You began training.
I needed to find out if I could really sing! Ron
came in and worked with me. And then I had to learn how to play guitar.
I’m very good at air guitar—and air drums—but I had never played an
actual guitar. After working for weeks on Stacee’s technical skills, I
was thinking about the character, and I said, “You know what? I need a
monkey.” Adam said, “What the fuck are you talking about?” And I said,
“I’m serious—I need a monkey” [laughs]. When Stacee’s not onstage, he’s
kind of sad. And I thought, This guy has to have a monkey that’s his
best friend. Adam found this baboon. He sent me the baboon’s audition
tape, and I said, “The baboon’s name has to be Hey Man” [laughs]. Stacee
Jaxx doesn’t work without Hey Man.
There are a lot of sexy scenes in this movie: At one point you’re
climbing a stripper pole; in another scene, you’re grinding up against a
Rolling Stone reporter, played by Malin Akerman.
I knew we had to push
the sexuality because of the nature of the character and the songs. He’s
singing, “I Want to Know What Love Is.” Adam has a sweetness with this
stuff, so you can push things pretty hard. With Malin, I thought of
Susan Sarandon in The Rocky Horror Picture Show—incredibly sexy and very
sweet.
It’s hard to get that balance.
When you read a lot of rock biographies,
you find that when these musicians are doing their work and it’s going
well, that’s when they’re really alive. It’s all the other stuff—the
noise and complications—that gets them into devilish behavior. Stacee is
kind of floating until he comes onstage. That’s where he’s at home.
Everything else is kind of a mess.
Was your goal to show something intimate?
Yes. It’s a little
uncomfortable at times. But funny. Uncomfortable and funny: That was the
goal.
