http://www.thenumber.com/buzz/bjork.htm Next 2000 By Jay Jimenez Photography by Mert Atlas and Marcus Piggott "Björk's Swan Song" Feted for her first ever film role in Dancer in the Dark, Björk wants out of acting. The Icelandic pop star speaks to Jay Jimenez and sets the record straight about her so-called fight with director Lars Von Trier. Photography by Mert Atlas and Marcus Piggott. In an industry filled with desperate celebutantes, it's hard to imagine a talented actress deciding to walk away from a promising career after only one role. Well, that is exactly what 34-year-old songstress Björk did. When director Lars Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark screened at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, not only did it win the coveted Palme D'Or laurel, but the lead-singer-turned-leading-lady was crowned with the Best Female Performance award. Having devoted more than two- thirds of her life to singing, winning the festival's well-regarded acting prize is an accomplishment of unparalleled significance. Unlike Greta Garbo, who never embarked upon another artistic endeavor after uttering the now-infamous line, 'I want to be left alone,' the eclectic Björk has never left her true love: music. In Dancer in the Dark, the Icelandic goddess portrays 'Selma,' a simple Czech immigrant laboring in America's south, scrimping and saving for her young son's eyesight- saving operation - a procedure that cannot help the already blind Selma. Your public persona has been described as 'pixieish,' 'waifish' and 'fairy godmother-like.' Is there any one trait of Björk the performer that you carry into your personal life? I don't know. When I was 11 my first album came out in Iceland, so I got used to seeing my face on the front covers of magazines pretty early on. I don't think there is a lot of difference - to a certain degree - between my personal and private self. I wear the same clothes at home that I wear to public events. But it's kind of interesting what 'travels' and what doesn't. I think if something is precious to me and I want to keep it a secret, it usually doesn't go anywhere. And yet sometimes the things that I wouldn't mind sharing seem to travel very fast. To cut a long story short, I don't think it's that conscious a thing. Who I am is something I've been living with for a very long time and it sort of just happened naturally. One thing I've noticed, though, having been brought up by hippies - and I think a lot of people from my generation are the same way - I kind of had to acquire my own internal discipline from the age of five. I had to get myself up, go to school, get top grades, attend music school, get top grades there as well and come back to the hippie commune where everyone would ask me, 'What did you do today?' And I would be like, 'Oh, nothing.' [Laughs.] What was more difficult for you: writing the music or actually playing the part of Selma? I don't think one was more difficult than the other. I think where the problems arose were instances where I had to play both at the same time. As you know, I worked one year with Lars - I am used to working with very eccentric people. I am very attracted to them; they are my favorite people because they are the spice of this world. Right? So we worked together - as professionals. Since I am a craftsman sort of musical person, Lars would come to me and ask me things. I would listen to him, explain stuff to him and record things for him which he needed. That part of the collaboration went very well, everything was fine. Then I went on set and became Selma - of which Lars has said of me, 'I have never experienced such a deep connection with an actor or actress.' I've said it as well about him. We were completely linked. How so? Lars described to me how he would look through a lens and think to himself how he wanted me to move to the left. And before he would say anything, I would move to the left. I think the problems arose, however, when I would be shooting for three months - eight to 12 hours a day - and I would come home from the set. Meanwhile, other members of the crew would be chopping up my songs in the studio. Suddenly, I had to take off my Selma glasses and transform back into being Björk the composer. I had to say, 'Listen, this music is something Lars and I decided upon a year ago and you can't cut eleven bars out of this song because to do so wouldn't make any sense. You can't go from this section to that section!' And they would just go, 'You're just an actress. Shut up.' So that is where the problem was - playing the composer and the actress. Your relationship with Lars Von Trier has received a lot of press. What was that about? Lars and I are very different - pretty much opposites. But we both appreciate in one another the fact that we are both up front. I would tell him exactly how I feel about things and vice versa. And although Lars and I would not agree on how to do something at 10am, by 11am we would find a way to do it. We always did. We had to agree - or there would be no film! [Laughs.] Why didn't you do any press earlier in the game? I didn't do any press for nine months because I don't believe in spelling out the secrets of the creative process. Lars and I differ quite greatly on that subject. But then I felt like I had to defend the process. There was this whole drama taking place about how difficult it was on the set and that certain people were eating their clothes and stuff. I was like, 'Sorry?' I did not experience that at all. How did you approach writing the character songs for Selma? When you write music it's very intuitive. The first time I read the script I was crying and shivering. I was really upset about what was happening to this woman. I wrote all of the songs in the first month or so. After going through the whole emotional process of writing, I was able to put my musical 'science' frock on, sit down and arrange the music. I would say, 'This part of the song should have a train whistle here' or 'This part should have three oboes there.' But the heart of a song has to be emotional. Why did you have Von Trier write the lyrics for some of the songs? Well, there were several reasons. One was that I had worked with music groups and collaborated with these groups since I was 11. I really enjoy that process because I have quite romantic ideas about people collaborating. When this happens, people flourish and everybody gets to be themselves. But then I did three solo albums in a row within the space of five years. These albums were all about me and it felt quite narcissistic. So with Dancer in the Dark I was able to give myself over to something else. I had a hunger to express my craftsman and academic sides. I wanted to use more of my classical education in the project. Emotionally, I thought it was time for me to take a bit of a break there because I had gone so far. And touring after every album and singing my heart out about something that happened to me a week ago, I realized there are more people out there than just myself. So I guess it was just a combination of that and also the fact that Lars wrote the script. I said to Lars, 'You know this woman. You wrote her words.' Will you act again? I don't think so. But I want you and everyone to know that my decision is not because of this film. I mean, I would jump off a cliff any day. That's not what I'm scared of. And I'll always be attracted to eccentrics - there's no stopping me there. Before the film, I was never going to act; I was devoting my life to music. But because there was such a creative smell in the air, I made an exception with Dancer in the Dark. Now I just want to go back to my comfortable musical nest. After 20 years of experimentation and learning, that's where I can be at my most generous.