During the last few months, Isabella Rossellini has been slipping into the most bizarre outfits of her career. Since June 2007, the former face of
Lancôme has been writing, acting and directing “Green Porno,” a cartoon-like short film series depicting the sex lives of libidinous bugs and lustful shellfish with wicked humor.

Known for her offbeat roles in films like
Blue Velvet or
The Saddest Music in the World and famous for her A-list love-life (Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Gary Oldman…), the daughter of director Roberto Rossellini and actress Ingrid Bergman has never been afraid of daring projects. But this one’s a different kind of, er, creature.

How on earth did the ex-model find herself playing the role of a horny dragonfly for the Sundance Channel? “Robert Redford, [the founder of Sundance Film Festival] had the idea that the Internet might provide an opportunity to relaunch the short film format,” explains the actress with her indelible Italian accent.

The requirement? The short films should have an environmental twist.  “I thought that it will be fun to tell how animals reproduce,” says Rossellini who has a strong personal interest in biology. “Animals have many different and funny ways to reproduce that most people are not familiar with.”

“Funny” is a euphemism. In her short videos, bugs or sea creatures do it every way but missionary. A species of male spiders inseminate the females with their legs before running for their lives, scared that they could soon become their mating partner’s meal? Now, try to imagine Rossellini costumed as a male spider impregnating a cardboard female – hilarious!

Not so many
beauty icons would dare to participate in a sub-aquatic orgy with paper anchovies, but Rossellini embraces the beautiful quirkiness of the project. What about the out-of-this-world costumes? “The fact that they can be ridiculous adds to the comical effect,” she laughs over the phone.

More about Rossellini’s new role on the next page …

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“I come from a tradition of art and essay films. I can’t shy away from this. My father was not a commercial director. He was a very artistic and influential director, but not a box office success. And it is not important for me if a work is seen by 3 million or 3000 viewers.”

But, proof that good ideas can also be appealing to a large audience, “Green Porno” received 4 millions hits on the Internet in its first year. The achievement is even more impressive considering the insect-sized budget ($12,000 to $20,000 per episode). The limited budget explains the cutsy and enchanting papier-mâché look of the series.

While “Green Porno’s” second season will come to an end this autumn with four new episodes, Rossellini hopes that Sundance will continue to fund the project. “I want to do a series on animal’s courtships. Not the matting, but what precedes it,” she says enthusiastically.

Always a busy bee, she is also working on finishing a book inspired by her series that should land on bookshops’ shelves this autumn.

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