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Stipe operates two film companies, the New York City-based C-Hundred (which he started with producer-director Jim McKay in 1987) and the Los Angeles-based Single Cell Pictures (launched in 1995). Both are now run under Self Timer, a parent company that Stipe heads, and both focus on low-budget films. "I refer to what we do as 'under the radar,'" says McKay, who directed Our Song, a C-Hundred film with a budget of under $500,000. Single Cell's films tend to have bigger stars; 13 Conversations features Matthew McConaughey and Amy Irving.
You won't find Stipe in the office pushing papers. "I'm not a numbers guy," says Stipe, "even though I'm a Capricorn." Stipe splits his time between homes in Athens, Los Angeles and New York City and is often on the road. "He's like Bosley in Charlie's Angels--he's always traveling," says Single Cell co-head Sandy Stern. But Stipe is a hands-on producer. Jill Sprecher, director of 13 Conversations, says that while Stipe was making Reveal in a studio in Dublin, Ireland, last year, he would regularly call top actors, pushing them to take a role. "I think the reason we got the cast we did was because of him," says Sprecher.
The singer's divided career hasn't hurt his music. Reveal is a smooth combination of lush, mysterious melodies and high-tech production. It's like a trip through a rain forest on a hovercraft. On Up, the band overemphasized the electronica; on Reveal, the judicious techno touches contribute to a sense of drama and experimentation. Stipe's lyrics remain characteristically erudite and elusive. On Imitation of Life he croons, "Charades, pop skill/water hyacinth, named by a poet." On Chorus and the Ring, he sings, "It's the poison that in measures brings illuminating vision/It's the knowing with a wink that we expect in Southern women." His lyrics may appear random, but they can aim for Proustian resonance. A line on Imitation--"That's cinnamon that's Hollywood"--is meant to conjure memories of eating cinnamon toast in childhood and feelings of innocence lost.
Stipe says he's "phenomenally overworked" but happy. He says he's been "in a relationship with an amazing man" for about three years (he says his partner isn't a celebrity). In the past Stipe avoided questions about his sexuality, but he's now more comfortable discussing it. "I was being made to be a coward about it," he says, "rather than someone who felt like it really was a very private thing." He now readily describes himself as a "queer artist." But not everything about Stipe is open for explanation. When he is asked why he seems to have a blue brick tattooed on his right hand, he just smiles. "Reason?" he says. "This is Michael Stipe you're talking to, young man."