INTERVIEW WITH JACKIE COLLINS FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES
DM) How did this cd come about with Rhino records?
JC) I was picked as recording artist of the week in Entertainment Weekly. It's kind of a fun thing. A friend of mine, Bruce Roberts had written this track and thought it would be fun if we put together some music that I really love, of female singers. We put this track on it and called it, "The Dangerous Kiss, Lethal Seduction track" and we then made an entire CD.
So, I said that I would do it only if I could have songs on it that I really loved. And then we went through this whole thing of getting permission, and then this that and the other, and they sent me this whole list of stuff, and I said forget about it... and I had given them a huge list of 200 artists and records that I really love, and they managed to pick out some tracks that I really was crazy about. Like Dion Warwick singing "Walk on By" and Tina Turner with "Let's Stay Together."
And it all just fell into position as a fun thing to do. And I love doing different things, especially when you're going out to promote a book; it's nice to promote other things at the same time.
DM) I heard a rumor that you were singing on it too?
JC) I'm not singing on it, I'm speaking. Speaking a kind of salacious passage from Dangerous Kiss and also Lethal Seduction in the background.
DM) So you're speaking while somebody else is singing in the background.
JC) Well, there's a bit of a break when I speak; then in between she's singing.
DM) Admittedly, when I was told from the record label that you had a release coming up I was a bit surprised and said, Jackie Collins the author?
JC) Exactly. Well you know what, life is an adventure. You have got to wake up one morning and decide to do something different. I always record my own books on audio so I'm pretty used to being in the studio and reading stuff. It seemed like such a cool idea; you can read the book and have these great people playing in the background- Dion Warwick, Eartha Kitt, Dusty Springfield.
DM) How do you think your fans are going to react to the CD?
JC) I think people are going to take it for what it is, a kind of fun thing. I'm not signing... it's not like I suddenly decided that I'm going to have a singing career. I'm reading from a book to music. Listen, how many rappers have leaped into movies. They can do that and nobody says a thing. It's cross promotion and I like that.
DM) Do you think this is going to be the first of many?
JC) I think it's a great idea. I said to them the other day I'm writing Hollywood Wives- The New Generation now and I think we should put together some music for it. Do you remember that movie, The Big Chill? Well, The Big Chill was so successful because it had the best soundtrack I've ever heard.
I'm kind of a music maven, I love all types of music, but my particular favorite is soul. I've been very involved in music over the years because my husband has owned discotheques when they were at the height of their popularity. He owned one in London, called Tramp and one in LA called Tramp and he also had the original Ad Lib, which is where all the Beatles and Rolling Stones used to hang out. So I've been exposed to music for so long and so many years.
I used to make tapes for them as a disc jockey. I used to put together tapes of music that I absolutely loved, and play them in the club. People would go crazy for them.
DM) So why didn't you do this sooner then?
JC) I have. Bette Midler recorded, "The World is Full of Married Men" which was a movie and book of mine. The Olympic Runners recorded, "The Bitch" which was a book of mine.
DM) They read the books for you?
JC) No, they recorded a song for the book. Hot Chocolate wrote a track called Chances. Do you know who Hot Chocolate is?
DM) Yes, I keep up on my music history.
JC) Excellent, Excellent. Well I know PLENTY about music history. The list that I gave Rhino was a fantastic list- everybody from Marvin Gaye to Teddy Pendergrass. The list they came to me with was not exactly the same so we argued back and forth and finally got it down to artists and songs that I really like.
DM) That sounds like a lot of fun. You got to play DJ for a while.
JC) That's what I always liked to do. One of my favorite things to do is take the CD burner and mix and burn my own CDs. When I write I always put music on. Currently I'm crazy about Marc Anthony. I think he's the best of the Latin Soul singers right now. If I'm creating a scene like in Lethal Seduction where the heroine goes to Miami, I played all of this salsa music to go along with the idea of her being in a Miami club. Music creates a mood and music to me is a companion.
DM) So it sounds like the CD is a soundtrack to the book.
JC) It wasn't like somebody at Rhino said, "Let's do a CD to make some money. Hey let's get Jackie Collins to do it." It was a sort of mutual thing. We wanted to have the music as a companion to the books.
DM) That's an interesting idea. To buy a book and almost know that this track goes with this chapter. Well you've already expanded a lot of your books into music, so this shouldn't be much of a difference.
JC) I'm kind of a control freak. I like to produce my own movies. I produced ten hours of my mini series for NBC. When I started this project with Rhino, I wanted to be sure that they were tracks that I love. Not tracks that I would just put my name on. People get the CD and they're getting my taste in music- great original tracks.
DM) Do you think that you're a control freak because you're good at being a leader or is it more the human nature of ego that causes us to want to be in control?
JC) It's very interesting. It's a very interesting question. It's not ego, it's knowing what you're doing. When I publish a book, everything has to be run by me. And the reason it has to be run by me is not because "Oh she has to look at everything" but I have to look at everything to see the mistakes that other people have made. It sounds ridiculous but they do make mistakes. In a press kit, it will say 17 best selling books, whereas I've had 20. It's a stupid mistake but if they run it by me, I catch it.
DM) I found the idea most interesting because everybody has an undeniable human ego. It makes me wonder what percentage of me is being in control because of the human nature of ego and what percentage is because I can do the job.
JC) I don't think there's anything wrong with having an ego. I really don't. Why shouldn't you think you're good at something. We're all taught to be too modest. Why shouldn't you think, "Hey I can do that."
Don't you think athletes have a tremendous ego and that's why they win. That's why Tyson gets in the ring and he beats the crap out of somebody. Because his ego tells him that he can do it. Because if his ego told him to lie back and that he couldn't do it, then he would lose, he'd be a loser.
DM) Then why do people have this thing against having an ego.
JC) They might think that some people take it to extremes. You see a lot of well-known actors and actresses who when they make a joke, everybody laughs and if they don't laugh, they get fired. That's kind of taking an ego to an extreme. We look at that and we don't like it.
DM) Being somewhat of an expert on Hollywood, is ego something that feeds itself?
JC) Yeah, yeah. I think Hollywood is a fascinating place to write about. Because if you look at the award ceremonies this year you will see a ton of people that you know who they are, they're not particularly quite famous, but they're famous for now. Then if you look at the awards ceremony from five years ago you'll see different faces and where are they today. Success is very fleeting, there are very few that stay the course. You think about it and there's probably very few who are still successful today. You probably couldn't name 10 who stayed the course and are still making movies today. Mel Gibson is one...
DM) Harrison Ford.
JC) Harrison ford is another. Sean Connery.
DM) Did we mention Harrison Ford and Sean Connery? (both laugh)
JC) Yes, think about it. Even the young actors, think about the hot young actors from five years ago.
DM) I can only really think of Brad Pitt of the top of my head.
JC) Yes, he's done it, but because he's really good. He's the only one that really made it. Johnny Depp is good too but he hasn't made it to the same level. When you think of the hype that's going on now, who do you think will be here in five years?
DM) The next part of this question would be, some people feel fame is based on luck and others think it's based on ability.
JC) It's a combination. Fame is a combination of the two. It's being in the right place at the right time and getting the right break. there is always a movie that makes the career. And that's what pulls them through. Harrison Ford has Raiders, Sean Connery had James Bond, Sharon Stone had Basic Instinct.
DM) But there are people who had that level and then their careers die.
JC) Yeah, you look at the singers today and wonder if they'll last the year. I think Brittney Spears will last but you see some Britney Spears clones and really have to wonder.
DM) How do you tell if a person who will make it or not?
JC) I think they have that special magic. That glamorous mystic. Shania Twain and Faith Hill. They have it.
DM) Is it charisma?
JC) It's beauty, and not particularly conventional beauty but they have it. That's what Brad Pitt has.