Crimes Of Passion (1984)—“Joanna Crane/China Blue”
KT: Well, Ken Russell, honey. I mean, Ken Russell, he was a genius. Ken called me a few months ago because he wanted to shoot Alice In Wonderland, and he wanted me for the Red Queen. And we were talking about it just before he died. That was a real shocker. I understand they’re going to go ahead with the film, but for me, the point was Ken. Just to work with Ken. He was absolutely certifiable, the man. But, in truth, a genius.
AVC: That was a very sexual film.
KT: I think that was some of my best work, honestly. That he really challenged me.
AVC: What was it like to be directed by Ken Russell?
KT: Confusing, at times. He drank a lot. He drank from early in the morning on, so as the day progressed, you’d have different levels of comprehensive ability, in terms of what he wanted from his direction. So you kind of had to take that into account, but at the same time, his passions were so contagious, he made you risk more than you normally might with someone else.
AVC: Your leading man in that movie was Anthony Perkins—
KT: Whoa, that was tough. I can say this, because it was all public. He was doing this stuff—I believe it was a form of nitrate that was a step down from amyl. So we’d rehearse, and then just before Ken would roll camera, Anthony would pull out this little bottle and sniff it, and he’d go all red and break into a sweat and you go, “I don’t know what’s going to happen now.” So that was kind of scary at times.
AVC: That’s reflected in the film.
KT: That was really tough. When I came home from that film, my fiancé at that time picked me up from the airport and took me out to our country place, and he told me I slept 22 hours. He said if I got to 24, he was going to take me to the hospital. That was hard.
