Watching Ashley Judd’s portrayal of Linda Lee Porter, the devoted, but long suffering wife of Cole Porter (played by Kevin Kline), I became a fan in a way that I hadn’t been before. The part in De-Lovely really gives Ms. Judd an opportunity to show off her acting skills, both lightly comedic and seriously dramatic. She even croons a Cole Porter tune. The De-Lovely DVD, being released shortly before Christmas, features audio commentary by Kline, director Irwin Winkler and writer Jay Cocks, as well as a “Music of De-Lovely” featurette and much more. I had the opportunity to sit down with the personable and bright Ms. Judd at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago for an interview.

Ashley Judd: Well, Frida I did because my friend asked me to; which was a joy. The real privilege in the entire experience was being able to say “yes,” and knowing that that made a difference to Salma (Hayek) and that was meaningful to her. And when I read this script (De-Lovely), I thought it would be such a relief and so much fun to play someone really rich, and have all those great locations, all that pretty stuff, all those pretty clothes (laughs).

GLT: You got to wear fabulous costumes.

AJ: Yeah. My hair and makeup team is a group with whom I’ve worked for a long time now. It was a really great opportunity for them to show some of the real talent that they possess.

AJ: I think that Linda and Cole had a very profound and sustaining, very nurturing marriage. And I don’t think people are married for 35 years for accident. It’s an interesting, unconventional love story that will really be compelling to contemporary audiences. I think that there is a very important place for sex in a relationship and in society, but I think that to a certain extent it’s over-emphasized and overrated; and there is enough emphasis on being known for who you really are. Having an authentic meeting, in the Jungian sense, with another human being, which is what Cole and Linda shared.

AJ: Yeah, and to function on a level of art and creativity and compassion and understanding and really unconditional love and acceptance.

AJ: Well, I have a healthy enough ego to have thought when I read the script, “No problem. This will be easy.” And I worked on it a little bit with a young friend who plays the piano well and is a producer in Nashville. He was really funny. He was playing scales and I was singing with him. He was looking at me and going further down the keyboard and looking at me and dropping his jaw because I have such a low voice. He really tried to persuade me to insist, when I got to London, that I sing “True Love” in Bing Crosby’s key, which is really where I am more comfortable. I’m not comfortable in a higher register in church or wherever I sing. I don’t like to go up high. I never did, even when I was singing along with Joni Mitchell on her Blue album, which is (sings) so high (laughs). I ended up doing what (Stephen Endelman) the producer and music supervisor on De-Lovely wanted. I was not very comfortable. I think it turned out OK, but it’s not nearly as good as it could have been.

AJ: Natalie and Sheryl, I definitely knew. Alanis, I had met on something, but I can’t remember what. She’s just a really great, down-to-earth, Canadian woman. I get along really well with Canadians, partly because my husband (Dario Franchitti) is Scottish and there are so many Scottish people in Canada. There are big open wheel motor sport fans in Canada, plus we share a lot of the same ideology and political views. It was so great to meet Robbie, because my husband is a devoted fan. To be able to meet him and bring him into our family a little bit was a pretty exciting opportunity. I think that he does one of the best jobs, in the movie, and the aforementioned Steve Endelman really got a lot out of Rob’s voice, and cast him extremely well in the song.

AJ: I was a big fan of Cole Porter’s music. I don’t even think, though, that I knew the extent to which he had made a contribution to American music. People will be so surprised, when they go into the film and they hear all of these songs, when they realize that they were written by the same brilliantly talented individual. I probably thought that “You’re The Top” was written by (George) Gershwin and I probably thought that some of them were (Johnny) Mercer or (Irving) Berlin.

AJ: The other thing I hadn’t realized that he wrote was “Don’t Fence Me In.” The man literally filled trunks with his music.

AJ: I had an ice cream cone on my stomach that I was trying to eat right before we did our take. With the prosthetic makeup, I wasn’t allowed to chew. It was done in such a way that it would start to crack and peel off, and once that started to happen, it was an irretrievable mess, and we would have to take it all off and start over. The makeup took between four to six hours, depending on the day and the humidity. I have low blood sugar and I have to eat, especially on a film, every hour and a half to two hours. I had somebody smuggle me a Dove bar, because I thought I could just (speaking without moving her lips) go like this – really not move my lips and just get it in there and eat my ice cream. The producer came and took it away from me. It’s kind of a legendary story amongst my friends, because the scene did turn out so beautifully. I didn’t know how to play it. I just knew what I didn’t want it to be – all trembly and how deathbed scenes often are (laughs).

AJ: Well it was written in a very lucid style. And what passes between Linda and Cole in this kind of review of their extraordinary and peripatetic lives – I really wanted to keep that intact. Plus, they were nothing if not fundamentally considerate and polite. Really, that’s all that good manners are. Good manner is being considerate. If you ever have a question about how or why to do something, just think of what is the most compassionate, thoughtful, considerate thing to do, which will equal having good manners. When (as Linda in the deathbed scene) I say, “Do you mind if I leave a little early?” I just thought that was a wonderful line. Like, basically, I’m so sorry that I may have to leave a little early. I thought that was the most poignant, beautiful exit line.

AJ: Sure. Absolutely.