Isabella Rossellini brings her ‘Green Porno’ show to Chicago

Actress, author, model and producer Isabella Rossellini’s career has touched on many aspects of the arts — ranging from fashion to filmmaking. She is now touring with “Green Porno,” her one-woman stage production that will be at Thalia Hall in Pilsen at 9 p.m. Friday.

“Green Porno” has evolved from a short film she made for Robert Redford’s Sundance Channel about animal reproduction — but told in a non-clinical way.

Q: How did this whole performance project come about?

A: It started about six years ago as an experiment to do short films for the internet. It was even before the wide popularity of the iPhones and other mobile devices. They were on the market, but not as popular as now. But Sundance Channel commissioned some films to create content for the mobile devices. We did them and ‘Green Porno’ turned out to be very successful. Some these films were also shown on television — about eight of them. We produced 40 episodes. Then a producer had the idea to transform it into a monologue for me. I just didn’t know how to do that. He put me in touch with a French writer named Jean-Claude Carriere who is very well known. This year he is getting a special lifetime achievement award at the Academy Awards.

He helped me put together in a monologue form — illustrated by my films and photos — the “Green Porno” theater version. The idea is to communicate science, but in a comical way.

Q: Do you think that using entertainment is an effective way to teach about scientific things?

A: Yes, but I want to make it clear, I’m not a scientist. This is for entertainment, but it’s good if people do learn something. I’ve always been interested in science, and actually I’ve gone back to school and I’m getting a master’s degree in animal behavior and conservation. But I didn’t do it as a mission to educate the world. The mission was more to laugh about things I was learning and share that with people. The reason why I made them comical, is that when I look at documentaries, like those done by National Geographic or David Attenborough, I am a big fan of those, but their voices are so eminent. I needed to find MY voice — to tell a story in a different way. What those other documentaries didn’t have was the aspect I found interesting: Animals make me laugh.

Q: Is it fair to say that you’ve learned — and your audiences of ‘Green Porno’ learn — about animal sexuality?

A: When I selected the animals I wanted to do in the show, I first selected categories. The two sexes, male and female, is not real for every creature. Sometimes the animals are both — they are hermaphrodite. Sometimes animals change sex. They are born one sex and then become another. So I first did all the categories. Then tried to have an example or two of each category. So for example for the hermaphrodite I’ve done a worm. Doing an earthworm also is decided by a costume that will come to mind. I have to make a little skit, so I need to bring in a little humor with all that. The costumes play a very important role in all that.

Q: What costumes are the most challenging for you to deal with?

A: The earthworm is one of the hardest to wear because I didn’t have my hands, because I had a costume that naturally eliminated my hands — and the costume was 35 feet long. To put it on takes a long time. So once it was on, I would stay for hours in that costume. If you don’t have your arms, you have to be constantly assisted. So that was very challenging.

Q: Does working on a project like this make you even more aware of environmental issues and issues involving animal protection? Also, does it surprise you that there are still many people who deny there are climate change issues in the world?

A: I actually think that attitudes have changed quite a lot. I have a feeling that people have become more and more aware of the difficulties caused by climate change and their impact on animals in the wild. Maybe some people don’t recognize it, but I think that’s a minority now.

Q: So then you’re encouraged by overall public opinion on this subject?

A: Yes, but of course the great question is are we too late. It’s a race between time and the damage that already has occurred. The big question is about that race and who’s going to win it.

Q: You started your modeling career at an age [late 20s] that would be considered very late by today’s standards. Your thoughts about that, and the world of fashion and modeling today?

A: I was really an exception. They started to model even when I worked in the ’80s, as young girls — even back then. I was in Italy and had a career in Italy on television when I started modeling. Then when I married [Martin Scorsese] and moved to America, I looked young, and so I started to model. Nobody had asked my age, and by the time they had discovered my age, it was a bit late! I never realized it was such a big deal, but people went, “Oh my God! You’re so old!” [Laughs]. My career was lucky. It really stopped when I was about 45. That is very unusual.

Q: What do you think your mother, Ingrid Bergman, would think about Hollywood today and the film business now?

A: She died in 1982, and she was an actress during the studio system in Hollywood, so it was very different. By the time she moved back to Europe, that was when actors started to be paid per film and became independent agents.

She was part of such a different time. I don’t know what to say. It was so different. I’m sure she’d be surprised. There’s so much television and internet that didn’t exist back then. But then at the end of the day, it really is all about storytelling. We just tell stories in different ways today with the internet and all that. But good storytelling is still the foundation of it all.