The VICE Interview: Julia Stiles

10 Things I Hate About You set my life in the direction it would follow for years to come. The soundtrack (dominated by female-fronted guitar bands like Letters to Cleo) was my first taste of the sort of music I would end up loving, and Kat Stratford – the feminist, Sylvia Plath-obsessed smart-mouth played by an 18-year-old Julia Stiles – was the kind of girl I wanted to be.

So when offered the chance to interview Stiles – the actress whose performance was so formative for me and countless other women my age – I was keen but nervous. Would she live up to the long-held expectations I had of her? As soon as we met a couple of weeks ago in central London, I knew that I needn't have worried. Currently promoting her new Sky Atlantic show Riviera (in which she plays a glam and resourceful art expert forced to get to the bottom of the mysterious death of her husband) Stiles is as considered and funny she's always seemed throughout her long and varied career; if 10 Things wasn't your bag, you'll probably recognise her from The Bourne Identity, Save the Last Dance, Dexter or any number of TV shows and films over the last 20 years.

I quizzed her on bad phases, the ethics of cheating and the fact that the government is probably watching us through our phone cameras.

VICE: Would you rather change one day from your past or see one day from your future?
Julia Stiles: That's a great question. You get into all the time travel stuff, where you think that if you change a day from your past then that'll change things after that. I could see one day from my future.

What do you think you'd want to see?
Good things. Only good things. Happy, wonderful, good things. No tragedy.

But I feel like that's the risk.
Oh. But what if you see something that's preventable? And then you decide to do something differently. Yeah.

What would be your Mastermind specialist subject be?
Name that tune. I feel like I can guess songs pretty quickly. Always when I'm listening to the radio and they have one of those contests where you have to guess the song, I get it right and people get it wrong.

WATCH: The British Masters – Liam Gallagher

If you had to live during any period of history, when would you pick?
This is tricky for women, because basically any time before 1970 sucks.

Yeah. When women answer this question and say things like "the 1950s! The milkshakes! The diners! Elvis," I'm like, "You were in the kitchen the entire time."
Exactly! You had no choice about how you were going to live your life. Anything before 1970 would have sucked. Like, forget just women's rights – hygiene wasn't great, so you go back a hundred years and it's, like, medicine and hygiene was abysmal. I mean, is there any part of the world that would have been different? Nah. Yeah, so maybe, like, the 70's would have been exciting because we were speaking out more. It feels too recent!

I mean, you could live in the future?
I'm worried about the future. Maybe I'd go back – I wouldn't want to go back, but if I had to – I'd go back a few months ago, before Donald Trump was elected? That would be nice.

When do you dislike yourself the most?
You know when somebody, like, brings out your pettiness or your anxiety or anger, and you find yourself saying and doing things that you otherwise wouldn't? I don't really like myself when I'm tired, because when I'm tired I get irritable and bitchy.

How often do you lie when you're answering interview questions?
Oh! Almost never, which is probably a bad thing and I should learn to lie better. You would dodge a lot of bullets if you just lied. It could totally backfire, because then they'll ask follow-up questions. Some people play a game where they see how far they can go with a lie. I should actually do that, it would be kind of fun. Also! People reference interviews so much that, like, they'll ask a question based on something they read in another interview, and you'll never be able to live down that lie.

What career do you think your parents would rather you had chosen?
My parents were very supportive, and still are, but – what should I have chosen? Well, I should have studied Art History in school, I discovered after working on Riviera. That would have been better. Because I studied English, and what does that do? You're sort of a jack of all trades, but a master of none. You know how to read and think… well, it opens up a lot of avenues.

What was your worst phase?
I think in college I went through a really shitty fashion-less phase, where I didn't put much effort into the clothing that I wore. Because it felt like you could do that then. But I happened to be becoming famous while I was still in school, so it was just like a bad mix. People kept photographing me in terrible outfits.

What conspiracy theory do you believe in?
I mean, I do go down the rabbit hole of thinking that people can watch you through your television or computer, or any device with a camera on it.

It's probably true.
It's not really a theory, too, like the way you get sponsored ads now, the way they track your data. Sponsored ads have gotten so specific. I had a weird thing where I had an app sort of like Uber, and I don't think I had ordered a cab, but it knew the address to pick me up from before I had mentioned it. Yeah, I don't know if it's a conspiracy, really – I feel like it's been proven. All the Black Mirror stuff. There was an episode of Black Mirror where this kid was blackmailed because they had a video of him or something.

A trailer for 'Riviera'

What is the nicest thing you own?
Well, for sentimental reasons I own a baby banjo, which is like a four-string banjo. My fiancé gave it to me when we first started dating, and I take it with me when I travel. So that's really nice. I also bought a piano – that's pretty special.

Do you play?
I'm learning. But it's very rudimentary. I've discovered as an adult I'm terrible with homework, though, so I'm really bad at practicing.

What memory from school stands out more than any other?
Off the top of my head, I remember cheating in a spelling test in fourth grade. And it was successful! It got me into the better categories of spelling bees [American spelling tests which literally get to the point of national championships]. So, it paid off.

The lesson we can take from this interview is that cheating pays off.
I just looked at the person's sheet next to me. It was the word "country".

Were you unsure about the "o-u" part?
Yes. It was fourth grade!

If you were a wrestler which song would you come into the ring to?
Definitely "212" by Azealia Banks.

Which film or TV show makes you cry?
Well, if I'm on an airplane, any movie will make me cry. And laugh. Let me see. What movie? [Long silence. After a while we decide to move on, and as I'm leaving after the interview, Julia bursts out of the bathroom to inform me me that the last film that made her cry was Big Eyes starring Amy Adams. So now you know.]

In the past month, what is the latest you've slept in?
I love sleeping. I could easily sleep 'til noon if I had the time. Maybe I was supposed to be a musician. Not because I have any musical talent, but because I'm a night owl.

Is there anyone apart from your partner that you'd be comfortable being naked around?
I mean, for actresses it's different because you're naked a lot. Not that we're floozies, but you have costume designers looking at you naked, and sound engineers, and your modesty goes away pretty quickly. But that doesn't mean you're always comfortable. So yeah, in a professional setting.

@hiyalauren

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