On Beauty and Being Jemima Kirke

The amount of ideas that I have around painting is just endless. We tend to just do the thing that we’re good at and make a career out of that first without really asking ourselves whether we want it or not. But that’s a good place to start from. There was a moment there where I didn’t really know if I wanted to do it anymore because I was acting. And then there was a moment where I did a bunch of acting and I realized it wasn’t for me, there was no place for me being alone and painting.

Some would say that I’m not myself when I’m not painting. I do find it necessary because I find so many things beautiful. I collect things too, because of that same notion.

I went through a stage of collecting children’s Halloween costumes. I have a storage unit filled with them. I have a lot of fucking clothes. I collect flea market paintings and furniture. I’m like a rich hoarder. That’s what I am.

I don’t. I just had one that finished, where I painted children in these Halloween costumes. That came down in January. It was sort of a pipe dream of mine because I love painting kids, for the same reason, I guess, that people love photographing them. They don’t hide or cover up their emotions, their discomfort, whatever it is that they’re feeling. You don’t have to do much work in directing them. I did this self-help book called The Artist’s Way, and it really kicked my ass into doing all the things that I’d been putting off, all the creative projects, and that was one of them.

I do. Not because I particularly love it, but because I learn something about what I want and don’t want to do on screen. It’s definitely difficult, and there are some actors out there who have a strict rule of not watching their work. I find that a little narcissistic to not see yourself. How do you improve? Also, if you’re not seeing your work, then you’re not seeing the work of everyone else who was on the production, you’re not the only person to watch the movie for. There’s everyone else, other actors, the set designers, the directors. There are people I know who don’t go to premieres and watch the movie because they don’t want to see themselves, but I find that to be very self-centered.

No, we don’t. He is a music snob. Sometimes I’ll put music on, mostly when we’re in the car, and I can just feel him hating the song. I’ll say something about the song that I love, and then we’ll get in a fight about it. Most of our fights are about taste and art.

Manners and courtesy. Courtesy is a big one for me, and I find myself getting really angry for people when they’ll tell me stories about a situation where they were not treated well.

I have no idea. Right now, I’m getting along really well with my little sister, but haven’t really spoken much to my older sister in a while, and then that will change. Lola will piss me off or just go quiet for a few weeks, and then I’ll be more friendly with Domino. But my brother is always a solid one. My relationship with him doesn’t really adjust and change. Maybe that’s because he’s a male and maybe that’s something to do with the way women communicate. We’re a lot more vulnerable to each other's behaviors.

Not in a way that we talk about or admit.

I can treat my body like real shit, drinking and not sleeping enough and eating the wrong things and not exercising in a way that, in my mid-30s, is just irresponsible. I think I also get overwhelmed when I don’t really need to, but I’ll make it up. Everything’s just too much, and so I have to let something drop, which can be a good thing, but it can also be a way to sabotage projects. I’ll say, “I can’t do this. It’s just too much,” and I’ll sort of flop down on the ground, figuratively, and say no to things. I ignore texts when I’m not feeling like talking or I’m depressed. If someone’s texting me asking how I am, I’m just like, “Ugh, too much. I’m fine.”

Yeah, I smoke, and I’m trying to stop smoking. I’m reading the Allen Carr book [Easy Way to Stop Smoking]. I hope it helps me, or I’m a lost cause. I’ve always stood by smoking. I love it and I believe in it. My kids help me because they hate that I smoke, obviously, because they’re at that really puritanical age. They’re like, “Smoking is bad, and you’re gonna die.” And I’m like, “Well, maybe. Maybe not.” But it starts to make me feel guilty.

I feel guilty about this interview. I feel guilty about everything. Maybe it’s being raised by a Jewish mother that I have a guilt thing. I do tend to think most things are my fault. Everything to do with my children. When I can’t pick them up from school or I can’t really get everything done in a day or on a weekend that they want to do. When you have kids, the sense of guilt is the sky of your existence.

My daughter is a real bookworm. She’s a much bigger nerd than I ever thought I would have. She loves to code. She is very logic-based and he asks a lot of questions about the world. My son is a lot more cerebral.

I do. I’ve had a nanny since my son was born.

Oh yeah. Had a bunch. Was basically raised by nannies.

The main one who was the live-in, I speak to her at Christmas and call her on her birthday.

No, but I keep a list of people’s birthdays, and I try to refer to it when I can. I’m like, “What month is it? Whose birthday is it?”

I’ve never lived anywhere else. I have never pictured myself living anywhere else, either. The only other place I would live if I could is Miami. I love that it is a great place to be a recluse. It gets a bad rap for the Eurotrash that go in and out of there, clubs and stuff, but that’s really a very easy scene to avoid. In fact, there really isn’t much of a scene at all in Miami. It’s historically well preserved. The buildings are beautiful. No one has a real agenda. It feels very transitory, like everyone’s just searching and trying to figure out who they are, what they are.

I have a cat called Mr. Chips that I got from a friend who had to get rid of him. She found him through a drug dealer who died. She rescued him and gave him to me. He’d been left in a basement for weeks. I’ve no idea how old he is. He was missing hair when I got him. He was very timid and now he’s this outdoor cat. We’re sort of like roommates. We have this unspoken contract where I don’t give him too much love and he doesn’t get on me. I don’t love animals in that way, don’t touch me. He just comes and goes as he pleases.

Passive aggression and bullshit. Anything where you’re not saying what you mean. That’s a very tricky trigger for an actor to have because we get so much bullshit from people in the industry. There’s a way that you talk to actors when you’re a producer or a director, you blow smoke up their ass. Agents do it all the time. Tell you, “They really want you for this role, but you have to audition. They love you, but…” Just please tell it to me straight. I promise you I’m tougher than this.