The perfect gift?
Well, we’d already been in rehearsals for a few weeks, and Julia was being so brave about saying all the [expletives]—because she’s a good girl, she doesn’t use those words. She and all of us were blushing the first time we had to say everything. It’s funny how you can say horrible things to people you know very well much more easily than you can to a stranger. But over our three weeks of rehearsal, the four of us developed a level of comfort together, so it became a joke. And Julia had also been negotiating with Mike [Nichols, the director] and Patrick [Marber, the screenwriter] about how bad it would have to be.

How many nasty words she’d have to say?
Yeah. It was always a discussion, because she is someone who really interacts with material. She’s not just a recipient who does whatever she’s told. So she wanted to make sure that every word was necessary: “Would Anna say this, is this really who she is?” She was questioning a lot of the stuff, which—I mean, her performance killed me, all the bravery it took to go for it. So that was the inspiration.

So of course you weren’t implying that the word describes Julia.
Oh, no, no, no. Not at all! The farthest from. And I loved her gift in return [a similar necklace, with the words “L’il Cunt”]. It’s my rapper name.

Closer is an awfully dark look at love. What was your first reaction to the script?
You start out looking at [the four leads] like they’re animals in a zoo and you’re the anthropologist of love: “How strange and crazy and frightening these creatures are acting, and how funny.” Then all of a sudden the bars at the zoo start to disappear and you’re part of them, part of that species, and you start recognizing everything.

What did you recognize of yourself?
Pieces. We should hope that it’s not common for people to have those exact relationships. But I think we all recognize pieces.

Have you personally felt that kind of sweeping, desperate love?
Yes, I have. But I can’t talk about it. Relationships are so important and central to me in my life that I can’t be exhibitionist about them.

Are you in a relationship now?
I’m not going to answer. Sorry.