Before we get to talking, Rutherford asks me politely if I'd like for her assistant to run and get me a coffee. He's a young guy, hovering nearby and just reeking that over eager feel we're all trying to bottle and keep as we get older. "He's here for a week." she tells me. "He's my friend's little brother, and this will look good on his college applications- paid assistant to producer Bonne Rutherford of Sette Bellezze, or whatever." She pauses. "Don't put that in." she pauses again. "Nah, fuck it. Go ahead."
Rutherford had texted me that morning, letting me know that she didn't have much time. She offered to reschedule and then, clearly bemused with the idea, she offers to allow me to ask her questons rapid fire, and she'll blurt out whatever first comes to mind. Though I am almost positive this is how Rutherford lives every day of her life, I decided to take her up on the offer, and here we are, leaning into each other across a coffee table. Bonnie has her hands flat on the table like she's ready to spring.
ME: What is your biggest accomplishment thus far? BONNIE: That's your first question? That's so boring! What a waste! ME: You said you'd answer! We had a deal! BONNIE: Ok, ok. Uh, shit. Uh, all the work we've done to prove that women in the industry can be just as powerful and badass, if not more than the men.
ME: Is there anything you hate about your industry? BONNIE: You wouldn't believe the egos on some of the people I stumble into. And I mean egos that are totally undeserved. Mediocre talent claiming monstrous skill. Also, we know how I feel about how women constantly take a backseat.
ME: What's the story behind [Sette Bellezze]? BONNIE: We just really love Italian food. ME: You're doing it again. BONNIE: It's a reference to the film Seven Beauties, which was originally titled Pasqualino SetteBellezze, and the film got Lina Wertmuller an academy award nomination- she was the first female director to ever get a nomination, so. We're just really into that whole thing. Like that whole story, that's our aesthetic.
ME: What's your dream script? BONNIE: I don't know. I don't really have one of those. I guess like... I don't know. Something no one's ever done before. Something weird. Something about a cult made up entirely of furries. I read a lot of weird shit on the internet, hoping to find an idea I can start tossing around, but a lot of it is very just- you know, you read about these insane jobs people have, these industries you have no idea exist unless you really start looking, but there's no story there. The story is in the people, not the action.
ME: What's your least favorite thng about Zeta Fontaine? BONNIE: She's certifiably insane when she's drunk. We were uh, in like 2011 we were spitballing ideas on key lighting [for Zero Dark Thirty], and we were crossfaded, and she got so mad at me she went upstairs and grabbed an armful of my vintage dresses and tossed them into my pool, while she just repeated "fucking diffused light" over and over. ME: What lighting did you go with? BONNIE: I don't want to talk about it.
ME: Alright, let's try some more simple stuff. What's your weirdest dealbreaker? BONNIE: Cold hands.
ME: What's your greatest strength? BONNIE: I have an overinflated sense of self importance.
ME: What's something you wish you could forget? BONNIE: Working with Weinstein. Fuck! Don't print that. [pause] Instead, write 'the fact that Harvey Weinstein exists.'