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sound like a timeless, romanticized ode to the rebels.
Her corpse enjoys a last supper, a candlelit waltz, and a seaside stroll with Petty.
Maybe they knew each other; maybe they didnt.
you could interpret it as you want, but yeah, its pretty bizarre.
Theres so many requests I get any given year, most of which I say no to.
But I love talking about Tom.
This was a very special moment.
One of those truly little just gleaming gems.
A gift that you get that you dont see coming.
I love and I miss him as well, believe me.
Then she asked me, Dont you think you ought to see this video again?
I said, Well, I really dont.
I dont like to watch myself, but for some reason I love this story.
I dont even think when I made it I realized what we were doing.
Its in a morgue.
You just have to play dead.
That has always attracted me to him.
Ive found that about half of the people I tell about this music video think Im lying.
Maybe we might not be able to get away with doing that video today.
I just dont know whether you would, you know what I mean?
I dont know, but thats an interesting thought.
As artists, were all different.
I dont really run around with an artist crowd myself, actors or otherwise.
But Im acquainted with everybody, basically.
Ive been so blessed to do so many movies with so many people.
And Ive always lived on the edge of the music business since my very young life.
Music was my number one love, really.
My father was a musician; he played the piano and he played the trumpet.
He had one of the first integrated bands in America, in Chicago.
And youre from Athens, which famously has a wonderful music scene.It does.
I have a history and a love and a pulsation about music, and its the seed of me.
I loved watching my dad love music.
I had many great associations with many, many musicians throughout my life.
I lived with one or two and had relationships with one or two others.These are very well-known people.
You could count on him;theycounted on him.
The thing I found about Tom is he was beautifully humble.
You just never saw him braggy-waggy.
He featured musicians in front of him.
He watched them play.
Do you remember what that was for?
I cant seem to recall.
I loved how they all just got out of the way and let Prince do his thing.
When you talk about the greats, they will always include Tom Petty.
You sound like one of those young kids that really love and really know rock and roll.
I have decent knowledge, but you certainly have better stories.You know whats funny?
I was talking to a girl the other day when she was blowing out my hair at a salon.
She said, I love Tom Petty.
Tom Petty was my favorite.
I had my mask and my glasses on, so I dont know whether she recognized me or not.
She responded, Oh yeah, what a rad video, I love it.
I said, When I leave, you go look it up again, okay?
Because Im Mary Jane.
I never, never do that, ever.
I value my privacy.
Tom is somebody who definitely made a stamp on his own generation and generations after that.
Hes a member of a rare breed.
Their flames never go out.
They just dont ever go out, they just grow.
How were you asked to be the star of Mary Janes Last Dance?
I got a call about it and it just transpired.
Musicians and artists are in a very incestuous business when it comes to the business part of it.
Managers know managers who know agents who know managers.
I didnt care what it was.
Thats how quick I said yes.
I said, I dont care.
I dont give a shit what he wants, Im there.
So I never knew the concept.
Whats the secret to playing a convincing dead person?Its so hard.
Or they die with their eyes open and somebody closes them.
I had on a big gown.
And Tom, although he was taller than me, he was a thin dude.
I thought, Jesus, this is going to be a disaster.
We burst out into tears laughing so many times.
You have to learn to relax the muscles in your eyeballs so they dont flitter your eyelid.
To be honest, it was the hardest role Ive ever played in my entire life.
To be dead that long and to be as present as I had to be was a challenge.
Also, the director was rough.
I dont know if hes still alive or not.
I know hes probably going to read this, but he was rough.Ill just state that for the record.
You said that you and Tom were very quiet people by nature.
Aside from a lot of laughs, we didnt have much of an exchange on the set at all.
Id heard that he was a fan of mine.
As the story started to unfold, I just knew I was a dead girl.
I was in Toms arms at one point; he was very gentle despite the massive dress I wore.
That dress looked so heavy.It wastooheavy.
Im a really good swimmer and diver.
Id been a lifeguard.
And I almost drowned to death.
Nobody knows this, but this happened on the set ofBlind Datewith Bruce Willis.
Then somebody called lunch and I was stuck under that water with that dress over my head.
I couldnt get back up to the surface.
That dress was a good weight and it kept weighing me down.
I think we put some rocks in it, too, to keep its shape.
Yeah, it was awful.
I remember being thanked by him publicly when it won an MTV Video Music Award.
He was just so sweet.
I had spoken to him before that and he was very thrilled with the video.
You know what I think about a lot?
I always wonder what would he have created if he didnt pass.
What other sounds and songs would he have put into the world?
I dont think he had many enemies at all.
I hope to never find out, Kim!Yes, let me rephrase that.
I just bent over and started laughing.
I thought, Well, we have to get through this.
Sometimes you just laugh and you cant get through it.
But he was a great dancer.
He was so playful.
He was cute in that way.
Are you familiar with that?
Oh, yeah,Mike Campbell told me something of the sort.
It was initially called Indiana Girl before Tom cracked it.Exactly.
Well, Tom still wasnt happy until he did the video.
Wow.Tom started putting some emphasis on the visuals and then he said he was really happy afterward.Reallyhappy with it.
And you know how record companies can be.
They put all kinds of expectations and shit on you.
Obviously she was a wild one and maybe she did pay him attention, just like that story.
Maybe she did like him from afar but it was unrequited.
They could never, you know?
Its the way Tom does a lot of his music.
Its very funny; its almost silent.
The way Tom and I came to work together and the way we didnt communicate is how we communicated.
Little words and a much more powerful exchange through energy.
The eyes, the look.
He also wanted to free her from her own existence.
He saw the pain in her eyes.
It wasnt the real her dancing with the boys or whatever she did with them at night.
It could have turned into much more than Mary Janes Last Dance.
You get a lot of offers, being in this business.
Its a very privileged position to be in.
You get offers your whole life.
Theyve never stopped, and Im happy to say that Im going back on the screen pretty soon myself.
This will be one of my most cherished pieces of work that I will ever do in my life.
I guess people might say, Oh, thats because Toms gone.
I had said this before Tom left the planet, okay?
Ill say it again and again and again.
Its just an honor to be with him and have this throw in of material.
It was an honor to be Mary Jane, let me tell you.
