happy place.
Going to the Academy Awards when you were nominated, being so young — it must’ve been the most amazing, overwhelming experience ever. How did you feel?
SEVIGNY: We were really surprised that the movie “Boys Don’t Cry” had gotten as much attention. We filmed in Texas for two dollars, but I was obsessed with Brandon Teena, who the movie is about. And I love the part that I played, Lana. Then the movie just caught on, and this whole awards campaign business started, and I was like, “What is all this business?” Because actually when I had started acting, I was like, “The moment I appear in People magazine, I’m going to quit acting.”
KARDASHIAN: You made it!
SEVIGNY: And then “Boys Don’t Cry” came out, and everything changed. Of course, this is pre-internet. This is a 100 years ago, ’99. People started getting very interested in my sense of style and my fashion. It was something they could grasp onto.
KARDASHIAN: What did you wear?
SEVIGNY: I wore Alber Elbaz for Yves Saint Laurent. And I went with my boyfriend at the time, Harmony Korine, and I lost. Angelina Jolie won for “Girl, Interrupted,” which was not a supporting part, I would say. Not that I’m bitter! But it was a very competitive category that year. Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Toni Collette and me — it was just great actresses. My desire was to be more of a character actress, which I’m hoping people recognize in me more now than maybe they had in the past. But maybe a leading lady; I wouldn’t refuse.
KARDASHIAN: You are a leading lady.
SEVIGNY: Thank you, Kim. I have a 4-year-old, and I have not been going to the movie theaters very much. I have to say I’ve been a bad member of the film community, and I feel really guilty about it. Growing up, were you a big cinephile?
KARDASHIAN: I was always going to the movies. I could remember any rom-com, any sad film, any love plot. And it’s so interesting what I’ve chosen to gravitate towards. So the films that I really love are not going to be sophisticated at all.
SEVIGNY: That’s OK!
KARDASHIAN: Yesterday I was absolutely blown away, stopped in my tracks, couldn’t believe it, emergency family meeting at the movies: My mom had never seen “Troop Beverly Hills.” And literally she is Shelley Long. She was our Brownie troop leader. I mean, it was, like, her.
And we watched it, and she was crying over the fashion and all these stores that don’t exist anymore. And we were like, “Oh, we can never drive down in a Rolls-Royce in Beverly Hills these days. All the shopping bags out? You’d get robbed.” It was such a different time. So I love nostalgic movies. I just always have memories of who I saw something with. I always loved during the holidays when the big movies come out and seeing them with everyone. But I’m just a “Clueless,” “Notebook” kind of girl.
SEVIGNY: I love a good popcorn movie. In high school, I got into the more independent scene. I was also just drawn to certain actresses, like Mia Farrow and Anna Magnani, the great Italian actress. And Gena Rowlands. I was really drawn to just these women who were just powerhouses, Elizabeth Taylor and —
KARDASHIAN: She’s one of my favorites.
SEVIGNY: The list goes on and on.
KARDASHIAN: For me, it was mostly about the glam. When I look back at films with Ava Gardner, I just am always looking into their hair and their makeup, and what they’re wearing. I was super into the glam of it all. Every Sunday my dad would make us watch a black-and-white film.
SEVIGNY: Good dad!
KARDASHIAN: At his house, yeah. It was just fascinating. I just remember writing down the actresses’ names and wanting to get on my computer and search and see what they were wearing and who did their hair and makeup back then.
SEVIGNY: Jean Harlow was my favorite. I left white flowers at her grave here in Los Angeles.
KARDASHIAN: Oh, wow. I love that. It was so much fun seeing you again.
SEVIGNY: You too. See you at the Met!
KARDASHIAN: Yes, I’ll be there.
SEVIGNY: This might come out after that, though.
KARDASHIAN: That’s OK!
Production Design: Keith Raywood
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