Paz de la Huerta on her favourite film

"I have many favourite films, but if I had to choose one it would be Last Tango in Paris. My acting coach Marcia Haufrecht, who is my teacher and my guru, first told me to watch it when I was 17.

Marlon Brando’s performance is standout. Maria Shneider was amazing in the film as well, she gives an effortless performance. She too was a martyr as seen in the ‘infamous’ butter scene. She endured horrific suffering from the rape, and people were vicious to her for doing that scene, but karma will show them because she suffered on behalf of all people who have ever been violated or raped so that no one would feel alone. It would have been stupid not to talk about these issues. She was a true gift to humanity. It is a shame that Maria did not receive the accolades she should have had for her performance.

There are also many beautiful scenes between Brando and Maria, especially the ones where he speaks about his childhood. Apparently those were improvised scenes. Brando is a poet, no one can express themselves with words like he did in those scenes, except for maybe Tennessee Williams… The scene in which they make love for the first time is also unbelievably sexy. They are strangers, hardly any words are exchanged, but the sexual energy between them is so palpable that nothing needs to be said. That is one of the sexiest scenes in cinema ever.

I feel that Last Tango in Paris is one of the first films to explore the darker side of life and humanity and all the complexities that being a human entails, and it does all this through using relationships rather than using explosions or expensive locations. This film taught me what I wanted to do with my life, which is to be an actress. I prefer to live in front of the camera and to be a martyr like Brando and Schneider with my emotions and experiences so that people can heal and not feel lonely. There is no line between life and acting for me, and in this film Brando is generously exposing his soul. That is what I want to do."

Alluring, seductive and sexually charged, New York actress Paz de la Huerta is a real-life movie bad girl. Best known for her lead role of Lucy Danziger in Martin Scorsese’s HBO television series Boardwalk Empire, her brazen attitude towards nudity follows from on screen to the sidewalk where she is frequently seen exposing her breasts (notably at the Golden Globes in January where she was denied access to the after-party for being too drunk) and flashing her wares. It is only fitting therefore that Huerta is the new face of Agent Provocateur for autumn/winter 2011. The former Zac Posen muse takes over from French actress Josephine de la Baume in a series of paparazzi-style photographs and films that mock her bad girl reputation. As the director of the shorts Johan Renck explains, “Aside from being a stunning and brilliant actress, Paz de la Huerta has not risen to the status of it-girl by chance; she has perfected the art of revealing her assets in a cheeky way at the opportune moment.”

As Huerta has just finished off the second season of Boardwalk Empire, is preparing for her role in the upcoming film Nurse, as well as taking on a directorial role in a film inspired by the story The Red Shoes, AnOther speaks to the sexual starlet about her (very apt) choice of favourite film: Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris from 1972. The focus of EJ Major’s latest art project ‘love is…’ which we recently featured, the film portrays a recent American widower Paul (Marlon Brando) who takes up an anonymous sexual relationship with a young, soon-to-be-married Parisian woman Jeanne (Maria Schneider). Renowned for its raw and gritty portrayal of sexual violence and emotional turmoil it has been given various levels of government censorship and caused much controversy.

Agent Provocateur autumn/winter 2011 collection is out now.

Text by Lucia Davies