Isabella Rossellini and why ‘SEX’ wasn’t shocking

Blogger Ryan Buxton from HuffPost Live asked actress Isabella Rossellini on her feelings on her collaboration with Madonna on “SEX“, 22 years after its release.

Back in 2010 Isabella had praise for the visual content of the controversial book – but also had a very clear idea of what she didn’t like about it in an interview with Out.com:

I was working a lot with the photographer Steven Meisel. I didn’t know Madonna and Madonna had approached Steven to do a book about sex. And of course, sex is very interesting. Even me, when I’m making my own little films, I address how animals have sex. It’s very interesting, sex. And Steven was tempted – instead of doing a book about all his photos he did for Vogue and all the past photos as a r’sum’ of his life – to do something challenging. So I thought he had a point. Sex is interesting. But I don’t think the book worked, even though the photos were extraordinary and some of them quite memorable. I think there was a little bit of a moralistic sort of “I’ll teach you how to be free!” and that bothered the hell out of me. Because I think if you want to practice abstinence and that makes you happy, you are OK. If you want to be gay, that’s OK. If you want to screw anything that moves, that’s OK. It’s funny to use the word moralistic for that book because people probably don’t put those together, but it was a little bit of “I know better!” and didn’t like that.

And this is what she had about working with Madonna and photographer Steven Meisel on the conversation about her one-woman show “Green Porno” that aired on HuffPost Live yesterday, November 12.

I was delighted to be able to work with [photographer Steven Meisel] and I was delighted to work with Madonna, because she’s a very interesting woman. I wanted to be part of it when they asked me to be part of it.

About the final product:

If you see a businessman – or me, an older woman – naked, there is a vulnerability. I thought that the book lacked that.

About Madonna:

Madonna was almost too beautiful, too perfect … too shaped, to have that vulnerability or the sense of shock that a regular, more normal, not so professional fitted body, could convey.

Check out the full interview in the video below – or skip to the “SEX” part around the 18’20” mark.