Q+A Mariel Hemingway

The 41-year-old actress and granddaughter of one of SI's most
famous writers (Ernest's pieces on hunting and bullfighting
appeared in the '50s) has a new memoir/yoga manual, Finding My
Balance.

SI: Could a volatile athlete such as Rasheed Wallace benefit from
a little yoga?

Hemingway: Yeah, some of these guys who are clearly higher amped,
overadrenalized and have too much testosterone might benefit from
a bit of silence.

SI: Is yoga a sport?

Hemingway: Well it can enhance sports activity hugely, but it's
not meant to be competitive. One thing about yoga is that you're
not supposed to be checking out a chick or the guy next to you,
wondering why you don't look like that in a pose.

SI: You were remarkably convincing as a pentathlete in the 1982
film Personal Best. How obsessive were you about getting into
shape for the role?

Hemingway: For four months I did triathlete training: I would
swim in the morning for a mile, run about 15 miles and bike for
30 miles. I did that six days a week. Yes, I became obsessed.

SI: You write that Woody Allen took you to some of his favorite
museums and restaurants during the filming of Manhattan. Did he
ever take you to a Knicks game?

Hemingway: No, but he took me to see the Yankees in the [1978]
World Series. I've never been to a World Series since, but we
were right behind the dugout, and you can't do better than that.

SI: We paid your grandfather famously outlandish sums for his
stories. Think we got a good deal?

Hemingway: I think you got a good deal, and I think I should
write the sequels. And prices have gone up.

SI: Do you share Papa's love of boxing?

Hemingway: I love boxing, which is very odd. Everybody says to
me, "You're into yoga, yet you want to see people bash each other
in the face." But there's just some sort of elegant, dancelike
quality to it.

SI: Have you been in a bookstore where Finding My Balance is
sitting next to a book Ernest wrote?

Hemingway: Yes, at a book signing and lecture in New York. Then
during the lecture I looked up and saw a poster of my grandfather
as I was talking about writing. I had to put my hand over my eye
in order not to look at him. --Richard Deitsch

For more from Mariel Hemingway, go to si.com/scorecard.

COLOR PHOTO: MIKE GUASTELLA/WIREIMAGE.COM "I love boxing"