A: In Shampoo, the guy had a job, right? Nikki is more of a user and a manipulator. He's not a direct abuser of women, but I don't think this is a happy-go-lucky guy who has a lot of sex with women with no consequence. I don't know if he gets what he deserves, but he does have that moment of recognition. That's a more positive way of looking at it.
Q: But your character, Samantha, is a lawyer, a smart woman. Why would this appeal to her?
A: I don't think women step into these situations wanting to be manipulated. She doesn't need men for much else than sex. Her only real need is to share a little bit of her success, her life, her fun, and he plays into that for a part of her life. That works for a while. It's not that it doesn't work, but what are the things that work? The sex is terrific. He cooks for her and wears an adorable apron with no pants, why isn't she allowed to love that?
At first she doesn't know she's being used, or cheated on, and by the time she knows, she doesn't want to see the signs. She thinks, "I'll forgive him." And then it gets worse. And that's not something that's particular to a smart or a dumb woman. That's just her being a woman. And there's a shame in that. She feels ashamed for having fallen for him, and in shame, we hurt ourselves, sometimes. That was the tragedy of her.
Q: And then she goes to that extreme, of having vaginal reconstructive surgery just so that she might appeal to a younger man...
A: This was not a nose job. This is taking her sexual organ and changing it. Because it's all about sexuality, and about the sexuality of an older woman. That's part of the dark place she goes to, thinking she has to change herself. We don't see all of his other "situations," as he calls them. We just see this one. So we don't know if he does it any differently with the older women he lures in, or how they're affected by him. We just see they have a powerful sexual relationship.
Q: On Hung, your character's ex-husband is a gigolo as well -- only he's trying to give his female clients something back. Or at least learning to.
A: They call Ray a "happiness consultant." [Laughs]. Ray and Nikki are two ends of that spectrum. Only Nikki isn't all that smart. He's got one thing, and he sells it well, and he shakes it well, and that's enough for these women, the women we see.
Q: Ray's only got one thing, too.
A: Yes, but he's interested in more than that. Sexuality is a big part of our emotional makeup, but it's a part of ourselves that we don't express very much. We cover it up. In Hung, my character is like a little girl when it comes to sex. In Spread, she's a woman who's very comfortable with her body and her sexuality. And so I have to be able to play that spectrum of women, too. It's scary, when you're exposed like that. People don't want to see it. And that's what's so bold with these stories, and what we set out to do with Spread ...
Q: To be revealing, and not just physically?
A: It's more revealing emotionally than you ever see revealed physically, even though there's a lot of that. It's not just seeing us have sex, it's about how much deeper can we go? How much more painful or twisted is it? And we go deeper and deeper, whether we like it or not.
