Liev Schreiber On Dressing In Drag

Not one for predictability, Liev Schreiber decided to follow up his macho role in X-Men: Wolverine with something entirely different. In his new film, Taking Woodstock, the dad-of-two plays an ex-Marine turned drag queen named Vilma. The 41-year-old actor chatted with Parade magazine about his family, his film, and the challenge of working in stilettos.

On juggling career and kids: "I would love to do more. But with a two-year-old and a seven-month-old baby, it's a hard time to leave them. You kind of want to stick around and see what happens, but I'm continuing to work on stuff."

On living life in the public eye: "It gets harder, especially once you have kids because it can get really hard for them. We live in New York, which is a great place to have fun, but it's really a challenge for Naomi [Watts] and me. You want the kids [sons Sasha, 2, and Kai, 8 months] to be able to go and walk outside into a green field in Central Park and run off and chase butterflies, but that's not the reality. The paparazzi really make that difficult. If you want your kids to have some privacy and not be aware of being watched all the time, it takes a lot of work."

On the transformative power of dressing in drag in his new film, Taking Woodstock: "I think it's amazing — just the power of putting on women's clothing. You really do feel transformed. I've never seen a man put on woman's clothing and not light up like a light bulb. It just happens. Every man I've ever seen who puts on a dress has this sort of this little kid reaction to it, which I did as well."

On the torture of stilettos: "They're not very comfortable, especially for a six-foot-three, 220 pound guy. You do what you have to do, but I had days when I was ready to soak my feet."

On his family's reaction to his more feminine side: "Naomi was mortified, as were both my children. But I think that was part of the point. If I could be comfortable in drag as Vilma in front of my family, then anybody can."