Strength of character and maturity are the first things that strike her. She knows how to live in the present, say «no» and knows what she wants. Meeting with Mila Kunis, who does not consider herself a star.
Santa Monica, the soft October sun, Los Angeles calms down before the weekend … Above me, palm leaves and branches rustle in the warm wind. A waiter in white with misted glasses rustles past me… I don’t know, maybe because of this relaxing atmosphere of the velvet season, because of the distant sound of the ocean, because of this depletion of the South, the girl who appeared in front of me — no, the girl — seems to me an elf . Small, somehow narrow, graceful, with large eyes, somewhat different in color, swarthy. Her hair is pulled back into a mischievous ponytail. Small hands dark with tan, thin silhouette, thin wrists, thin ankles. And the studying look of a mature person who is used to analyzing everything that falls into his field of vision.
She’s wearing rolled-up black jeans, biker boots, and a cream-and-gold shirt that, for some reason, is covered in black pistols. “I thought it was doves and doves,” laughs Mila Kunis. — And bought, as always, in a hurry. And then I look — damn, weapons!
And it seems that this is the only misunderstanding that could happen to the girl sitting opposite me. She is reasonable, attentive, carefully camouflaged irony will not hide from her, she argues her opinions ahead of clarifying questions, and speaks in a low voice that enhances the significance of what was said. Although Mila Kunis is already significant enough — after the high-voltage role of seductive rival Natalie Portman in «Black Swan» and recognition as a sex star.
Psychologies: According to a recent rating of one popular men’s magazine, you are recognized as the sexiest woman of 2012. Has it affected your self-esteem in any way?
Mila Kunis: And should? For example, I continue to consider my childhood nickname of the Hobbit to be generally fair. And, for example, you can consider me a vulgar horror story, and not at all the sexiest beauty.
I am not at all…
M.K .: Thanks, but it doesn’t matter. I mean, the world is made up of opinions, it’s all a matter of individual judgment. There is nothing objective.
And do you like it or not?
M.K .: It’s definitely bad. Because it often turns out that we are real, as it were, and do not exist. You see, these are two different things — what I do and who I am. The results of my work are not me. I am something (or completely) different. And I consciously separate work and my own life. I like what I do. I can’t imagine any other job. But when I finish it, I finish it. And I return to my life. But not everyone can do the same. I see a lot of lost people. Lost. Lost the line between who they are and who they want to be or how others perceive them. They live inside the opinions of others about them, unwittingly indulging these opinions. And they lose themselves. There are enough such people in our business — too much depends on opinion — criticism about a film, a producer about a director, a director about an actor. It’s very easy to become a slave to these opinions here… But I don’t let myself be formatted. Can’t be polished.
That is, you strive to always act contrary to any expectations?
M.K .: Yes it is. I say «no» in a confident tone. Even if the big studio boss threatens to close all doors on me.
Was there such a thing?
“For me, these are different things: I consciously separate my work and life”
M.K .: It was. I didn’t want to be on the cover of one magazine. The studio needed it, they convinced me that it was necessary for the film in which I played (it was Max Payne by John Moore). I said that I would fulfill all the conditions, except for this picture. It wasn’t Playboy, no. But I didn’t want to be on the cover of that magazine. The studio boss was furious. And, what is most amazing, he lied like a child whose face is covered in chocolate, that he did not eat any chocolate, he does not even know the taste of it … In general, it was on this project that I learned how many liars there are in our industry. And that they tend to believe their own lies. But it was a turning point in my career — when I said «no» with all certainty.
Don’t you consider, say, getting the first leading role as a turning point?
M.K .: I think that what really matters is only what happens in us, and not outside of us and not outside of us. Then I made a difficult decision, and it says a lot. It is our actions that change us, not circumstances or other people’s decisions about us. I realized this the moment I suddenly realized that I wanted to be an actress. That is, I starred in advertising from the age of 9, and at the age of 14 I got into the sitcom “This Show of the 70s” and grew up on it — literally — I starred in all 8 seasons, but I was not going to become an actress. Moreover, my parents had a cult of education taken out of the USSR, and they insisted that I study normally at school, and then go to college. Well, I went to college while continuing to star in the sitcom. And at the age of 20, she looked into her bank papers. And I found out that I, in general, at the very least, are provided for my whole life. And now I can do whatever I want. And then I thought: what do I really want to do? Here I am twenty, what? And it turned out that I don’t want to become anyone other than an actress. In fact, I had been an actress for about twelve years by that time, and consciously I became one only when I made this decision.
You are probably a brave person — you are not afraid to say “no” to the powers that be, you were not afraid of an explicit homosexual scene in the Black Swan, and here you recently said that you are connected with political street art …
M.K .: Oh no, that’s where I’m afraid of trouble — this is against the law.
But what was it?
M.K .: Well, under the cover of night, with spray paint…
You are joking!
M.K .: Truth! My closest friend is gay. He opposes the fascist Article 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. Which outlaws same-sex marriage. For my friend, the fight against this article is very important. I wanted to support him. But I don’t want a fine or community service, excuse me.
And yet — are you a brave person?
M.K .: Me not. But there is a fearless child in me. The girl who starred in 40 commercials for Barbie dolls, but never fell in love with Barbie. Who loved to play with her brother’s friends. Who shamelessly lied at her audition for It’s a ’70s Show that she was 18 when she was only 14. That girl in me demands to wear sweatpants all the time, sometimes eat with her hands, and respond directly—and therefore not always politely— to questions. But, you know, I do not consider all this infantilism. For me, this is equality to yourself — when you do not calculate life like a chess game, do not think through the fifth move on the second, but act as your understanding of justice or rationality tells you. I generally like children — they cannot calculate and therefore are courageous.
Is this the same little girl who came to the States with a large family from a provincial town in Ukraine, went to school without knowing a word of English? ..
M.K .: Oh my God! This is already a myth! The immigrant past of our family becomes a legend! Don’t be offended, but I don’t really like to talk about it. Well, yes, we came to Los Angeles from Chernivtsi. And yes, they lived in a three-room apartment — mom, dad, grandfather and grandmother, and another grandfather, and me, and my brother … But all this was definitely not tempering. On the contrary, I felt absolutely protected. Well, yes, I cried, of course, when I went to school and did not understand anyone, and then when they laughed at my accent. But even then, I felt completely safe. In everything. So I went to school in Los Angeles, but I didn’t know anything about Halloween. How was it possible to know in the Soviet Union, I only tried it in Moscow at the airport during a transfer. By the way, it turned out to be a terrible muck, and now I rarely drink it. And Halloween is a completely closed topic. November is here and tomorrow is Halloween. I come home and tell my mom that I won’t go to school tomorrow. Her: «Why is that?» I explain that it’s Halloween, a masquerade, and I don’t have a costume… Do you know what she did? She dropped everything, took away her brother’s shirt, sewed something like a jumpsuit out of it for me with a quick thread — and the shirt was an «animal» color, like a tiger’s skin. She made a helmet for me from a paper bag from the store, drew a tiger’s face on it, and I had a suit! I always knew that my parents would come to my aid, no matter what happened. I don’t really believe in danger…
What do you believe in?
M.K .: The main thing is that all of mine are healthy and prosperous and that everyone is together. That you need to work to live interestingly, and not for the sake of money. I am not a perfectionist — I know for sure that perfection simply does not exist. I love persistence. And I don’t like news.
“I always knew that my parents would come to my aid. That’s why I don’t really believe in danger.»
In addition to family, who are close to you?
M.K .: Take Susan for example. When agents began to come to our children’s acting studio and became interested in me, my parents were confused, they said that they were completely out of this world, they couldn’t do my acting in any way and suggested that I, a 9-year-old, decide for myself whether I need it, and if you need to choose an agent. I decided what I needed and chose Susan, whom I met first … Susan is now my agent. And her family has completely grown together with ours — my parents and Susan dine together, travel … The girls with whom I was friends at school are now my friends. We were 16 when we started our first independent trip around the States, did nothing special, hung out until three in the morning, chatted by the pools in the evenings, went for massages, drank. But it was terribly important. Something like «wow, our first wine.» And it became a tradition. We certainly once a year so travel and now. The girls, unlike me, have a full-time job, they are serious professionals, I adjust my schedule to them. And the tradition has not been violated for 14 years! Maybe in some ways I am a conservative … But in some ways I am a rebel.
What, for example?
M.K .: For example, I hate segregation. Any. But everyone is fighting against race, and only we, women, are fighting against gender. I am an old fighter on this front. But I think that it is necessary to fight with prejudices, with what is in the minds of people. And then it comes to practice. Let’s say, I’m shaking when they write something like: «Why, this Kunis is also funny.» About the comic in my roles. In the sense that not only a doll, but, it turns out, also with a sense of humor. Hell yes of course! Why, if we are nothing to ourselves outwardly, are we denied the right to be funny, comedians? The thing is that men still do not trust women with a sense of humor. After all, they can take a step back and survey the man impartially. And what is humor, if not the distance from which only analysis is possible? And they are afraid of our, damn it, assessment.
Are you missing the distance of a sex star?
M.K .: Well, you really … I’m a sex star! Have you skipped astronomy? Stars are millions of parsecs away from us. And I’m here. See, I’m around.