The actress opens up to ET about getting involved in Marc Jacobs' new campaign and her failed attempt at modeling early in her career.
At 66 years old, Sissy Spacek is one of the new faces of
Marc Jacobs, posing with pink hair in homage to her titular prom queen role from
Carrie. The actress is part of the
designer’s Fall ’16 campaign, which also includes Susan Sarandon, Missy
Elliott, and Courtney Love -- all women 45 or older -- alongside models Kendall
Jenner and Cara Delevingne.
Spacek, who is currently starring on Netflix’s Bloodline, joins a long line of iconic
women to represent Jacobs. Over the past few years, Cher (70), Bette Midler (70), Jessica Lange (67), Debi
Mazar (51), and Winona Ryder (44) have all been featured in campaigns. Ryder
was even named the face of Marc Jacobs Beauty in December 2015. "It's
totally flattering [to appear in his campaigns],” Ryder told ET last year.
MORE: Winona Ryder Is Flattered to Be the Stunning Face of Marc Jacobs Beauty
And in the era of “women of a certain age” fighting for
representation onscreen, Jacobs’ campaign is an unapologetic move within the entertainment
and fashion industry. “Marc Jacobs doesn't just do a campaign for campaign's
sake,” Spacek tells ET. “He attaches, always, some deeper meaning to it.”
“I remember one day, a friend of mine was telling me she was
standing in a grocery line, flipping through a magazine,” Spacek recalls. “It
said, ‘beauty in your 20s,’ and the next page, ‘beauty in your 30s,’ ‘beauty in
your 40s,’ ‘beauty in your 50s.’ Then she turned, being in her 60s, and there
was no page. So, I think it's wonderful to be included in something like that.”
For Spacek, who is 5’2”, success in fashion has always eluded
her. But from the sound of it, that’s a good thing. “I would have failed
miserably as a model,” Spacek says.
Her career got started when she moved to New York and
briefly became part of Andy Warhol’s Factory scene in the early-‘70s. She did
test shots for Chanel No. 5 and the like, but nothing of real consequence. “I
would get jobs and then I would arrive and they would look at me and say, ‘Oh,
wait a minute. You're much too small. You won't fit into any of our clothes,’”
she says. “That was sort of the unsuccessful time in my career.”
However, Spacek quickly transitioned into film, landing her
first major role in Terrence Malick’s Badlands
in 1973. Three year later, she found breakout success with Carrie, earning her first Academy Award nomination. While she has since
gone on to win an Oscar for portraying Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter and earn four other nominations, it’s Carrie that remains her most iconic
role, evening serving as inspiration for Jacobs.
MORE: Susan Sarandon Flaunts Her Cleavage in Sexy New Marc Jacobs Ad
“I was all-consumed and mesmerized by her ability to bring a
character to life in such a way that, for me, was very profound,” Jacobs wrote
about Spacek’s portrayal in the 1976 film when he revealed her portrait on
Instagram. “Sissy’s character (that type of girl) is a reoccurring artistic
reference in my work. The life she brings to all the characters she has
portrayed as an artist is ever expanding, evolving and inspiring.”
“Carrie has hit a
nerve. I would say a majority of us, when we're young teens, feel disenfranchised
for different reasons,” Spacek says. “I think it’s magnified at that time in
our life and that was evidently the thing that touched Marc. It's a real human
feeling.”
While she has since spent over 40 years in front of the
camera, modeling is admittedly something that Spacek will never feel
comfortable doing, even if it’s for a longtime friend like Jacobs. “I'm just as
stiff and awkward in front of the camera as I always was,” she says with a
laugh. “In film, you're ignoring the camera. It doesn't exist. And so suddenly,
when you're playing to a camera, it's a real testament to the photographer's
talent that they can get a good picture out of me.”