Chances are, as you read this, Kate Bosworth is ordering takeout and roaming around her three-quarter acre Los Angeles property somewhere in the Canyon. Although it’s smack dab in the middle of Hollywood, she likes to think it’s more, as she puts it, “in the middle of Colorado.” (With the majority of Hollywood’s younger set stirring gossip fodder somewhere between their vehicles and the door of a nightclub, who can blame her for laying low?) When talking to the 24-year-old Massachusetts native, it becomes clear that it’s more than just her real estate that’s “in the middle” lately. Lanvin-loving fashion fan or Converse-kicking street kid? Box-office blockbuster actress or art-film ingénue? Scandal-loving Hollywood starlet or low-key homebody? As she herself admits, right now she’s not one of those stars committing to one set of adjectives.

It turns out, however, that Kate’s ability to work the whole spectrum has had its upside. Take her film career: her first role was as Scarlett Johansson’s best friend in 1998’s The Horse Whisperer, followed up by smaller films, including 2002’s Blue Crush, the star-making vehicle about a Hawaiian surfing threesome led by the blonde, bikinied Bosworth. Last year she ventured to blockbuster territory, taking the role of Lois Lane in the $200 million Superman remake. But, just as it looked like she was ready to sell her indie cred for marquee status, she wrapped another small film this year (“it was more a labor of love,” she says) with Sigourney Weaver, The Girl in the Park, by the writer of the Broadway play Proof.

Not that the strong-willed Bosworth hasn’t had her share of headlines: remember those “news” items about her extremely slender figure and dating Hollywood heartthrob Orlando Bloom on and off for four years? Not shockingly, she now says she isn’t a fan of Hollywood hangouts and prefers the local pub to the red carpet. The ability to fit in anywhere-or, as we like to see it, work the middle so well-is a skill Bosworth presumably learned in school: she’s said in the past that she always felt like the “new girl” as her father had to move his family around the country for his job, and that she has “this pain in [her] heart from what it was like to walk in with your lunch tray and not have anywhere to sit. Well, the good news now is that Bosworth can sit at all the tables. And there’s something powerful about being the new girl-you can be whoever you want to be.

DEREK BLASBERG: Happy birthday, Kate!

KATE BOSWORTH: Aw, thank you. I really appreciate that.

DB: So how does Kate Bosworth celebrate her birthday?

KB: I had a dinner with close friends and family, but I like to spend my birthday pretty low-key to be honest. It’s right after New Year’s. So my birthday is more like the after-party.

DB: Where were you born?

KB: In L.A., but we moved to San Francisco, then Connecticut, and then ended up in Boston where I was raised.

DB: I’ve heard you were into horses as a child, right?

KB: Yeah, I’ve ridden horses since I was 6. And then I started to compete when I was 12 or 13. That’s kind of how I got into acting. On basically a whim I tried out for a part in The Horse Whisperer. So it was from one love to the other. But I haven’t been riding in such a long time. It really is a big love in my life. I dream of being on horses.

DB: Did you go straight into other films after your first break with The Horse Whisperer, or take some time off?

KB: I was 14. I was just entering high school. And that’s when I moved to Boston. Moving around a lot was kind of hard. About every four years when l’d feel settled we’d pick up and move again. Everyone knows that just entering high school is difficult and challenging and scary, so I really wanted to have a normal experience. I wanted to do film, but I really wanted to go to the prom too.

DB: So what role did you finally do next?

KB: The next one was a smaller role in Remember the Titans. I did mostly small things until I graduated. And that was sort of a defining moment in my life because I was accepted into university.

DB: Princeton, right?

KB: Yeah. But I deferred. Like I said, it was the first big cross-roads: what an obvious fork in the road-one way would be incredibly different from the other. I just thought that I loved acting and I wanted to give it a go, so I deferred for a year and thought I’d go out to L.A. and if stuff happened, it happened. And I ended up getting Blue Crush the third or fourth month I was out here. I had a blast doing that; I lived in Hawaii for five months, trained to be a surfer, and lived in a house with the girls in the film. It was

interesting to see how much I really did become that character.

DB: And that was a hell of a lot better than frat parties, I imagine?

KB: Actually, it was a lot of work. People see that and think that it must have been so much fun. But i had to physically change my body in a matter of months, and be seemingly professional at surfing-but I loved it. I loved exploring the world of acting more and more, so l decided to defer again. I deferred three times and finally, now, I really just need to let Princeton know that I don’t think I’m going to go.

DB: So then you’re a total Californian now?

KB: Not so much. But I feel like I’m in my own space now. I’ve never owned a house before and I’m starting to fill it up a bit.

DB: Do you like having your picture taken?

KB: Well, if you’re shooting with someone like Mario Sorrenti, to me that’s fun because you can become a character. A photo shoot like that is almost like becoming part of an art piece.

DB: So is it like acting or just playing dress up?

KB: I’s a combination. When it’s very high fashion and your hair and makeup are done in a way that you’d never do them yourself you become a character Because I’m certainly not a model–I don’t have the natural ability to morph into those poses.

DB: Can we talk about Superman? I read somewhere that you needed to be convinced to join a big-budget franchise. Are you glad that you waited to do the “big film” later? And makeup are done in a way that you’d never do them yourself, you become a character. Because I’m certainly not a model-l don’t have the natural ability to morph into those poses.

KB: They were big shoes to fill. Superman is a beloved character, as are the rest of the characters in the movie. To me, it was like stepping into the unknown. Bryan Singer has been one of my favorite directors for years, and I’ve worked with Kevin Spacey before quite closely. It wasn’t that I needed convincing, but with any job take I want to make sure that I feel completely ready. I very rarely make decisions on a whim; l’m very much a Capricorn, where when I make a decision I do it one-hundred percent.

DB: Did you have a problem doing a blockbuster? The one that you just wrapped with Sigourney Weaver was hardly an action adventure movie.

KB: No, it’s a smaller film, a lovely script and I loved doing it. guess that when you do a film like Superman it just exposes you to more people, doesn’t it? It can be intimidating. And you become more aware of the fact that more people are going to know you; you lose more privacy. There’s a point in someone’s life when they’re ready for that or they’re not, and at the age of 22 I had to make that decision. And it’s a big decision for someone that young. Even today it’s a hard decision. I’m just a bit cautious of the whole thing. It’s an animal that’s not really controllable and one that you have to go along with and feel secure in yourself and be ready for. As secure as you can be at 22.

DB: Superman made your personal life more open to the public.

KB: Which is good in some ways. But for me, I try to live as low-key as possible. In terms of gossip and that kind of stuff, I just don’t pay attention to it. It’s pointless.

DB: So, like now, is there anything you want to talk about? Like a boyfriend or anything?

KB: No, I’m pretty [clears throat] guarded.

DB: Right. Who are your idols then?

KB: I love Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet. Those are two women who are extraordinary. And Sigourney [Weaver]-she’s an amazing woman. I love women who are unapologetically strong and fearless and have a depth to them. And you have to have a certain amount of courage to do this. And listen, we’re acting. It’s a form of entertainment, it’s not saving lives. But to live your life you really have to do it. It’s not for someone who is wishy-washy.

DB: So are you comfortable saying that you’ve committed your life?

KB: The way that I’ve been working has been doing a job and then taking quite a lot of time off, which has been my choice. Every job I’ve taken I’ve loved very much and was very committed to. And I’m also young. If I had my way I would have these conversations in my 30s. I truly don’t have the right answers yet. In ten years I’ll probably look back on these interviews and think, What the fuck? I had no idea what I was talking about.

DB: You’ll look back and think you were just a kid?

KB: I just turned 24 and it was the first birthday in a while where I was excited about it because the early 20s, I think for everyone, especially women, are hard. You’re defining your personality and feeling comfortable with yourself and having certain experiences for the first time. I remember Sigourney looking at me one day during a scene and there were so many paparazzi outside because we were shooting on the streets of New York and she said, “I don’t know how you do it at such a young age. I don’t know now, with the way it is now, if I could be in that situation at 23. And it was a really interesting remark coming from someone who is such a talented actress. She’s the kind of woman who really loves, protects, and values her privacy. It’s tricky. But like I said, have a different way of looking at things in ten years.

DB: And a different set of answers?

KB: Well, I don’t think I have any answers now. I can tell you how I’m feeling or how my day was, but I don’t have “the answers” yet.

DB: So should I just call back in ten years?

KB: Yeah, I’m sure it’ll be a much different story.

Photography Mario Sorrenti

Styling Andrew Richardson

Makeup Gucci Westman

Lancôme Hair Recine for Infinium by L’Oréal Professionnel

Manicure Yuna Park (Streeters)

Photo assistants Lars Beaulieu and Javier Villegas

Stylist assistant Lenna Boord

Hair assistant Amber Duarte

Location Pier 59 Studios, NYC

Prop styling Philipp Haemmerle

Prop stylist assistant Shaun Kato-Samuel

Digital technician Heather Sommerfield

Production Katie Fash

On-site production Steve Sutton

Printing Pascal Dangin for Box Ltd.