Versatile actor Jason Lee on the downfall of MTV, desperate skater kids and the New York-actor-guy look

Q: As an actor or a professional skateboarder, what’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you with a fan?

A: It happened when I was a skateboarder. When you tour the country, you see a lot of skater kids who go to demonstrations. These kids usually want you to give them stuff, and one kid said, “give me a skateboard and I’ll let you sleep with my girlfriend.”

Q: Did you sleep with her?

A: No, and I didn’t give him the skateboard. I got a kick out of it though. This guy was so desperate to get his hands on a skateboard without having to pay for one. And his girlfriend was right there.

Q: Changing the subject, is there anything you’ve ever worn that you’d be mortified to wear now?

A: When I was younger, I’d wear the pegged-in, baggy Jimmy’z pants with the weird designs on them in those fluorescent ’80’s colors. And I’d wear a purple Jimmy’z beret that would go off to one side, and bicycle gloves.

Q: What’s your style now?

A: I wear a lot of Diesel jeans. A lot of T-shirts. A lot of Clarks shoes. I wear those new New Balance sneakers, and I got some funky BW sports sneakers from Germany at American Rag that apparently Helmut Lang has now. I don’t wear suits, but I’m not “slob guy” either.

Q: What’s the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen a woman wear?

A: My wife used to wear this tight blue velvet dress, like the one in Blue Velvet. She usually doesn’t wear stuff like that, so it was awesome.

Q: I hear you’re just as enthusiastic about your cars.

A: I’m such a car nut. All my cars are silver. I have an SUV I drive every day, the new Honda S2000 sports car that they just came out with and a Suburban to tow around my 1972 BMW 2002 race car.

Q: Where do you race an antique like that?

A: There are these vintage auto-racing associations I’m going to start racing in. It’s cool because it’s not about mullets and Bud Light. You race against other guys in Mini Coopers and old MGs and Austin Healys; guys who are really into these old vintage British cars and race them just for the fun of it.

Q: Do things get ugly if you sideswipe another guy’s Austin Healy?

A: Well, then you’re kind of screwed, but there are ways to fix it. And because there’s no money at stake, people aren’t that competitive.

Q: Have you ever gotten in an accident?

A: Not in my race car, but I’ve had many skateboarding. I’ve snapped my wrist in half, sliced open my shin and sprained both my ankles many times. Once, I fractured my pelvis. I was goofing around on this ramp-it was only five feet high-and my board hit the top and stuck, and I slammed onto the ground. I landed right on my pelvis.

Q: Based on your experience with Cameron Crowe’s new movie about a 1970’s rock band, what kind of rocker would you be?

A: Well, I actually play music with my friends in the studio at my house. It’s really experimental electronic music. We did this one song with a heavy beat and this dark organ music. Then we added the pope talking in Latin and these women moaning, which we sampled from a porno we rented.

Q: Who is the coolest rocker out there?

A: Beck. I think he and Bjork are the two most influential musicians we have now, in that they’re bringing what they’re doing to the mainstream. Which is amazing because right now mainstream is ‘N Sync and the Backstreet Boys.

Q: So you’re not a Britney Spears worshipper?A: Music right now is horrible. People are losing their standards. I mean, Britney Spears hosed Saturday Night Live! All those fuckers on that show make fun of people like her, but they booked her anyway to boost their ratings.

Q: What do you think of the jokers over at MTV?

A: I hate MTV. They’ve been responsible for ruining music on so many levels. Their philosophy is, “We’re a big corporate company now and we never play videos and we do stupid fucking shows that have nothing to do with music.” The channel is called Music Television. MTV realized most Americans don’t care about Bjork and those kinds of bands. Most people want to hear jock music that pumps them up when they’re getting drunk at some party trying to rape some girl. I can say that because I went to high school in Orange County, CA. The jock dated the head cheerleader. He drove the Iroc-Z28 and she drove the cutesy little white Volkswagen Rabbit and I was the dirty skater who’d get picked on and used to make people laugh.

Q: What’s the most embarrassing fashion trend in Hollywood right now?

A: The worst is the actor-guy look. You know, with the suit with the shirt underneath with, like, four buttons undone and the collar and the cuffs outside of the suit jacket. That look actually made a comeback because Sean Penn popularized it, and then it became this New York-actor-guy look. It’s one thing to work as an actor, but it’s another to constantly dress like it and act like it, with the cigarettes and everything. In the end, though, it’s fashion. And there are trends in fashion, so people want to wear what everyone else is wearing, but I don’t really buy into it. I’m satisfied with my small closet of T-shirts and thrift store clothes and jeans.