EXCLUSIVE: Bye! Bye! Pecs: Matt Dillon Talks About Wearing a Shirt
by Brandon Judell

There are many reasons to see Matt Dillon’s directorial debut, City of Ghosts, which he also co-wrote. There are the fine performances from a cast including Dillon, James Caan, and Gerard Depardieu. There’s an enticing Graham Greene-esque plot. The scenery, mainly shot in Cambodia, is lush and frenzied. Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” is sung in Khmer over the end credits. Then again there’s Dillon, who takes his shirt off once.

What a face! What a pair of pecs! So why only once? Does the 39-year-old star of My Bodyguard (1980), The Outsiders (1983), and Drugstore Cowboy (1989) still fear revealing his flesh. After all, he turned down the male lead in Blue Lagoon because of the nudity required.

Dillon, attired in sort of a straight man’s Hawaiian shirt covered with totem figures, laughs aloud in our Regency Hotel suite in Manhattan. “The Blue Lagoon! You remember that, huh? I certainly don’t feel I shied away from being a physical presence in this film. But you know, there is something. I remember even when I worked with Cameron Crowe on Singles (1992) that I was talking about how this guy in some Seattle band was playing it smart. He wasn’t taking his shirt off and doing the shirtless-rock-guy-on-stage thing. That would have been an easy thing to do.”

“With City of Ghosts, I never thought about it one way or the other, whether I was like keeping my integrity intact by keeping my shirt on. In fact, I did a couple of scenes where my shirt was off, but they just got cut from the film because they got cut from the film. Not for any other reason.”

He then pauses and thinks a bit.

“Well, my shirt does come off in one scene,” Dillon realizes with a hypnotizing stare. “I take it off when I’m putting on another shirt. But you know, as a foreigner in Southeast Asia, that might be considered a little bit tasteless. You’d be surprised. To roll up your sleeves is disrespectful in Cambodia in some circles. To be an Easterner walking around with your shirt off can be also considered disrespectful. Although in Cambodia, you see Cambodians out in the country and even in the city walking around with their shirts off all the time. Yet you’ll see a cyclo driver with his sleeves rolled down. Anyway, that’s all I can say about that. It never occurred to me whether I should do my scenes with my shirt off or with the shirt on. I never really talked about it.”

Whew! Glad that that was over, I asked Dillon, who outed his teacher in In & Out (1997), what he thought of having so many gay fans. Smiling, the man replied, “As far as anybody is a fan of mine, I appreciate it. I don’t care if they’re gay, straight, black, white, whatever. I’m always appreciative. I work hard, and this business can be kind of humbling at times. I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody who’s seen everything I’ve ever done except there’s this guy in my building. This guy even saw the play I did on Broadway. So he’s the one soul who’s seen everything, and I’m so appreciative. He’s an older gentleman. He always comes down and says, ‘I saw you in this or that, and you were terrific.’ It’s just really nice. Obviously, I feel really grateful to have anybody, gay or straight, who admires me.”

As for the anti-Dillon naysayers, Dillon has recently responded to them with “There were certain perceptions that people had of me, you know: ‘He’s dumb,’ or ‘he’s just got a pretty face,’ or ‘he’s a thug,’ or ‘he can only do one thing.’ I’m not concerned with that now. Longevity’s what it’s about.” City of Ghosts certainly validates Dillon’s stance. The hunk is multi-talented.

But what about coming up with some more comedies like There’s Something About Mary (1999) for which he won an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain?

“Well, I think I might do a comedy next,” Matt grins. “I do think people respect me as a comedic actor, but the studios never think of sending me the scripts they would ordinarily send comedic actors so I’ve had very few offers.”

And what about the way his career has gone since he debuted in 1979’s suburban-teens-on-a-rampage flick, Over the Edge?

“Well, It’s been … hmmm,” Dillon ponders. “It’s been a long time from there. Twenty years to directing. I’m really pleased with where I am now. I remember as far back as when I was doing Flamingo Kid (1984) that I was talking to Gary Marshall one day, saying to him, ‘Gary, I’d like to direct.’ He said, ‘No, no, no, kid, you don’t want to direct.’ I asked why. He said, “You got to get up too early in the morning.’ My experience was I was happy getting up at 4:30 or 5 o’clock in the morning to direct. I don’t know. I feel like I coulda done it a lot sooner but things happen. Things have a way of working at their own pace. No matter how much you try to will them to go forward, they just takes time.”

With that, as he rose for his next round of interviews, I queried, “So really how does it feel to be a sex idol to both men and women?”

Smiling again, this time with a twinkle in his eyes, he responded, “Do you want me to take my shirt off?”

Cyndi Lauper on Lesbians in her Family, Joni Mitchell and Gay Pride

By Brandon Judell

As 5’3″ Cyndi Lauper once noted, “You have to remember, no matter what you’re told, that God loves all the flowers, even the wild ones that grow on the side of the highway.” Ms. Lauper still believes that.

And she also believes she can act. You’ll be surprised to find that you agree when you see her emote as Christopher Walken’s girlfriend in The Opportunists, a tongue-in-cheek indie about a small time crime caper that takes place in Queens, New York. It’s not going to set film history on fire but it’s beautifully shot and does show off a newly toned-down Cyndi. With a voice that doesn’t grate and a hair color your mother might choose, she’s utterly convincing as a tough but sensitive bar owner who wants her beau Walken to just be a good guy and marry her.

In person, however, Cyndi was back to purple tresses, although her hair style and her garb were rather classy. The girl was fit and ready to let loose.

PlanetOut: At the Joni Mitchell tribute concert which was recently broadcast over TBS, some folks said you gave the best performance. You were the one who brought the house down. Did you find many people shocked Cyndi Lauper was doing Joni? Most music fans probably only know of your early career.

CL: Oh, no! If you listen to “Time After Time,” you see how the poetry had to be influenced by somebody, and it certainly wasn’t the Beatles. I mean they were excellent and they influenced me in a lot of ways, and their writing was incredible … and I can’t say that John Lennon wasn’t a wonderful poet, but because, my God, he was, and he did influence me. But then there’s some stuff in there that definitely came from growing up and listening to Joni Mitchell.

PlanetOut: When you sing a song like “I’m Going to Be Strong,” you just milk it brilliantly. That’s a sensational performance. But do you get upset with folks who can’t see past your outrageous persona? Your outfits?

CL: You know, maybe for a time I did. But it’s been such a long time now, I’ve just come to settle on how I feel about myself. I like color. I do do funny things, and I am kind of funny sometimes even when I don’t mean to be. Maybe part of it’s stupidity. You know what I mean. But I think you’ve got to be who you are. It isn’t my issue to tell everybody what it is that I do. My issue is to keep doing it and to keep the channel open because while you’re doing it, and you’re in the moment of doing it, sometime greatness touches you.

PlanetOut: Well, being a great artist, one has to be selfish. Look at Tchaikovsky. [Cyndi laughs] Lots of gays are going to be seeing this film, The Opportunists, because they adore you. You have done so much for the gay community and AIDS.

CL: All right! Let me just say one thing. I’ve done what I could. I wish I could have done something really incredible. I only did what I could do, but it’s not like a separate community for me. I’m a friend and family member, OK, and when you have a gay person in your family or they are your close friends, you’ve got to stand up and say, “Hey, I’m proud of you. You’re a great guy. You’re a great gal. I’m proud of you.” Because if you don’t, and you really love that person, and you don’t show up, that’s really sending the wrong message to the person. To the world. We’re all blessed to be born in this country because this is a wonderful country of real opportunity. I mean it’s hard but we weren’t born in a war torn country. We didn’t have major volcanoes all over us. You know we don’t have earthquakes. We do but we haven’t been devastated like other parts of the world, right? I mean Serbia. What if you were born in Serbia, what would your career be like then?

PlanetOut: Sadly, financially, not much different.

CL: Well, the only thing that I see that’s unfortunate about this country is not what happens to us, it’s what we do each other. And so if we can extend our arms and give support to each other and celebrate our differences, we got something. Me, growing up, my sister is a lesbian. She’s one of the most fantastic people I know. She’s always been heroic to me. She has always tried to do something good in the world. She’s been an inspiration to me, and I know I’m not just … I ain’t just talking, you know.

Everybody in this country has somebody in their family. Like I used to go to weddings, and they’d be like, “Oh, you’re sister’s the . . .” And I’d go, “The photographer” because you know … and I wore a tuxedo too because I knew they were going to give her a problem. And this is way before k.d. lang. So if you don’t stand up for each other, what’s going to happen? What are we going to do? Closet ourselves again? I’m not up for it. And that’s a little arrogant of me and it’s a little selfish of me because I’m comfortable within the community because that’s kind of like an extension of my own lifestyle except I’m not gay. I’m heterosexual, but I could give a (leaves a pause for an expletive) you know, if you are or not. It’s who you are. I have so many wonderful [gay] friends and my family whom I love deeply, you gotta show up. It’s just a … You gotta show up. It’s half-selfish, and half I feel an obligation, so I do what I can. I don’t see it as a heroic thing because it ain’t.

PlanetOut: So you’re a mother now. … What’s his name?

CL: Declyn. We spell it the Scottish way. … He’s 2 and 1/2. … He’s a great guy. He’s very funny. I’m enamored with the kid. Yeah, he’s my kid. He’s fantastic. He’s a lot like his dad. Unfortunately he has my temperament. I hope he has my voice. because if has my temperament and his father’s voice, we’re all in trouble.

PlanetOut: Getting back to the gay thing, you’re just being modest.

CL: No. No. No. If family members like me would stand up as opposed to not saying anything and if they’d say, “I’m loud and proud,” it would send a message out into this country that we’re not all bigots and homophobic and you know what I mean. You got to stand up and say it.