Mink Stole continues more zany roles with two flicks at our very own Reeling Film Festival. Stuck!, an homage to film noir, and Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat prove that Mink is not hung around anyone's neck!
Windy City Times: Where did the name Mink Stole come from?
Mink Stole: My name is Nancy Stoll. That is the name that I was born with. I never cared for it. It was too sibilant, with the two sounds coming over top of one another. When we made the first John Waters movie, Roman Candles, back in the mid-'60s, I said, "Give me another name." So he came up with Mink Stole.
WCT: How did John Waters find you?
MINK STOLE: We met in Provincetown, Cape Cod in the summer of '66. So we became friends. It's funny because people think I met this man with a big halo over his head. He was just a guy. This was way before Pink Flamingos, before he was a name.
WCT: Did you think it would turn into this big thing?
MINK STOLE: There was no way to know that. It's great. I am thrilled with it but no way to anticipate that.
WCT: Why does he call his regular actors "Dreamlanders?"
MINK STOLE: Because in the beginning he called our whole company Dreamland Studios. So that's where Dreamlanders comes from.
WCT: You are one of two actresses who has appeared in all of his films.
MINK STOLE: All except for three shorts. I was not in his very first film, which he made before I met him. Then there were two black-and-white shorts that he made in the '60s that I am not in for two different reasons— [ with ] one I was in Europe and the other I had hepatitis.
WCT: Those are good reasons! [ Both laugh. ] Now, Fruitcake is his newest one?
MINK STOLE: Fruitcake is still in script form and not in production. Because of the economy, John has not found the backing for it but he still hopes to.
WCT: Eating Out 3 was so hilarious! Your eulogy speech was classic.
MINK STOLE: Oh, good; I am glad you liked it! I was trying to play it as straight and non-campy as I could. The dialogue was a bit much. I was trying not to overplay the campiness of the dialogue. I hope it worked.
WCT: Is there anything you won't say?
MINK STOLE: I don't know because everything depends on context and character. There are certainly things that I find objectionable. Did you see Eating Out 2?
WCT: Yes, I did. I interviewed Jim Verraros and he said you had trouble saying the "F [ aggot ] " word.
MINK STOLE: I did. I had a lot of trouble with it because to me it's not a friendly word. But the director wasn't having any of my objections and insisted that I say it. Apparently it didn't bother people. In context it was said affectionately.
WCT: Tell me about Stuck!
MINK STOLE: It's very noir and it is something that I had wanted to do forever. There's a stillness about Stuck! The atmosphere of the prison cell is so terrific and compelling. I was there for all of the prison stuff except for the love scene between Starina and Pleasant. That was a closed set. We just stayed in the cells for days.
WCT: Wow, talk about star treatment.
MINK STOLE: Well, we didn't sleep in them! The first day that we got there, we went to the cells and we had brought things to decorate our own cells with. We had been sent our uniforms and we made them our own. There was an identification with the characters that we had before we even got to the set. We did our first read-through in the cells.
WCT: I had wondered if you had written the graffiti on the walls.
MINK STOLE: Oh, yeah. We did that ourselves. I am an intensely territorial person. I had never had that in a film where I could create my own territory. It really was a great idea.
WCT: Do people approach you for roles like Esther or do you seek them out?
MINK STOLE: I had been wanting to work with Steve Balderson for a while. He had cast me in a film several years ago and it never got made. When he called me about this and I read the script I was really thrilled. Plus I have known Jane Wiedlin and Pleasant Gehman for a long time so it was nice to work with people that I knew. I love black and white photography as well.
WCT: You have a band that you perform with?
MINK STOLE: I call them my "Wonderful Band." We are rehearsing for a Christmas show that we are going to do here in Baltimore. I was very lucky a friend of mine named Brian Grillo who used to be in a band called the Glitter Panthers.
WCT: I love that name.
MINK STOLE: Yeah, it's a good name. He saw me in a Shakespeare play where I had to sing. He wanted me to perform a song that he had written. My very first performance was in a leather bar in Silver Lake in L.A. The crowd went wild! He introduced me to more musicians and we started playing. There is no drama and we have a great time.
WCT: Is it cabaret-style?
MINK STOLE: Kind of.
WCT: We are excited about you coming to Chicago.
MINK STOLE: I have never been there in the winter. I own a coat so I can handle it. I will be there for the screening of each of the movies. Come find me at the after-party!
Come get locked up at the screenings of Stuck! Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. or Eating Out at 5 p.m., both at the Landmark's Century Centre Cinema, 2828 N. Clark. Mink Stole will attend the after-prison party at Circuit, 3641 N. Halsted. For more info visit www.reelingfilmfestival.org . Want more Mink? Read Nightspots magazine!
