Tim Kern painting Robin Weigert behind the scenes of Synecdoche, New York Courtesy of Temptu

No. And he always has really interesting female characters...
This movie's all about the female characters — there's so many of them. And it's basically about Phil Hoffman's relationships with all these women in his life. So it's really interesting.

Do you think tattoos are gaining mainstream acceptance in film and the media? There are so many [tattooed characters in movies] who are freaks and criminals.
Well, it seems like Hollywood hasn't really come as far as the rest of the world has with the acceptance of tattoos as normal. They seem to make tattoos into a spectacle — which they are, to a degree. They catch the eye — they draw your attention to them. But the characters that they frequently portray as having tattoos in movies are not the doctor who you never expect to have a tattoo or just everyday people. They're people that are a bit eccentric and that's OK. Because most tattoo artists I know really enjoy the outsider stereotype to a degree. They like being on the fringe of society. And if it gets too accepted, they kind of freak out a little bit.

At the same time, there are a lot of people who have tattoos hidden under clothes, like the accountant you mentioned earlier.
There are tons of those.

That's always an interesting dichotomy.
I've tattooed doctors, lawyers, policemen, soldiers. All kinds of people who are like, "Well, I really can't let it show past this point because it might freak out some of my clients," or "The hospital I work at wouldn't like it... " Tattoos are more acceptable to a degree, but it's still not really that mainstream.

One thing that was interesting was how Robin reacted to having a tattoo, because she would have to wear it for a day or two and then she would have dinner plans or whatever. She would tell me afterwards how people reacted to her having this extensive tattoo work when she went to places that wouldn't normally accept that sort of thing. Her tattoo goes all the way down to her hand. And she said that a lot of people gave really positive reactions to it but she saw a lot of people who did double takes. Right after we finished the big scene with her full body tattoo, she flew out of the country to go to [on vacation], and she still had the tattoo on and she was just going to wear it for a few days and just be out in the sun with the tattoo. We were all wondering if she was going to have tan lines in the shape of her tattoo.

So what was her experience?
I think she kind of liked having it, but it was really weird for her to have such a different appearance all of a sudden. I think it's a shock to a lot of my clients, initially, when they start something really big... It really changes their perception of what they're looking at, what they see in the mirror.

I find that a lot of times the half-sleeve barrier, breaking that and going on to the forearms is really a big deal to a lot of people. Because then they can't hide it. For me it was going to the lower fingers.

That was pushing it for you.
It wasn't pushing it, but it was a little strange to me... When I wear a hoodie, it often covers my upper fingers, but never really my lower fingers. It was weird to not be able to not see a tattoo. [But] I love being able to see tattoos pretty much everywhere I look on me.

Tim Kern painting Robin Weigert behind the scenes of Synecdoche, New York Courtesy of Tim Kern

Tell me what happened when you got tattooed by Jennifer Jason Leigh.
She plays the person who did Robin's tattoos in the movie. She called me and asked if she could come by and watch me tattoo for a little bit, just to see what the process was like. She was just really interested in learning about it, because she's peripherally involved with the tattoo in the movie. She doesn't have any tattoos, [and] I don't think she'd ever been in a tattoo shop before. And so she came by the shop and watched me tattoo for a couple hours. I'm a big fan, so eventually I was like, "You know, if you really want to find out what it's all about, you can tattoo me if you want." And it was like a light bulb lit up over her head. I don't think she ever really thought that something like that would be possible — I don't know why. Just because she'd never done it before it doesn't mean she can't. So she came over and tattooed me the next day. She did a little picture of her dog on me with her initials next to it. [shows the tattoo]

Oh, that is so cute.
It was really fun. I waited till the end of the tattoo to tell her that she'd just changed my appearance permanently. She was really glad that I told her that after the fact, because she said it would have freaked her out a whole lot if I'd told her before she started.

Wow. So how was she?
She was really cool.

Does she have a future as a tattoo artist?
Well, the tattoo isn't the best tattoo that I have, but it's pretty special. She was very hesitant about really putting it in there. Once you touch the skin the ink flows out a little bit, so she would back off. I had to tell her to really put it in there."It made me remember what it was like the first time I ever tattooed. It's completely foreign [and different from] how you would draw. It was fun. It was an interesting day.

Wow. So are you looking forward to doing more tattoos for movies?
I would totally be [thrilled to do] more stuff and hope I get asked to. It was a lot of fun and it's nice to do something different from what I usually do...

It sounds like an incredibly unique project, especially the way it's presenting these totally tattooed women.
I think it'll be fun. I can't wait to see the movie, actually.