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CHLO SEVIGNY IS A MAVERICK, BOUNDARY-PUSHING ACTRESS. SHE TELLS OWEN MYERS ABOUT MIA, THE MALE-TO-FEMALE ASSASSIN SHE PLAYS IN NEW TV SHOW HIT AND MISS
Before the opening credits roll in Shameless writer Paul Abbotts new TV drama, Hit and Miss, youve seen it all cock, balls and breasts. And in the role of transgender assassin Mia, theyre all Chlo Sevignys. I hated wearing the penis! Chlo laughs of the prosthetic schlong she wore for ve months during the lming of the Manchester-set series. It took two women about an hour to put it on every time, and they were very close to my area. I had to shave myself for the gluing, too, which Im not really a big fan of. It was horrible, and every time they put it on I cried. Chlo has never played trans before, but its one of the only unchecked boxes on her CV, which includes the genre-spanning roles of a polygamist Mormon (Big Love), drug-pushing club kid (Party Monster) and HIV-positive teenager (Kids). For 20 years the 37-year-old has been at the top of the indie A-list alongside other ercely idiosyncratic actresses such as Tilda Swinton and Natalie Portman, always favouring boundarypushing independent productions over Hollywood roles. For Hit and Miss, Chlo swapped her Manhattan apartment with its makeshift ower garden for a lengthy stint of lming the six-part series in Manchester. She plays Mia, a lonely but proudly self-su cient hitwoman living from oestrogen tablet to oestrogen tablet, whose life changes when she receives a letter revealing that she fathered a child in her male-identied days. Travelling to the Yorkshire moors to meet her 10-year-old son, Mia nds a love interest in a local gardener played by Jonas Armstrong (last seen in tights in BBCs Robin Hood), who falls for her, oblivious to whats tucked between her thighs. Chlo makes a captivating conicted heroine for the series, with its thrilling action sequences and Paul Abbotts trademark, razor-sharp dialogue. In February, Chlo told US magazine Interview that Manchester was one of the grimmest places Id ever been in my entire life, a quote that was picked up by The Sun and which unfavourably painted her as a prissy Yank. So did she really hate it? Well, I did feel very stuck there, she admits, but its not like I have anything against Manchester! It was just so small, and its hard for another city to compare to New York. And while she cheerfully admits that Manchester was always raining, she took a leaf out of Stuart and Vince from Queer As Folks book in her penchant for trips to Canal Street to watch and see trans women walk by. Like Anne Hathaways excursions to Emmerdale when playing British in One Day, UK telly also helped Chlo hone Mias Irishlilting accent. I watched My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding! she laughs. And theres a bit of Irish there, but sometimes the Manc comes in and its very confusing. I mean, you people are so obsessed with each others accents. Safe to say, we wont be seeing Ms Sevigny in a lightup wedding dress any time soon. For this new role, she read a lot of biographies about M-to-Fs [male-tofemales] and became obsessed with gures such as April Ashley and Playboy model Caroline Tula Cossey. I was interested in trans women who really passed as female, she explains. They were insistent upon me not doing Mias femininity in a draggy way, and for it to be really natural. Really, her character is more of a Hayley Cropper than an Amanda Lepore, and if it werent for the nude opening scene, we wouldnt know her birth gender. Mia takes pains literally to carefully tuck. Chlos most acclaimed role is still in Boys Dont Cry, the searing 1999 biopic of F-to-M transman Brandon Teena (the role won Hilary Swank an Oscar). Chlo played Brandons loving, headstrong girlfriend who stands by her man through his tragic persecution in the trailer parks of Americas conservative Midwest. That story is still precious to me, she says of the role that also earned her an Oscar nomination, but adds, At the end of the day I think about the real Brandon Teena who was murdered by his friend, so its very bittersweet. People keep trying to compare Hit and Miss to Boys Dont Cry when they talk to her, but she says, I feel that kind of trivialises it Hilary was a girl playing a boy. Its hard to think of a queerer big-time actress than Chlo. Oh yeah? she quizzes with classic Manhattan brusqueness. I mean, in 90s New York I knew all these people who were questioning their gender and identities. Its become so much more commonplace these days, but its something that has always intrigued me. But surely its been a conscious choice to play gender outlaws? She gives a self-e acing shrug. Its just kind of something Ive grown up with, in a way. They say that you know youve made it when the drag queens start doing you. Search Chlos name on YouTube and greeting you on the rst page is Good Evening America, Im Cloh-ay Sehvin-ee!, a simpering, wig-tossing version of Chlo by Drew Droege, whose bizarre Gwyneth Paltrow-style instructional videos on how to live a Cloh-ay life have become a cult phenomenon. Having a barbecue? Well, Cloh-ay pronounces it Barbecroix. She also tells you that you must call Kelly Osbourne and demand the name of her Sugar Sculptress! So what does Chlo think of Cloh-ay? Well, the videos are really weird and abstract, she says carefully. Theyre funny, but I dont get the resemblance at all. Do you think theyre mean? Well, perhaps theyre poking fun at pretentiousness rather than her specically. Chlo laughs. I met him at a party once and he was frightened to death! But I was very kind to him. Its clear that Chlo is a little uneasy about being spoofed. Who wouldnt be? But then she quips with trademark self-deprecation, Im happy to provide entertainment! Hit and Miss airs on Sky Atlantic in May

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