Juno Temple Wants Real Punk Icons On 'Vinyl'

It's always a good thing when your work aligns with your passions and for Juno Temple, that means acting on a show that centers something she cares deeply about: music. "I like listening to all of my music on vinyl, I really do," Temple tells Bustle, immediately realizing how meta it sounds since she currently stars as Jamie Vine on HBO's Vinyl. But it's clear how much she genuinely means that. "What I like with music is listening to an album beginning to end to listen to the story."

It's safe to say that as an A&R assistant at Vinyl's American Century Records, Temple's character would agree with this sentiment. Jamie Vine is not a real person from music history, but over the course of the series' first season, she's proven to have an ear for innovation that just may help her discover a soon-to-be icon. While her associates are busy searching out another classic rock 'n' roll star, Jamie sets her sights on something much more ambitious: inventing punk. Fittingly, when I ask Temple what real '70s stars she would like to see portrayed on Vinyl next — since the series has already featured depictions of artists like Alice Cooper — she lists punk legends.

"I hope we go into the world of CBGB’s, the real punk stuff," Temple says. "The Ramones and people like Television would be so cool. How great would it be to see young Iggy Pop?" The 26-year-old also says that she would be a fan of Vinyl's own punk act, The Nasty Bits, if they were a real band. "I would have had a total meltdown over Kip Stevens," she says of the band's fictional lead singer. "He's so angry... and such a babe."

This is echoed in Temple's real musical choices. She is a huge fan of '70s heavyweights such as The Kinks, Neil Young, and Howlin' Wolf, but also enjoys Courtney Barnett for her poetic lyricism. Like Jamie, Temple loves punk music, and hopes that the character continues to be involved in the "punk universe."

Beyond that punk sound, Temple also loves Vinyl's incredible world-building capabilities. She expresses awe over the attention to detail, even saying, "there's a dirty newspaper on the floor that is an actual newspaper from 1973." That type of attention is also paid to the appearance of the characters. Jamie's hair, for instance, a shock of blonde curls, is based on Maria Schneider's corkscrews from her appearance in 1972's Last Tango in Paris. Temple calls the looks created by Vinyl's head make-up artist, Nicki Lederman, "a work of art," and I'm sure anyone who's watched even a single scene would wholeheartedly agree.

Between the styling, the Nasty Bits' punk sound, and hopefully, the depiction of more real punk icons, tuning intoHBO's Vinyl on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. can feel like traveling back in time, and it's one hell of a ride.

Images: Macall B. Polay/HBO; Giphy