Life Lessons from Patricia Arquette

Welcome to Life Lessons. This week, we’re going back to the ’90s with our September 1997 issue featuring the iconic actor Patricia Arquette. Arquette, then 29 years old, talks to the writer Graham Fuller months after the release of her career-altering role in David Lynch’s Lost Highway. The actor, captured for the issue by Bruce Weber, is pictured eating a chicken drumstick while decked out in Alaïa. Almost thirty years later, Arquette is still taking us on wild rides with her roles in shows like Hulu’s The Act, and Apple TV’s mind-boggling thriller Severance. Ahead of the Severance season finale this week, take a look inside the mind of a Hollywood legend. So sit back, grab a pen—you just might learn a thing or two.

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“I’d say we’re finally getting to the point where there isn’t a right or wrong way to be; you just are the way you are. Popular psychology changes its story every fifteen years, so you kind of have to go by your own feeling.”

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“Women are such complex creatures, and that’s what’s exciting about being an actress. You can investigate the experiences of different types of women—including all their various survival mechanisms.”

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“Maybe I never felt safe enough in my own life to explore that before, but once I did become safe and secure, I felt I could get into that sexual area.”

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“I simply felt it was time for me to explore the female monster a little bit, although I think the two women I played in Lost Highway were very masculine in a way. They came across with this stereotypical male sexuality, and that’s what drove the male character (played jointly by Bill Pullman and Balthazar Getty) insane: It’s his worst nightmare come true.”

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“As I said, I don’t exactly know how to be a femme fatale since I haven’t honed my life in that fashion. Nobody’s born that way, and I needed help figuring out the dance steps. I realized the femme fatale is definitely a man-made creation, and that the best way of observing that type of heightened femininity is in drag queens, where it’s embraced, adored, and exaggerated

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“I do feel badly that housewives and mothers who stay home aren’t given more respect, though I don’t think they should necessarily go out and become femmes fatales! I actually think they should be given some kind of doctorate for the huge job they do. And even today, I still think we’re operating under a double standard where it’s OK for men to be sexually promiscuous but women can’t. All these things need balancing out.”