queen michelle.

I was never a fan of Michelle Williams when she was on Dawson's Creek. I didn't watch the show, but her character seemed like one of those insecure girls who makes herself feel better by stealing her best friend's boyfriend or something. Anyway, beyond that role, she seemed like a good actress, but only recently did she catch my attention. First of all, I have the utmost sympathy for how awful it must be to lose your ex-husband, especially in the public eye. I don't give a fuck if she's dating Spike Jonze right now, that's her business.

But I've been interested in her public appearances and interviews because of that fact, how she's dealing with such a terrible tragedy, and also because she's one of the most stylish girls in Hollywood. She does this understated hipster thing that isn't at all pretentious. Just quietly chic.

There's a great feature in the New York Times from September 7 on her that I suggest you all read. It mentions some films she has coming out, one of which, "Wendy and Lucy", I'm dying to see. It's basically about a wandering girl, struggling to exist, whose car breaks down and dog gets lost in the middle of Oregon. I think I can relate. The piece also reveals someone very introspective, and not arrogantly so. When I read Nylon's disgustingly over-congratulatory article about Mary-Kate, as it oohed and aahed over her every little confident nuance, her every ELEGANT DRAG ON HER CIGARETTE, THE WAY SHE DELICATELY FINGERED HER MANY EXPENSIVE BANGLES, I wanted to vomit.

Instead, Michelle sounds like someone who really loves making movies, is very particular about the work she does, and became an actor to ACT, not to be famous.


(from "Wendy and Lucy")

And I love the fact that, weeks after the interview, she e-mailed the writer with more of her thoughts after being able to consider his questions more fully. That's something I do with seemingly meaningless conversations I have with friends. I'll e-mail them days later explaining what I was trying to say, even though they've most likely forgotten the conversation even happened in the first place.

Here's what she says:

“I’ve started thinking more clearly, my head hasn’t been so switched on recently,” she wrote. “I’ve always identified with loners and outcasts, I don’t know why. I guess this is why I found a home in independent film.” She added: “I wanted to work outside the system, which is why all this fame is a real brain teaser. What am I supposed to do with it? Can you work the system without it working you?

“Acting sometimes reminds me of therapy in that the more you talk about a traumatic or profound event, the more it loses its emotional tension. Switch on a bright light and find there is no boogeyman in the closet. So it is the same with a scene. Never tell the other actor or the director what you are ‘doing.’ ” The trick, she added, was to allow herself “to live in so much mystery, to rely on a feeling, an instinct, on faith, really, that everything I need is already inside me, and best I just don’t block the exit.”