Asia Argento, The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

As the trashiest, foulest mother this side of a madhouse with a scary resemblance to a down-and-out Courtney Love, Asia Argento knew exactly what she was doing when she adapted, starred in and directed the sure-to-be-a-cult feature film, The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. The Italian daughter of horrormeister Dario Argento, who has been acting since childhood, got a shock once filming was finished. J.T. Leroy, an HIV-infected former child prostitute and sexually abused boy who wrote the novel on which the film is based, was unmasked as the creation of Laura Albert, who wrote the fiction, and Savannah Knoop, who, with dark glasses, floppy hats and shyness, was Leroy's public face. Argento discusses her "pregnancy" by Leroy -- as reported in the New York Post -- and also working with Sophia Coppola in Marie Antoinette, plus how she takes charge on a set and protected her child actors as they filmed this disturbing story.

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