Chloë is on the cover of the January 2012 issue of ASOS magazine. The issue devotes 10 pages to a photo spread by Alexander Sainsbury and an article by Karmel Mandrick.
Check out the spread and a behind-the-scenes video of the photoshoot on ASOS’s website.
The issue is available now in the UK.
Chloe Moretz may only be 14 years old, but she’s already had a career that most actresses would die for. From ‘The Amnityville Horror’ to ‘Bolt’ to ‘(500) Days of Summer’ to her breakout performances in ‘Kick-Ass’ and ‘Let Me In,’ Moretz has excelled in a variety of genres — which is far from an accident. “I go from drama to comedy to horror and thrillers,” she told Moviefone at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Manhattan on Sunday morning. “People can see me in every different light and I’m not just one typecast kind of actress.” That chameleon streak came in handy during her audition for ‘Hugo,’ since she was able to trick director Martin Scorsese into thinking she was English.
In ‘Hugo,’ Moretz plays Isabelle, a precocious young orphan who befriends the titular Hugo (Asa Butterfield), a fellow orphan trying to solve a mystery that his father left behind: making a broken automaton work. Isabelle holds the key, literally, to that mystery, as well as one involving her guardian, Papa Georges (Sir Ben Kingsley). Moretz spoke to Moviefone about her performance in ‘Hugo,’ working with “Marty” Scorsese, the People’s Choice Awards, and why Tim Burton fans should be quite excited about the upcoming film, ‘Dark Shadows.’
I read in another interview that you fooled Martin Scorsese in the audition with your British accent. Once you got the part, was there any concern about keeping that accent up for the length of the shoot, and not just the audition?
It was genuinely nerve-wracking thinking that not only do you have to meet Marty, but you have to make him believe you’re British — because that’s all he knows of me. Thinking that I was an actual British actress. When I went in there and did the full accent — it was funny, my accent was almost exact to Asa Butterfield’s. So it was really simple to fool him because it sounded just like Asa. So, he totally didn’t think about it. When I broke out of the accent and went back to American at the end of the audition, he was like, “Oh, what? You’re American!” I was like, “I am American!” He was like, “You fooled me.” I was like, “I did fool you.”
And then you “fooled” him for the rest of the shoot.
Once you get it, it’s easy, but it’s still a lot of hard work. I had to do it every day.
You’ve worked with a number of great directors in your young career: Scorsese, Tim Burton, Marc Webb, Matthew Vaughn. When you’re picking projects, does the director outweigh everything else?
It’s a lot of stuff. I mainly look at the script. If I like the character and I feel like I can do the character, I’ll do it. No matter how big the director is, no matter how amazing the director is, if I don’t like the character — if I can succeed in the character — then I won’t do it. You don’t want to be bad, especially in a movie with a huge director.
That’s a term that certainly describes Scorsese.
I’m really blessed to be able to do a movie with Marty, in my career at all, much less at 13 or 14. It’s really special to be able to do this, because it was something of a learning curve for me. I not only grew as an actor, but I grew in my knowledge of film history. Which I absolutely loved. I had an amazing time learning from Marty about it. I had a really incredible. It was really magical.
What old films did he show you? What was your takeaway from them?
I love Audrey Hepburn, and that was the main thing I based this character off: Audrey. So he showed me ‘Roman Holiday,’ ‘Funny Face,’ and a bunch of her classics. It was really what I based Isabelle off of — that fun girl, kinda naive but sweet and full of wonderment. She has a huge imagination and always wants to go on an adventure. That’s kinda what I tried to do — be that Audrey Hepburn. That person who tries to light up the screen. But without trying. Effortless.
Beyond just the classic films, you also get to share the screen with some all-time acting talents like Ben Kingsley and Helen McCrory. What was the biggest thing you learned from them?
I took away so many things from working with them, especially Sir Ben, because he was very method. He stayed in character almost the whole time. It was really helpful to Asa and I, not only working with Helen and Ben, because they were so method, but because they just knew so much about acting. To watch them perform … not many people get to do that. Not many people get to be in the same scene as Sir Ben and Helen and Frances de la Tour, and all these amazing actors and actresses. It was really a special experience being on a film with such beautiful Oscar winners. It’s something I’ll always remember.
What do you think of method acting? Is that something you can see attempting for a future performance?
Maybe. I think whatever gets you into character. Whatever keeps you in character. Whatever helps you get to that spot to act the best that you can.
I loved when you were on ’30 Rock.’ Do you want to do more comedy like that?
I do some comedy, like ’30 Rock’ and stuff, but I try to do a wide range of acting. I go from drama to comedy to horror and thrillers. Everything. That’s what I try and do — that’s what we try to think about my career, my brother, Trevor, and my mom. We try and think about that. For instance when I did ‘Hugo,’ it was: What should I do next? After ‘Hugo,’ I went to do ‘Dark Shadows,’ which is totally two bipolar things, which I love. People can see me in every different light and I’m not just one typecast kind of actress.
You sound excited about ‘Dark Shadows.’
Tim Burton is my dream director to work with.
What Tim Burton movies do you love?
‘Beetlejuice,’ ‘Edward Scissorhands,’ ‘Sleepy Hollow,’ ‘A Nightmare Before Christmas.’ I love Tim Burton. I think he’s got one of the most brilliant minds of any director out there, along with Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino and Darren Aronfosky. It’s always been a dream to work with him. When he called us up and he wanted me to do the movie with him, I was absolutely, hands-down, “Of course I’ll do the movie with you Tim Burton! You didn’t even have to ask!” We had a really beautiful time doing that movie. It’s really interesting, it’s a very funny movie. I can’t really say anything about it, but it’s Tim Burton’s fine line. He straddles that camp and drama, perfectly. He goes back to his roots. He goes back to ‘Beetlejuice’ and ‘Edward Scissorhands.’ What he’s good at. What he’s really good at.
I’m sure that will please Tim Burton fans.
They’ll be really happy. It’s back to his roots, for sure.
You mention those Burton films — what were the Scorsese films you were familiar with?
‘Aviator,’ ‘Gangs of New York,’ ‘Raging Bull.’ I had only seen ‘Aviator’ when I was doing the film, but afterwards I have seen more.
I guess the rest of them might be a little too adult-themed. Is there one you haven’t seen that you’re looking forward to watching one day?
Definitely. I’m really looking forward to seeing ‘Taxi Driver’ one day. That’s one.
I loved that photo shoot you did in Harper’s.
That was a fun shoot. I had a really good time doing that. They had a whole homage to Marty.
You’re one of the five finalists for the Favorite Movie Star Under 25 People’s Choice Award. It’s you and Emma Watson, Rupert Grint…
It’s like Tom Felton, Daniel Radcliffe. It’s Harry Potter against me. I’m pretty sure I’m gonna lose to Harry Potter, but that’s OK. I don’t mind. At least I got nominated.
Her middle name, Grace, is oddly fitting: While she doesn’t exactly come across as delicate—at least, not to anyone who’s seen her in either Kick-Ass or Let Me In, the 2010 films in which Chloë Grace Moretz played, respectively, a preteen bruiser and a bloodthirsty mini-vamp—there’s a certain balletic quality to her movements on screen.
In person, she is an unusual mixture of scrappiness and elegance as well. Dressed in a slim gray cable-knit sweater, dark skinny jeans, and a pair of black ankle boots, Chloë looks convincingly sleek; her long blonde hair is freshly brushed, and her fingernails are polished. But when she speaks, it’s with an almost boyishly low voice, and she has a delightfully sarcastic sense of humor. Doubtless, this dichotomy is precisely what her directors—and her audiences—find so compelling.
“I really liked her in (500) Days of Summer,” says Drew Barrymore, who recently cast Chloë as a lovelorn street tough in a ten-minute short that doubled as the video for the Best Coast song “Our Deal.” “She was sage without being precocious— that’s very rare at her age. And then, when I saw her in Kick-Ass, I just went crazy. I live for cool girls, and Chloë is one of the most rock ‘n’ roll young ladies I’ve ever seen.”
Like Drew, Chloë started acting at a very early age: She was only six when she booked her role in the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror, having followed a big brother (she has four of them) into the industry. “When Trevor was fifteen and I was five,” the Atlanta-born actress recalls, “he’d be practicing his monologues, and I just started memorizing them too. I guess something clicked.” Shortly thereafter, her family relocated from New York City to Los Angeles. Chloë has been working steadily ever since, but it’s only been within the last couple of years that she’s emerged as a star: She was still anonymous enough that when she auditioned for this month’s Hugo—a Paris-set fantasy in which she speaks with an English accent—the director, Martin Scorsese, mistook her for a native Brit.
“I play a book-smart 1930s girl,” Chloë explains, “who meets a boy, played by Asa Butterfield, and then they go on this crazy adventure and find out all of these amazing things about their lives.” Shot in 3-D, this big-screen adaptation of a best-selling novel (The Invention of Hugo Cabret) is far more family-friendly than the films that Chloë is best known for. But she hasn’t turned away from the dark side completely. Next May, she’ll appear alongside Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer in Tim Burton’s gothic vampire flick Dark Shadows as a “fun-loving hippie with a secret.” And Hick, which premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival, is, as she cheerfully says, “so twisted!”
Much has been made of Chloë’s ability—and willingness—to play violent, foulmouthed, or imperiled characters. There was a good deal of hand-wringing about her portrayal of Hit-Girl even before Kick-Ass came out. But Chloë, who’s quite sunny in real life, doesn’t see what all the fuss is about. “I mean, it’s acting,” she says, an unspoken “duh” implicit in her earnest tone. “I like these roles because they’re not me. That’s what’s fun about it. If I played another version of Chloë all the time, it would be boring.” And there’s another potential benefit to the choices she’s made: Frequent work in so-called “adult” fare often makes it easier for a young actress to transition into professional adulthood, which is a priority for Chloë: “I’d love to be in this industry for the rest of my life—to write, direct, and produce my own movies,” she says. “I’m an overachiever, you know? I’m always trying to find a way to do more.”
For now, Chloë’s multitasking as a full-time high school student (she’s in her freshman year) and as a part-time fashion icon: She, along with colleagues Hailee Steinfeld and Elle Fanning, has become an in-demand muse for designers and stylists, popping up on edgy magazine covers and walking the red carpet in labels like Chanel, Dior, and Stella McCartney. She was even invited to sit front row at Calvin Klein Collection’s spring 2012 show, a prospect she found, as she puts it, “superexciting. I love fashion! To me, it’s another way to express myself.” But, she insists, her preference is for quirkier looks that “mix high fashion with high-street fashion. Like, I’ll put an Alexander McQueen jacket with a nice Topshop T-shirt. That’s more approachable than, ‘Here comes Chloë in her runway look.’”
There’s something touching about Chloë, who—as her highlight reel proves—can be quite tough when she wants to, despite being concerned about approachability. But it’s clear that she has no interest in letting her success sway her from being the person she intends to be. As she says, when discussing her well-known costars, “Nobody really sits you down and gives you advice, but I’ve seen people who are so amazing and big but who are also so humble and normal. And I think, If they’re like that, I can be like that too.” We don’t doubt that she’ll manage it, gracefully.
Source: Teen Vogue
Don’t forget to pick up the December 2011/January 2012 issue of Teen Vogue with Chloë on the cover!
At the age of 14, Chloë Grace Moretz has already secured a special place for herself in the annals of youth culture. In Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass, which was released last year, Moretz plays a pre-teen superhero named Hit-Girl who, brandishing a gun, utters a word theretofore unbandied about in the kiddie-hero genre, when she refers to her imminent foes—a roomful of drug dealers—using a colloquial term that begins with a C and rhymes with fronts and still isn’t allowed to be spoken on television. While there is indisputably a degree of evil genius at work in any movie where a group of ne’er-do-wells becomes instantly paralyzed by a pre-teen with a glock who has referred to them by the last great verboten expletive—Was it the gun that did it? Or the foul language?—the line, coming from a then-13-year-old, was a proverbial showstopper, and beyond the initial schlock-shock, occasioned some low-intensity cultural soul-searching. The responses, both negative and positive, were emphatic: The Los Angeles Times questioned why anyone would allow a girl that young to be involved in a scene that involved so many very bad things; the British newspaper The Guardian, in its more permissive English way, actually verged on heralding Moretz and Vaughn as quasi-revolutionaries for dragging the C-word into the popular vernacular. But regardless of where anyone stood on the spectrum of indignation, the attention also unequivocally announced Moretz’s arrival as a young actress who not only doesn’t quite fit the mold, but also might one day do something to the mold that makes us question the very nature of the mold—or if in fact there should be one.
Moretz has all of the stuff that makes studio executives drool: precocious talent far beyond her years, an expressiveness that can convey both wonder and worldliness, a wide-eyed beauty, an old-soulfulness, poise, enthusiasm, a Twitter account. However, her most basic qualities as an actor also perfectly match those of a role that Hollywood is constantly looking to cast: that of the teen actress who can do the kind of mature work that resonates with other teens as well as adults, and whose coming of age, both on screen and off, they can ride as far as it will take them (which is usually until college age). The list of actresses who’ve played the part successfully before maneuvering their way out is impressive, among them Kristen Stewart, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Kirsten Dunst, Christina Ricci, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly, Diane Lane, Mariel Hemingway, Brooke Shields, Jodie Foster, Tatum O’Neal, all the way back to Natalie Wood and Elizabeth Taylor. But the list of actresses who’ve struggled to find creative life beyond this specific brand of teen stardom, or, more commonly, have had to work hard to find within themselves the fortitude to fight tirelessly as twenty- and thirty- and fortysomethings for the kinds of substantial roles they were being handed as adolescents, is even longer—and there are a lot of actresses on both lists.
So it isn’t easy being a teenage actress, especially today, with the premium that continues to be put on tapping into the ever-expanding international market of media-obsessed teens and twentysomethings—and it’s only getting harder. But it’s also important to keep in mind that old truism about adolescence—that whatever happens, good or bad, it’s all just a phase. And through that lens, Moretz’s very big upcoming year right now has all the makings of a very big future. This month, she stars as the best friend of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station in Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated new film Hugo, a 3D adaptation of Brian Selznick’s best-selling children’s book The Invention of Hugo Cabret. She’ll also appear next year alongside Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s new big-screen adaptation of the vampy, campy ’60s soap Dark Shadows, and take a decidedly less fantastical and more dramatic and gritty turn in Derick Martini’s Hick, in which she plays a teenage girl who runs away from her drunken parents with her sights set on Las Vegas, and is taken under the wing of a grifter played by Blake Lively.
Drew Barrymore, herself a veteran—and triumphant survivor—of the young-actress ringer, directed Moretz this year in the video for Los Angeles band Best Coast’s “Our Deal.” They recently reconnected by phone in L.A.
DREW BARRYMORE: CHLOËËËËËËËËËËËËËËËËËË!
CHLOË GRACE MORETZ: Oh my god. How are you?
BARRYMORE: How are you? Where are you right now?
MORETZ: I’m in L.A. actually. We were moving all weekend. It was such a mess.
BARRYMORE: Are you moving into your new house?
MORETZ: Mm-hmm! It’s so cute. It’s this little place for Mom and me.
BARRYMORE: Are you in town for a while?
MORETZ: Yeah. I’m actually here the rest of the year because I’m taking a little break for a sec.
BARRYMORE: Oh, good for you. So I want to try and ask you questions that don’t suck, if I can help it.
MORETZ: [laughs] Thank god.
BARRYMORE: Are you ready?
MORETZ: Oh god . . . Yeah. I’m scared.
BARRYMORE: Do not be scared. You never have to be scared with me because I have the protection of laughter and safety around you at all times.
MORETZ: Perfect.
BARRYMORE: Okay. If you could go on a date with anyone, who would it be and where would you go?
MORETZ: Oh, no . . . This is hard! In my age range there’s not many people to date, so . . .
BARRYMORE: A lot of women would say the same thing!
MORETZ: [laughs] My date would have to be with . . . Maybe Ryan Gosling.
BARRYMORE: Oh! No kidding.
MORETZ: Yeah. We could just drive around . . .
BARRYMORE: High five. Good choice.
MORETZ: Yes!
BARRYMORE: If you could blink and be anywhere at any time of the world, or in history, where and when would you be?
MORETZ: I really love the Elizabethan era, so probably I’d be in Elizabethan England—like living in the countryside. Either that, or in France or something. Or Renaissance Italy.
BARRYMORE: Wouldn’t it be wonderful for us to meet up in great old Italy? We’ll have to make a date to do so . . . Maybe we’ll be in a boat with Ryan Gosling in Italy, the two of us.
MORETZ: Yes! It’s happening!
BARRYMORE: Freckles or gap teeth?
MORETZ: Well, I already have a gap in my teeth—and I like it, actually, because it’s awkward and fun! So, I’d probably say gap.
BARRYMORE: Okay, you’re playing air guitar right now with a tennis racquet and a pair of striped socks, standing in front of the mirror. What band is playing on the stereo?
MORETZ: I don’t know . . . I think a pretty good air guitar sort of thing would have to be, like, Aerosmith or something, where they’re really going at it.
BARRYMORE: Any particular song? Or just anything by Aerosmith?
MORETZ: What’s the song with the music video that Alicia Silverstone did with Liv Tyler?
BARRYMORE: Was that “Crazy”? Oh, god . . . Here goes my ’90s brain. You’re picturing Alicia and Liv dancing around and driving—that’s what you’re picturing in your head as you’re listening to Aerosmith, playing air guitar in your striped socks with your tennis racquet.
MORETZ: Obviously.
BARRYMORE: If you were to do some other occupation in life, what would you do?
MORETZ: Hmmm . . . I don’t know if it’s exactly an occupation, but I’d probably, like, fly helicopters and airplanes, or something fun!
BARRYMORE: I did not expect that answer.
MORETZ: It sounds so fun.
BARRYMORE: Would you want to fly helicopters with Ryan Gosling?
MORETZ: Obviously. Who wouldn’t want to do that?
BARRYMORE: So, what woman makes you want to fall to your knees and bow in respect and awe?
MORETZ: Um . . . Drew Barrymore!
BARRYMORE: [laughs] All right, fine, I’ll play that. But if there was another woman?
MORETZ: Another woman?
BARRYMORE: Another woman who was as lucky as I get to be to be put in that category. If there was another woman on the planet who would be as graced . . .
MORETZ: I’d have to say probably Audrey Hepburn. I think she’d be the one where I’d just be like, “Uh, I love you.” So . . . Yep.
BARRYMORE: On the other side of the coin, what male figure would make you fall down onto your knees in respect and awe?
MORETZ: Ryan Gosling.
BARRYMORE: You know, in storytelling, we call this a payoff. [Moretz laughs] A payoff or a runner.
MORETZ: Ryan Gosling.
BARRYMORE: Five people at your dinner table, dead or alive. Who would they be?
MORETZ: Yay! Okay, it would be you, Audrey, and then I’d probably put Marilyn [Monroe] there, just for some giggles and some funness. And I’d say Natalie Portman, too. And . . . How many is that? Three or four?
BARRYMORE: That’s four. Drew, Audrey, Marilyn, Natalie.
MORETZ: And Grace Kelly.
BARRYMORE: That’s a pretty fabulous group of women—me notwithstanding. But I’m thrilled that I would be invited. So I’ve been lucky enough to direct you—I got you to wear red lips for the first time. You looked so pretty. And you kissed a boy on top of a roof!
MORETZ: Shut up!
BARRYMORE: So there were lots of firsts. But I wanted to ask you: What was one key sentence or a key moment or a key phrase or a key piece of advice that you’ve learned from some of the other directors you’ve worked with. Let’s start with Mr. Tim Burton.
MORETZ: Oh, Mr. Burton . . . Well, that’s hard because no one actually, like, sits you down and gives you advice or anything, you know what I mean? But the thing with Tim is definitely the way that he really just focuses on his actors. If the actor says, “No, I don’t feel that’s right for the character,” then he takes that so seriously—and not many directors do that in the same way. So that was a very special thing, working with him.
BARRYMORE: That nice to hear, that he’s so honorable to actors.
MORETZ: Oh, yeah. Very much.
BARRYMORE: Okay, Mr. [Matthew] Vaughn, who directed you in Kick-Ass.
MORETZ: Oh, I love Matthew. I really appreciated the way Matthew was able to shield me from a lot of the crazy stuff in Kick-Ass—because that movie was pretty crazy. And, of course, I was a lot of the craziness. But he definitely shielded me from the stuff that was above my head, you know what I mean? If something was too much, he would be like, “Don’t do it. I want you to be comfortable and be able to do what you need to do.” So I definitely really respect him for that. He was really caring about my age.
BARRYMORE: Okay, then . . . Mr. [Martin] Scorsese.
MORETZ: Oh, Mr. Scorsese. You’ve probably never heard of him before.
BARRYMORE: Yeah, he’s an obscure director. I thought that people might not have heard of him, so if you could just illuminate one moment of your time in the private world of Martin Scorsese for everybody, it might be helpful.
MORETZ: Oh, gosh. I mean, there were so many moments. Mostly, I think Mr. Scorsese looked at me a lot as a daughter figure because he has a daughter who is, like, 12 years old. So he was very fatherly towards me.
BARRYMORE: Okay, finally, Mr. Marc Webb, who directed (500) Days of Summer [2009].
MORETZ: Oh, Marc! I mean, I was, like, 11 when I did the movie with him, and I didn’t know much about boys and relationships and stuff, and my whole character was really about just stressing out with her brother, trying to help him out in his relationship—and that is not me at all.
BARRYMORE: That’s interesting because you do have four brothers. So he helped give you insight into the male mentality?
MORETZ: Kind of, yeah. You know, he started in music videos, so the way he was able to really bring this feeling into the scenes where the characters didn’t have to speak but everyone knows what’s going on. So that was cool.
BARRYMORE: What are some of your favorite films—both new and old?
MORETZ: A new film I love would have to be Black Swan [2010] probably, and an old one would have to be either Gone With the Wind [1939] or Breakfast at Tiffany’s [1961].
BARRYMORE: [sighs] Such a romantic.
MORETZ: I so am . . . Oh, and I loved Drive so much!
BARRYMORE: If you had to get a tattoo today, what would it be?
MORETZ: Oh, my gosh. That’s so . . . Okay. [deep breath] Well, I used to have a sister, but I never got to meet her because she died after two days, I think. So if I got a tattoo, it would probably have to be something to do with my sister. I actually want to get a tattoo when I’m older of something about her. So it would probably be that.
BARRYMORE: That’s a beautiful answer. What was the moment where you said, “I have to do this—I want to act”?
MORETZ: I mean, I always had this really strong inclination. My brother Trev went to the Professional Performing Arts School in New York, and he used to do his monologues and stuff and rehearse in our apartment. So I used to hear him all the time doing these things over and over and over. And when I was a little girl, I used to soak up everything—like anything anyone did, I soaked it up. So I would soak up like these huge, dramatic dialogues and start spewing them all the time. I loved it so much. Then the minute I got in front of a camera for the first time—like, a big, full-on camera, in The Amityville Horror [2005] when I was 6 or 7—I think that was the moment when I was just in it. I didn’t know how I was doing it, but I was doing it.
BARRYMORE: Okay, magic wand time. Fantasy clothes by any designer made especially for you right now. Go.
MORETZ: Oh, no! It’s like a ball gown or something amazingly huge and beautiful. It would probably have to be either, like, Valentino or Oscar de la Renta. And then if it was something beautiful that Audrey Hepburn might wear—you know, just perfect and cute and special—it would probably be either Givenchy or Chanel. And if it was crazy—like, amazingly psychotic—it would have to be Vivienne Westwood.
BARRYMORE: What is the best thing about having four big brothers?
MORETZ: The best thing about having four big brothers is you always have someone to do something for you. [laughs] No, no. I think number one would be that they always protect me. There’s someone to turn to. It’s like having four fathers, basically, because they all super-duper take care of me.
This is an excerpt of the cover story. To read the full Chloë Grace Moretz interview pick up a copy of the November issue of Interview.
Source: Interview Magazine
