Rebecca De Mornay likes going in unexpected directions. Films as diverse as Risky Business, Runaway Train, Trip to Bountiful, And God Created Woman, Dealers, Backdraft and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle underscore the point. The 30-year-old actress' latest film is Beyond Innocence, with Don Johnson, in which she plays a lawyer. According to Contributing Editor David Rensin, who met with De Mornay on a rainy day at a Sunset Strip hotel and who has seen Risky Business about 30 times, the woman defies whatever a priori notions you may have of her. Says Rensin, "Rebecca requested a table by a picture window in the empty restaurant--to watch the rain. Suddenly, she fixed her baby blues on me and said, 'I don't know if I'm in the mood for this.' But for a moment I could have sworn she'd said, 'Are you ready for me?' It was just my imagination. But either way, the challenge was inviting."

Q 1

PLAYBOY: In the surprise hit The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, you play Peyton, a seriously disturbed individual. How much did playing her affect you?

Rebecca De Mornay: A lot. It was schizophrenic. She was very freaky and disturbed in a way that was almost unpleasant to watch. I guess that means I succeeded in the character. What was surprising was how much the audience cared about Peyton's predicament initially, and then how, much it loved to hate her. In Japan, she actually turned out to be the heroine. The Japanese are in love with their children and feel they have to be protected at all costs. They recognized how much Peyton loved the kids. One male journalist said to me: "Ah, it's strange what Peyton did. It's hard for a man to understand." I said, "Yeah, well, it's a movie." He said, "Why didn't she just kill the family?" That was funny.

Q 2

PLAYBOY: How did you play someone so connected to children without having had the experience of raising children of your own?

Rebecca De Mornay: As an actress you know that the primal emotions you'll be dealing with on-screen are ones you have experienced by the time you're five years old. You've tapped into all the major feelings: love, hatred, rage, envy, murderous passion. You know them as a child. And then you learn to repress them, slowly but surely, as you grow up. You bury them. The horrible thing about burying feelings is you never bury them dead, you bury them alive. As for not having had my own children yet, I'm glad. I'm still very self-absorbed, and the biggest gift you can give to kids is to be ready to have them.

Q 3

PLAYBOY: As one who's seen both sides, describe the common ground between extreme success and extreme failure.

Rebecca De Mornay: I spoke at length to a Zen monk about this question. What he said came at the time I needed to hear it. He said that the notion of success and failure is a game society educates us in. The game is dangerous because the stakes are incredibly high. Few people win. You pay the price of worthlessness if you lose. Success is played out on the backs of others who are called failures. Winners are only winners in comparison with the losers. When you're really involved in the game without realizing it's a game, and you lose, you get the worthlessness. If you can realize that it's a game, it can be fun. That's how it is for me today. I was blessed because my first two movies demonstrated the game profoundly. Risky Business was a huge success. That's very rare. My next one was a huge flop. At the time, the flop felt awful, but nothing happens to me that isn't illuminating. It took a while to figure out. Now, I'm no longer emotionally attached to the results of the game I play because I understand it has nothing to do with me personally.

Q 4

PLAYBOY: How tough is it to convince yourself of that?

Rebecca De Mornay: The results of a movie have to do with my financial future, period. When The Hand That Rocks the Cradle became a success, did I suddenly become a better actress at that moment? After the success of Risky Business I was given a career that lasted nine years until my next hit. That's very nice--a nine-year ride on one movie. I did a lot of other interesting things, too. But I was moving on that movie because it was a hit. I'm grateful. Our financial livelihood is a matter of serious concern. Had it not worked out so quickly, I probably would have gone into something else. As it is, even if The Hand That Rocks the Cradle hadn't been a hit, it didn't matter since I've worked continuously since Risky Business. And with very good salaries.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: Oscar Wilde said "One's real life is often the life that one does not live." What's your real life like?

Rebecca De Mornay: I'm living a life very different from my real one. I suspect most people are. I would be a nun. [Smiles] Really. The concerns that are deep in my heart are addressed in the monastery. Running around to see how we can help or what difference we can make is mindless activity. You radiate your position. Every person has tremendous influence on everyone else, even by just being in the same room. So it becomes very important to do something for yourself As Krishnamurti said, "Don't just do something, sit there." And if you really sit there, then you start to breathe. You start to feel your own breath. And when you start to feel your own breath, you start to feel connected to your environment. And when you start to feel connected to your environment, you start to feel less frantic and lonely. And when you start to feel less frantic and lonely, you start to feel kinder. And when you start to feel kinder, you start to feel happier. And when you start to feel happier, you begin to make a difference.