Amanda Fortini writes for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and Rolling Stone and divides her time between Los Angeles and Livingston, Montana. Before interviewing choreographer Benjamin Millepied about his plans for L.A., she sat down in the green room to talk about why her worst haircut was also one of her most expensive, what Malibu has in common with Montana, and where she keeps her gun.
Q. What’s your favorite condiment?
A. Mayonnaise for sure-I’m from the Midwest. And butter also. But I ask for so much of it-someone came up to me at a restaurant and asked if I was from Scandinavia.
Q. What do Livingston, Montana, and L.A. have in common?
A. We spend winter in Malibu and summer in Livingston-both have a real small-town feel. Livingston is a small town with 7,000 people, and Malibu has a small-town feel-you see the same people over and over again. And people are very proud of their community. I think you see that in L.A. as a whole. And also beautiful geography, beautiful mountains. Big skies. There’s a lot geographically that’s similar, except you just don’t have very many trees in Montana.
Q. How much is too much to pay for a haircut?
A. You’re asking the wrong person because I actually pay about $18 for my haircuts. I get it cut by a really talented woman in Montana. But I have had a $200, $300 haircut that made my hair so short it was like Hilary Clinton when she had really short hair! It was just a bad, bad haircut. You can get great cuts at all prices, but you don’t have to pay a lot for a good haircut.
Q. When and where did you last dance?
A. I think the last time I danced was my sister’s wedding a year and a half ago-two years ago, almost. Weddings are always good for dancing.
Q. What keeps you up at night?
A. Usually when I’m writing something, I’ll kind of obsessively go over it in my head over and over again, and that’ll keep me awake. I’m kind of a worrier, so I’ll worry about everything from the state of the world to whether I remembered to mail something to my sister.
Q. What item of clothing can’t you live without?
A. I have a black leather jacket that I bought a few years ago, and I paid way too much money for it, and yet I’ve put it over everything, from yoga outfits to a dress for a formal event.
Q. Where do you keep your gun?
A. It used to be next to my bed, but now it’s in my office, unloaded, in a box on my desk, which means it’s not really doing anything. It’s become ornamental for the moment. I need to take another class to feel truly comfortable with it.
Q. Are you good at keeping secrets?
A. Yes-and I expect other people to keep mine.
Q. What teacher or professor, if any, changed your life?
A. There were two teachers in high school. I was part of mock trial. Mr. Tillman and Mr. Murray were the coaches, and they really taught me so much about how to write, how to make an argument, how to be comfortable speaking in front of other people, which I’m not naturally-I’m rather shy. They were really mentors, teachers, father figures, and coaches, all in one.
Q. What word or phrase do you use most often?
A. I don’t think there is one that’s kind of a catchphrase with me. I’m a writer so I try to be careful about lazy speech. I hate when people say “literally” over and over again when they mean figuratively.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.