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AE: What has the press thing been like in the US?
LH: New York was a trail of journalists coming into a room with questions like (puts on an American accent), “Do you think that Brokeback Mountain made way for this movie?” (Pulls a face, as do I.) And I was like, "Um, well, probably maybe I'd say there is no relation at all!" There was a lot of that!

AE: Did you get to do any press with Piper? What were they asking you?
LH: Yeah, that was great. I don't think they knew what to make of us. We've had journalists saying, “Oh my god! How do you find playing a gay woman? Don't you think it may ruin your career?”

Piper and I would look at each other (pulls a face again). There were secret laughs and secret evils.

AE: Especially since Piper was in Lost & Delirious at the beginning of her career! Did she tell you all about being adored by women?
LH: We didn't discuss it really. I mean I was in Band of Gold years ago playing a lesbian and I would get lots of girls coming up to me asking if they could take me out. I was like, "Wow!"

AE: I understand that for Band of Gold you trained with a dominatrix. How
was that?
LH: I really liked her. I was really shy and found it incredibly awkward. I was really young at the time and so I started thinking, "I'm in love with her, I want this sort of job!" It was quite sad too. She never made eye contact with any of us. She was very cut off but very warm at the same time.

AE: Out of all the roles you have done, which are you let's say the most proud of?
LH: I think in terms of proud, I'd have to say The Brothers Grimm, 'cause I didn't kill myself! A personal triumph! But I think Aberdeen is the one. It still gets to me that it never got released in the UK. I read it and thought, “Wow, this kind of material never comes my way. I'm never given this sort of thing.”

AE: You play opposite two great actors, Charlotte Rampling and Stellan Skarsgard, did you know right from reading the script that you had to be part of this project?
LH: I met Hans (Petter Moland, the director) and went “I have to do it!” He asked if I really liked it. And I said, “I love it, I've slept with it under my pillow, I've read it every day! I know I can do it.” He went away for three months, all the time staying in touch. Telling me, “They want me to do it with Drew Barrymore, they're giving me a bigger budget.” But then after a while he dismissed all that and said, “It's yours, you start in a month!” It was an awesome experience.

AE: Have you seen Madonna's video for "Hung Up?" Do you think you guys influenced her with your dancing sequence!?
LH: (Chuckle) I think, yes, definitely! She saw it in the US and thought, “Oh, I have to use this, and wear a really scary leotard as well!" We were influential!

AE: The debate at the heart of Imagine Me & You is whether love at first sight is a myth or a reality. What do you think?
LH: I think it's real. The truth is, you can fall in love--for me anyway, men or women like you--it's whether you follow through to the end, to its natural end, or not. It
does happen.

Read our review of Imagine Me and You

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