spotlight
it still kind of comes to a kind of sweet or softer sen-
sibility. What do they call them? Bro-mos or buddy
movies that they are making like Seth Rogen or Judd
Apatow…they have a real sweetness to them. I think
they even say like “sperm and heart” or something F
like that (laughter). If they go too far in one direction,
they try to bring a little heart back and more human-
ity. Instead of really “balls out” hard-hitting, ugly,
rejecting comedy.
Rage: I miss the zaniness of your films I just mentioned. I
wonder if people are too cynical now for that kind of humor.
LT: That’s what I worry about. That’s what I’m saying
about the bro-mo movies. From my perspective, it
seems like they’re the big hits or something. At least
they back off of some of the really terrible crass ridi-
cule and segmenting people and rejecting them as
groups. It’s still very much a male culture. Those kind
of young people’s films and old people’s films too. In
my day, I saw it too. People like Gilda [Radner] or any
of those women who came up in Saturday Night Live.
They never had the opportunity to make movies that
F
the boys did.
Rage: Right.
LT: The boys could even have a failure but they
always had three. They had one in the can, one they
were shooting and one in the early stages. They were
covering all their bases. The managers had just man-
aged to keep film after film coming. It’s well known
that girls will go to see men-starring vehicles but
men seldom want to go to a woman-starring vehicle.
Rage: Will you describe the influence cinema had on you
when you were growing up?
LT: Oh, sure. I was totally immersed in the good
woman/bad woman syndrome. Those days in the
1950s, there were good women and bad women. The
bad women seemed to have a better time and were
more fun. And they lied indiscriminately you know?
They did bad things. They were great all through
the picture but at the end, they had to get punished
for being bad women. But, during the movie, they
seemed to have the best of it. I was crazy about Doro-
F
F
thy Malone. She was the bad, sexy girl. Or Butterfield
8 with Liz Taylor, the Butterfield 8 character would go
out and then she’d come in at seven in the morning
like she’d stayed all night with somebody (laughter).
Rage: You’ve been a joy to speak with. If you would close
with one of the first character’s voices of yours that comes
to mind.
LT: Oh, thank you Bill. Oh, Ernestine…when we’re
on the phone. [Tomlin goes into character and says]
Lily Tomlin will also be in
“I’ve been taping every word you said! Believe me.
San Diego on January 28th at
You’re gonna pay for it!”
The Balboa Theatre
Rage: That’s great! Thanks Lily.
performing An Evening of Classic
LT: Take Care.
Lily Tomlin!
38 RAGE monthly | november 2009
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