The many faces of Paz de la Huerta

Taken from the summer 25 print issue of THE FACE. Get your copy here.

The many lives of Paz de la Huerta extend to – but are not contained by – acting, modelling, painting, filmmaking and memoir-writing. The New Yorker made her film debut aged 14; the following year she appeared alongside Kieran Culkin in the double-Oscar-winning The Cider House Rules. By her mid-twenties she was starring in Boardwalk Empire, HBO’s Prohibition era series, executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Hollywood loved her. But there were misadventures, too: brutal experiences, she alleges, at the hands of Harvey Weinstein; the very public fallout from a late-night paparazzi video shot outside the Chateau Marmont; and what she characterises as incredibly difficult relations with her family. Now 40, Paz is safe on her farm in an undisclosed location, exhibiting her art, working on various film projects and completing her autobiography. ​“I was crucified for being beautiful and being free,” she tells THE FACE. ​“But I hope that with my art, people see the truth”.

Miss Paz de la Huerta, hello. Where are you right now?

I’m on the farm, [living] a very simple, quiet life. I’m preparing for a new show in Berlin during Art Week, at Reference Studios. It’s going to be called Sacrifice.

Why Sacrifice?

[Because] my family tried to silence me. So I made all these paintings inspired by that. In one of them, there’s my dog being sacrificed. One of the works is called Wounded Angels.

We shot our FACE story in Paris and it was filled with different characters. I feel like every other look we did, you had an idea for someone else; a different vision. It made me think: are there any dramatic roles that you would want to play?

There are a few roles in history that I would have loved to play, like Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind. That would have been a dream role for me. Elizabeth Taylor in the Tennessee Williams [films and plays, including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]. Given my story, Laura Palmer would be a good role for me. I mean, my life has been like her Twin Peaks plot.

Let’s talk about Valley of Tears, your self-funded art show and film.

This is a film about my life I started 13 years ago, but [the inspiration for] it was a fairytale: The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen. There was a movie version [in 1948] directed by Michael Powell [and Emeric Pressburger]. It’s about this woman, she has these red shoes that can’t stop dancing. It started out of that. Then these crazy events happened in my life and I just kept filming. When I was homeless in Los Angeles I recorded the last scene on my phone. It’s very poetic and it’s just my voice. Currently, I’m raising the money to finish the movie.

Are you working on anything right now?

[American History X director] Tony Kaye is working on a screenplay where I would play a blind beauty pageant queen, which I’m excited about. I would love to bring back, as an actress and also as a model, a woman of the 1950s, like the women that I admire.

Who do you admire?

Sophia Loren, Lauren Bacall, Rita Hayworth. I’m [also] working on a movie about Rita Hayworth. It’s kind of a documentary about my life because we filmed it over five years, but I have a lot in common with Rita, so it blurs the line of documentary and film, which is beautiful. I’m hoping to submit it to Cannes next year.

You’ve been in so many films. Do you have a memory that sticks out as a positive experience?

I would say that shooting the first season of Boardwalk Empire [in 2010; Paz starred in the first two seasons], when I got to work with Martin Scorsese. When I showed up on set [for our shoot], like you said, I created all these characters. I do it in the moment and I’m very present. And there are some actors that are the opposite. [Lead actor] Steve Buscemi, I felt, was the opposite of me. He decides what he’s going to do before he does it. Take me off the script, put me in the moment, [because] when I’m set free I’m at my best. I begged Marty to do an improvisation after the scripted scene.

I did the scene where I lock [Buscemi’s gangster-politician character] out of the bathroom, and then the subtext came in the show that the butler was jealous of me. It became a very funny ongoing thing. After I did that improv, I remember Marty came up to me and said: ​“You know, you’re what an actress should be.” That meant a lot, coming from Scorsese. I look at the lead roles… another character I would have loved to play was Sharon Stone’s Ginger in Casino [1995].

You would have been so good at that.

I love strong female characters; complex women. So, yeah, [Boardwalk Empire] was a positive experience. I also love the Agent Provocateur campaign I did. I had just been drugged at the Golden Globes [in early 2011], because I had gone to a journalist about Harvey Weinstein and they tried to make me look bad. I’ll expose the real story behind that in my [upcoming] memoir. So, Sarah [Shotton, the creative director at AP] was, like: ​“Let’s take the piss out of what they did to you.” [The shoot had Paz in lingerie stumbling out of a taxi and heading into a mansion.]

I wanted to touch on the infamous ​“Paz de la Huerta at the Chateau Marmont” video. [Due to the drugging she describes above, Paz was refused entry to the hotel after the 2011 Golden Globes; the video affected her career badly and she was fired from Boardwalk Empire.]

My book agent said the other day: ​“You were crucified for your sexuality.” I think it’s disgusting what they did to me. I’ve needed a long time to heal. There’s nothing wrong with being a sensual, beautiful woman. Why were women so shamed? Like, these fake feminists are so evil, right? The two-minute video has impacted so many people, including Lana Del Rey.

How did you feel about the clip being featured in her music video for Video Games?

I had this lawyer at the time, Marty Singer [renowned for his toughness in Hollywood], who told me I had to sue Lana Del Rey. Just [after that I was] hit by a truck on a film set. I was in the hospital fighting for my life, and I’m like: ​“Sue Lana Del Rey? I have bigger problems right now!” So I didn’t really care. [Then] I ran into Lana while I was undergoing a lot of medical issues after the truck [incident, as I was] rehabilitating at the Chateau. I asked her: ​“Why did you do that to me?” And she said: ​“Because you’re like Marilyn Monroe for me.” I said: ​“Did you know I was hit, struck by a truck?” She says yes.

And I said: ​“Well, if I’m your Marilyn, why didn’t you send me flowers?” She asked me if I wanted her to cut it out. I said no. I’m happy it’s in there now. I’ve healed from all that. I got away from my family. I’m not a victim anymore and I think it’s iconic. People like Julia Fox, who I like, are doing things with their platform to bring back the strong woman image, and it’s so important. I was totally crucified for just being beautiful and being free, and I didn’t deserve the abuse that I got. I was also talented and a nice person. It’s not my fault if someone’s boyfriend wanted to sleep with me. That’s that man’s decision.

Let’s talk about your paintings. They have a lot of motherly figures in them.

I dream of having a daughter and being the opposite of how my mother was to me. I dream of having a beautiful little girl and nourishing whatever she wants to do. I hope my daughter’s very pretty.

The idea of a family must feel unique for you.

My big dream is to have orphanages. I don’t say where I live for my safety, but I have been healing and painting, and I would love to create places like this to help. You know, [helping] unloved children to find a safe place to heal and recover their lives. I would love to have my own babies, but I would also love to [run] an orphanage.

Do you feel like people have the wrong perception of you sometimes?

Oh yeah. My family went to extreme measures to defame me on the web; to make me seem like a hot mess. Look, my story is really similar to the Bible. If you read the story of Mary Magdalene, they destroyed images of her. They tried to do the same to me. Now I’m happy that the world’s gonna see the beautiful pictures we created in Paris, see what I really look like.

What are your current goals and aspirations?

OK, I love that you asked that. I like this guy, but he fucking drives me crazy.

Who is he?

He’s a, you know, playboy.

Oh no!

I know, so I’m trying to be open to other men. I would like to get my justice, buy a house, maybe in LA, keep painting and modelling. I love modelling. I loved our shoot. You are such a wonderful stylist. Let’s do a shoot here on the farm. I can come next week! We could do, like, a fairytale. Oh, I’m so into that, with custom red shoes, just like in the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale.

Do you wish for anything to change from the moment you are in right now?

I would love to resolve my issues with my guy – the guy I’m crazy about. I would like to see some justice for what my family put me through. I would love to be able to get a good lawyer. I was misunderstood in my life. But I hope that with my art, the movie about my life and my upcoming memoir, that people see the truth and acknowledge what a kind, good, beautiful woman I am, inside and outside.

HAIR Nicolas Philippon at Artlist MAKE-UP William Bartel at Artlist NAILS Alex Feller at Artlist CASTING DIRECTOR Carola Monteleone EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Kateryna Kudinova at Boundless PRODUCER Valèry De Vreese at Boundless STYLIST’S ASSISTANTS Laurent Ben Henni, Juri Ikeda and Ann Ramirez HAIR ASSISTANT Angèle Fumey