Los Angeles Confidential – January 2010

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The Incomparable Uma Thurman
By Cristina Greeven Cuomo
Photographs by Ben Watts
Styling by Vanessa Moore at Art Department
Makeup by Jeanine Lobell at The Magnet Agency
Hair by David Babaii for David Babaii for Wildaid
Manicure by Barbara Mutnick for ArtistsbyTimothyPriano.com

UMA THURMAN is as beautiful and timeless as a Hollywood star gets. Named for a Hindu goddess, Thurman turns 40 in April, and while that’s long past the expiration date for most actresses, the six-foot-tall platinum blonde is at the top of her game. Thurman has a number of films in the works this year, including the President’s Weekend opening of the much-anticipated fantastical film adaptation of Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, as well as Ceremony—directed by Max Winkler (“He’s the Fonz’s son and incredibly talented!” gushes Thurman)—Eloise in Paris, Bel Ami with Robert Pattinson and a third installment of the Kill Bill series.

Thurman’s hyperintelligence comes from her Buddhistscholar father, Robert Thurman, and her incredible and exotic looks are care of her European model mother, Nena. Off camera she spends time lending support to Room to Grow, a nonprofit that helps infants born into poverty.

LOS ANGELES CONFIDENTIAL: So let’s start with Percy Jackson & the Olympians. Tell me about playing Medusa.

UMA THURMAN: It was actually a very short shoot for me. It’s a huge, beautifully done adventure story full of live action and effects. It was shot in Vancouver, and I have one wonderful scene, and then I’m swiftly beheaded. My head is dragged around throughout the movie. I saw the sort of semi-animation of me with a head full of snakes, and it was creepy and horrible looking.

LAC: Does it look like you, or is it just your voice?

UT: It’s my total face and hands and body. It’s really creepy with the snakes. I’m a little worried about my kids seeing it.

LAC: Did you interact with any real snakes?

UT: When we were doing a rehearsal they brought in a box of huge snakes, and I experienced them up close and personal. I let a lot of them crawl all over me. I saw exactly how hellish [Medusa’s] curse was. It was pretty intense.

LAC: What’s special about your upcoming film Bel Ami besides Robert Pattinson, who is so big right now, being your costar?

UT: He is a big star right now. I’m excited because the film is a classical, technical piece of work, and it’s beautiful. It’s a bit of bedroom drama. It’s a romance between Rob and a number of Parisian housewives.

LAC: And you’re one of the love interests?

UT: I end up marrying him, but there are some twists. My daughter is like, “Mom, why do you keep getting these roles where you’re getting younger men?” And I said, “Well at least I don’t do it in real life.”

LAC: You won a Golden Globe for your acting in Hysterical Blindness, the first film you produced. Were you surprised by that acknowledgement?

UT: I was completely surprised. So was everyone else because I had a nightmare trying to get it off the ground because no one thought I should be playing the part. No one thought it would be realistic. I guess no one thought I could act or that I was a person who has ever cried.

LAC: What’s your New Year’s resolution?

UT: It’s my New Year’s resolution every year to be more organized. Be more helpful. Contribute more. Go to the gym, and watch more television. Those are the areas I’m always working on. Stop beating your head against a wall.

LAC: What inspires you?

UT: The sun inspires me; the fact that it sets for us. Children inspire me. People who carry hope in the face of any type of challenge, disappointment or devastation. Everybody is being challenged and tested right now in this country, and some people are changing as a result. That’s what I’m trying to do.

LAC: What do you do to support that?

UT: I don’t do enough. I try to help others. The only thing I’ve been involved with since its onset is Room to Grow. The great thing about their model is that it’s a self-sustaining thing from its own community; it’s those-who-have helping those-who-have-less. Part of the reason it was created was because a lot of children below the poverty line aren’t able to access resources until they hit school age. Early intervention is everything as far as getting someone off to a decent life.

LAC: What do you love about LA?

UT: What I love about LA are a number of people, first and foremost. The ocean. It’s the home of the business I’ve given my life to, so it’s always an interesting place for me to go creatively. It represents a lot of fun to me. It can be a little stressful, just because it’s very work centered. There’s great food, and the lifestyle here is very supportive of well-being, and I like that.

LAC: You’re single again. Maybe a new man in the new decade?

UT: I feel very optimistic about the next decade. I’m just thinking about a new year.

Source: LA Confidential