Tilda Swinton on Why She Doesn't Consider Herself an Actor
In Wes Anderson ’s latest fairy tale, “ The Grand Budapest Hotel ,” the 53-year-old Scottish actress is virtually unrecognizable under droopy skin and wrinkles as octogenarian Madame D. In the just-released drama “Only Lovers Left Alive,” directed by Jim Jarmusch, she portrays Eve, a chic-looking (if 3,000-year-old) vampire. And in June, she’ll be seen Stateside in Bong Joon-ho’s futuristic “Snowpiercer” as a terrifying political leader whose inspiration draws from equal parts Kim Jong-un and Marilyn Manson. Her versatility as an artist makes her impossible to classify. Along with a prolific screen career highlighted by an Oscar win in 2008 for her portrayal of an unraveling lawyer in “Michael Clayton,” Swinton also performs spoken-word pieces, has founded a film festival (Scotland’s Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams in 2008), and inspired a collection from Chanel. Her best-known work might be “The Maybe,” a live performance -art piece in which she sleep...