Q 6

PLAYBOY: Was Jerry Hall on the set during the love scenes?

Rae Dawn Chong: No. She was far away. I don't think she knew or would have gone for it. I don't think she read the script [laughs]. But I don't think Mick was sneaking it--their relationship isn't so healthy or unhealthy that she would stand by and watch it. She's very jealous, and probably rightfully so, though I never gave her anything to be jealous about.

Q 7

PLAYBOY: You once said you wanted to meet Sting. You have one minute with him. What do you say and what do you do?

Rae Dawn Chong: I guess I'm getting busted on this one. I once had five minutes with Sting, so I'll tell you what really happened. I looked at him and said, "I really like your music and you're great." He had on sunglasses, so I couldn't enjoy what I like best about him--his eyes. It was raining. He walked to a window. I said, "Oh, it's raining." He said, "Yes, this weather suits me." And then he turned around and said, "Well?"

He's totally cool and he's the greatest guy, but I wish I'd never met him. What can you do with five minutes with somebody? Strip him naked, not talk about anything, and let's Last Tango it for about a day or two or three and that's it. With someone like Sting, it almost has to be sexual. Mind you, he'll probably hate reading this, because he'll think, I've got so much to say. People know he's a heavy dude; he's got a lot more to talk about than his latest records. But who cares? You want people to get down on their knees and say, "I love you." But they never do. They always have wives, girlfriends and ex-wives, anyway. Nah, I don't want to ever meet anybody I really care for.

Q 8

PLAYBOY: Your dad's professional-doper persona parodied the attitudes of the baby-boomers. However, today's teens seem to have serious drug problems. Do you think your dad's generation is responsible for that?

Rae Dawn Chong: I grew up in that very pro-experimentation Sixties environment. But my father and his group never said, "Yes, it's cool to do drugs." What they said was cool was that desire for experimentation; do what you feel, so you learn. I'm frightened about my kid's future and what the kids are going through today, because it's more a result of degeneracy than of experimentation. Nancy Reagan's got a big job, because the reason kids do drugs now is that the world is in trouble. The United States is in trouble. There's nothing honest about our Administration. So why should the kids be honest? Kids today are not motivated to do drugs for the same reason that my father was. It's more a numbing of their senses. It's out of despair. But what my dad did was something that bound his generation together. Not so with kids today. That's scary. Ask any average 16-year-old about any issue, and he or she will look at you and go, "Well, what's so important about that, man? Give me another Madonna record." Passivity is killing us more than drugs. The kids don't care. They don't fucking care. So they kill themselves.

Q 9

PLAYBOY: What are the advantages of growing up in a Sixties environment?

Rae Dawn Chong: My inhibitions are not rooted in guilt. I sometimes suffer the consequences of that, because I'm much more freethinking and I don't judge. Also, growing up with all these different races inside of me makes for some really bald truths. I don't need to belong to a group, and that's really a strong thing. I pity people who need to belong to a group for their roots. Your roots should be in your soul. My upbringing freed me. I don't feel guilty because I make mistakes. I feel good, because that's life.

Q 10

PLAYBOY: Where do you draw the line?

Rae Dawn Chong: I have moral inhibitions. I wouldn't hurt anyone, because I wouldn't want anyone to hurt me. I wouldn't take somebody's boyfriend away. I don't believe in killing things or people. [Pauses] But I'm not a vegetarian. I'd kill a cow, for sure. Kill that chicken! Just call me Mahatma Chong. [Laughs]

Q 11

PLAYBOY: Defend Cheech.

Rae Dawn Chong: Cheech?! The great thing about Cheech, and what people will discover, is that he's wickedly talented. I used to go on the road with Cheech and Chong when I was a kid. Cheech would be the first one to throw a washcloth at the stewardess; then everybody would follow suit. He and my dad used to use my sixth-grade class for background sessions on their albums. And Cheech would get us all into a sound booth and then fart and close the door and leave us in there. We would be dying.

Q 12

PLAYBOY: How much trouble do you have getting roles because you aren't white?

Rae Dawn Chong: Any role where people are resistant to my skin color, that's fucked. They're afraid it distracts. Now, this could be totally wrong, but I really wanted to go up for the Daryl Hannah role in Legal Eagles, and I heard that Robert Redford's people were not interested because of the black/white thing. And I would have fucking aced that role--I'd be so good opposite a major male star as a romantic interest. When I went up for American Flyers, the part was for either a 30-year-old American Indian or a 30-year-old blonde. When I walked in, I hadn't read the script. Also, I was wearing all leather, and I had my hair zapped out. I looked like Mad Max, not some docile Indian woman from the Midwest. The second I met John Badham, the director, I knew I was dressed completely wrong. But my kid, who happens to look like me--only he's white and blond and very beautiful--ran between my legs and jumped up onto Badham's piano and said, "Oooh, a helicopter." And Badham went from looking at me and probably going, "Oh, God, she's really wrong for this" to "Wow, look at this great, beautiful kid." That moment was all I needed to keep going and get the part.