Gretchen Mol Will Whip Your Ass
By Cole Smithey
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Gretchen Mol is stunning for her uninhibited, spot-on portrayal of 1950s S&M pin-up queen Bettie Page, in director Mary Harron's partial biopic. Although limited by a script that reveals more skin than depth of character, Mol inhabits Bettie with a purity of intent that carries the film. She doesn't just elevate the source material; she imbues it with a virtuoso’s savior faire that transcends Bettie's enigmatic spirit.

The 33-year-old actress from Deep River, Connecticut joined me at Manhattan's Regency Hotel to discuss playing history's most notorious pin-up.

A_P: Do you think that Bettie Page considered what she did a feminist act?

GM: I knew, because I'd read interviews and heard her speak about this, that she didn't take that on herself. She didn't try to do anything but her job and just happened to have this non-judgmental sprit. Again, people were always able to look at Bettie Page and see what they wanted her to be. She gave them that permission to do so. In that way she's a feminist. I don't think she was ever trying to be consciously. Looking back on it, she was highly evolved in her way of seeing her own sexuality. She didn't see the shame or the harm of the doing the thing that she was doing. In that way I suppose you can call her a feminist.

A_P: How did you channel her so precisely?

GM: It was that lack of self-consciousness that she had while she was posing. I thought if I could get 50% of that, I'd be in good shape. I really knew that was the key to her talent in front of the camera -- that complete, healthy attitude about her own nakedness and her lack of shame. And knowing that she could create that for herself in front of the camera. She had this sort of bubble around her and that was her boundary there. In her own life maybe she wasn't as successful.

 A_P: Was she ahead of her time or was she simply naïve?

GM: I don't think she was naïve. I think it was the attitude of the 1950s to pick and choose what you looked at deeply. Nobody was going to force that on her. She didn't really come in contact with the people that were looking at and using her photographs; for her it was a job. I think she was doing her job the best she could. And she was non-judgmental about the people that were interested in bondage fetish.

 A_P: How did you prepare for the role?

GM: There was a lot of source material for me. There are so many photographs and a couple of interviews where I could hear her voice, which was very important -- and the loop reels. At a certain point it became about letting go of all the information. Compiling it together, doing everything, and stepping into her shoes and trying to let go of that.

A_P: Was it hard to figure out what she was thinking?

GM: It was because there were a lot of contradictions. Like you said about being naïve, there's something that seemed naïve, but there was another part of her that seemed, not calculated at all, but very much aware. But not necessarily wanting to look at it. Her psychology was very interesting, and the film, because it's so subtle about that, doesn't say A - happened, so B - is this way. It wasn't a typical biopic.

A_P: What differences do you perceive between women then and now?

GM: I really don't think the differences are that great. The time period shapes who you are. She was always a small town girl without a real sense of home. Now, she would be probably be the same way, but there was a limit to what she was going to do. She could have done stag films, but she didn't. She could have slept with a producer to advance her movie career but she didn't. It would be interesting to see what she would do today. I think one of the seminal moments in Bettie Page's life was the fact that she didn't get that scholarship. And that was a big moment that shaped the trajectory of her life.

A_P: Do you think she was smarter than the people she worked with?

GM: I don't know, I didn't really approach it that way. Although I had such a respect for Bettie's point of view, which was smart in that she didn't have prejudices. She seemed to be evolved. She seemed to be beyond the typical sexual bondage of the 1950s.

She was so able to tap into something of her true creative self when she was posing for photographs that she wasn't able to do in her acting. I think she got glimpses of it in her [acting] class. She seemed so alive and so comfortable, without any self-consciousness in front of a still camera, but as soon as she had to do live bits, she couldn't quite break through. A lot of that was the time in the 1950s when actors were digging into their psychology and using past traumas in their work. I think she wasn't able to do it.

A_P: Can you talk about getting into her boots and ball gag?

GM: I looked at those photographs and she always had a wink. There's this twinkle behind her eye. It didn't have the darkness that one might think. I've looked at pictures and there certainly is a darkness in that world of S&M, but I didn't feel that this is what they were doing. When you look at those images, there's such a playful innocence, at least the way Bettie did it. It's sort of like, come on in, enjoy; she gave everyone permission.

A_P: It's hinted at that her father molested her. Do you see her work as rebellious act against that?

GM: I wanted to be careful in connecting those dots. When you look at women in a sexual trade, often times they've had some abuse. But that would have been simplifying Bettie Page. There's so much more complexity than that. But yes, that certainly factors into it. What's interesting to me is that, not only did she end up in this world, but she excelled in it in such a unique way. It was never full on, come hither, playing at the sexuality. She seemed to be getting as much out of it as the audience.

A_P: Why do you think Bettie Page has lasted this long?

GM: It's all the dichotomies, the juxtapositions, kind of bumping up against each other. That's what Bettie represents. She's kind of whatever people needed her to be. She had a quality that other models didn't have that's still kind of a mystery to me. That's what I love about the film too. It retains the enigmatic quality of Bettie Page. It let's her still be what they need her to be.

A_P: How did you prepare in working with Mary [Harron]?

GM: We talked about all these things a little bit, roughly. But so much of it was the script and the information I was able to find about Bettie. She [Mary] trusted me with the character. I knew very early on that we were on the same page. Just the fact that she cast me at all meant that she wasn't going for just the physical aspects of Bettie page. She was trying to get a different essence.

A_P: Do you think working with a female director made the process easier?

GM: Yeah, I think it probably was, especially based on Mary's past work. I knew what she was interested in as a director, and that's what I was interested in too.

A_P: Did you question anything in the movie?

GM: It's very accurate. Bettie will tell these stories and even the way it's handled in the film, the thing with her father, that's really about as much as you'll ever find about that. She'd talk about it, but you're not sure what exactly happened.

A_P: Did you find anything to back that up?

GM: I did. There were interviews and the Karen Essex book that was pretty comprehensive.

A_P: Was there anything about her personally that you were surprised wasn't in the film?

GM: There's a Richard Foster biography of Bettie Page that goes into her later life. She suffered some breakdowns and there's a lot that happened after her modeling hey day. I think it was an interesting choice for Mary to focus on the 1950's and Bettie Page as catalyst to show how sex was in the 1950's.

A_P: Do you think Bettie was uninhibited in the bedroom?

GM: I don't know. I thought about it. She had a few marriages, but I couldn't find a relationship apart from the camera that was a true intimate relationship. She had a few husbands and people that were good to her, the first photographer who helped her.

A_P: What do you think of doing nudity on film?

GM: You're just playing a role. I think of it as a job, nothing else outside of it -- go to work, play the part. As for as the nudity in this film, it was so integral to the character. From day one I knew what I was getting myself involved with. I thought about it and appreciated Bettie's point of view, her stance on it. It was healthy and okay.

A_P: Have you had any calls from Playboy? Would you consider doing a spread for them?

GM: I wouldn't. For me it's a personal choice. There were inquiries because of the movie and she was a playboy pin-up in 1955.

A_P: What are you working on now?

GM: Right now I'm working on Trainwreck: My Life As An Idiot, which is a dark comedy with Sean William Scott. My cousin Harrison Williams is directing it and we're shooting around Manhattan and having a really good time with that.

A_P: How do you regard your experience with making this film?

GM: This was a really unique experience. If I could find another character like Bettie Page in the next 20 years I'd feel pretty good. This is such a unique experience, and I know that, and am very grateful for it.

New York-based film critic Cole Smithey has reviewed over one thousand films and interviewed such important directors as John Singleton, Paul Schrader and Steven Spielberg, and such notable actors as Robert Downey Jr., Adrien Brody, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
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