Behind the scenes: it’s Witchcraft

I woke up at 6am like a kid on Christmas morning but also like a 26 year old who hates waking up early, combination = clumsy mess. My boyfriend, who was shooting the Wildfox 2010 movie that day, looked at me with his sleep puppy eyes and said, “Do I have to be there at 8 with you?” I laughed, “No, your call time is 11, like Emir. Go back to sleep.” A tired Brenda met me at my door where we proceeded to pack up the rest of the boxes. The night before we went to bed around 2am, we stayed up in the living room with my roommate, Alissa Geraghty, and made her try on about a million outfits. My house looked like a teenage girls wardrobe had exploded and covered each and every inch. Shoes lined up across the floor, table strewn with tights and hats, inspiration pictures scattered wildly all over the sofa… this was by far our biggest shoot yet. We drank champagne and yelled, “LOVE IT!” and “EW, HATE IT” about each different outfit, Alissa hovered naked in front of our window waiting for a T-shirt. “Oh my God, Alissa, I’m so sorry do you want me to hang some fabric so no one can see in?” She laughed and said, “no, no I don’t care about that, I’m just freezing!”

            Brenda and I picked up coffee from the Bean and my Pomeranian waited for us in the car. We pulled up to the house around 8:30, half hour late on our call time, and went inside. About 17 dogs jumped on me and I struggled to put all of the boxes inside, meanwhile greeting random crew people I’d never met. Finally, out of breath, I made it into the kitchen. Susan, the owner, was fixing breakfast for people, and the 3 models sat at the table with Carlene, our makeup girl. They all turned to face me as I hollered, “Hellllloooo!” Nicole stood up quickly to shake my hand saying, “nice to finally meet you!” and Rachel gave me a smile. Daria just flew in on the red eye the night before but she was still full of energy, she said she went out to the beach as soon as she got here just so she could run in the ocean. Carlene and I hugged, I love that girl, it is so hard to find a great makeup artist and Carlene is a God. It helps that she used to be The Pussycat dolls on call makeup girl and I LOVE the PCD. I explained the makeup, Bla diddy bla, Prada on Nicole, Wang on Rachel and then ran upstairs with the hair girl Nina, to get her set up in Susan’s son’s room, in which a red snake, a murky tank of Goldfish and other young boy things all resided. I ran and grabbed Nicole and she stood in front of me (already modeling) while I lifted her hair, “did Tyra give you extensions?” I asked, “No, no! This is all natural, they just made it HUGE for the makeover.”

            “Thank God, ‘cause I imagine those weaves are an horrific pain.”

            “I know, right?”

She smiled her toothy smile and I brought her upstairs to Nina.

“Hey Nina! Can you make her hair MASSIVE crimpy?”

I showed Nina a reference and she began her magic. She showed me how to do the hair, “Just weave a strand around a large bobby pin, like a braid, then flat iron over it.”

Rachel was such a tomboy, she even walked like a little Tomboy, it was funny to get her in the styling room and dress her in heels. She was very quiet but you could tell she was really into fashion. She asked about where we got the jewelry, “Litter! I LOVE Litter.” I said.

Emir arrived, hugged me, SWEATY! He said, “Kim, I have a really high temperature, I’m very sick.” I did a tiny panic dance in my head and asked if he’d be OK to shoot, he said yes. We all crossed our fingers. Fortunately our sets are very fun and lively, literally filled with girly magic, so he was fine (although he did end up having pneumonia and staying in LA an extra week.) The shoot went so smoothly. Our styling room was the most fun filled with about 8 girls, 3 of them naked and waiting for outfits, the others scrambling to load them with accessories. I put on Britney and Paris Hilton to get everyone in a pumped and GIRLY mood. We tried on pair after pair of Jeffrey Campbell shoes, saying “OK, take that off…change that… different shoes….lose the bra…Oh white tights!” while Emir and my Boyfriend took turns shooting each girl downstairs.

The girls were such troopers, they played with bunnies, bounced around in huge shoes, sat amongst millions of candles, tried on over 70 outfits, but Nicole took the cake with the milk and the snake. Daria was amazing, writhing on the floor and dancing through each room like she had just drunk 10 red bulls.

“You should drink some Vodka.” she recommended in her thick Russian accent to Emir. She said “I don’t drink so I can’t say, but it should help get rid of your fever!” Suddenly it was the Spanish inquisition about Daria not drinking, “NEVER?” We asked.

            By evening we were all knackered, Rachel had to catch a plane and we were rushed to get her last shots in. The scenes with Blake (the male model in the shoot) were shot last minute. I played “Shakira- Shewolf” as the girls tore him apart on the bed. At one point they ripped his entire shirt off (it literally took them 2.5 seconds to unbutton the whole thing and tear it from his body) our entire crew screamed, “NO, NO! GIRLS! SHIRT ON!” Laughing, hysterically.

            By the end of the shoot we were all so comfortable around each other that all the girls were asking Nicole about Top Model.

            “Was it fun?”

            “Is it worth it?”

            “Is Tyra crazy?” Nicole laughed and said she had fun, but she hated the cameras and they were even allowed to come in the shower with you. “But only when more than ONE girl takes a shower, the problem was, it was a GROUP shower! It was awful!” She told us how it was the best decision she’d made, and I told her I was so happy she did it, or I wouldn’t have found her.

            The sparkler scene took about 400 sparklers and 3 people lighting them off to the right to hand to the girls. In case you don’t know sparklers burn out in just under a minute. Blake laughed in the background, “You guys are (insert some Ohio slang for “insane” here)”

            Nicole was the last to leave, but as usual we saved the best for last. Her Mother arrived and watched my boyfriend shooting Nicole and Daria, we all peaked in and Nicole’s Mom hovered over my shoulder. Nicole said through her teeth, “Mom I can’t do this while you’re watching…”

            After, Nicole and I stood in front of the open fridge and I said, “so, there is gonna be a lot of milk, but you don’t have to drink it. Just let it all pour over you.” Nicole grinned and rubbed her hands together, “I have ALWAYS wanted to do this!” she said.

            “Oh YES! Is it snake time??” I have never met a girl so excited to hold a snake, she informed me that her pet snake had just died. Sad.

In the front yard Nicole pretend chugged about a gallon or so of milk, while our entire crew cheered her on. Emir had to turn around and say, “OK everyone, SHUT IT!” so she could concentrate, but I must say her concentration levels were pretty much unaffected throughout the shoot. Nicole might be the only girl I know who can tip milk all over herself in a wedding dress, holding a snake, with 20 people watching, and not fall completely apart.

            It was a sad goodbye, we had all fallen briefly in love. But it had to come, and we will remember it with a great deal of pleasure.

XOXO

People on set

my company partner Emily Faulstich

right hand Meredith Leyerzaph

stylist Brenda King

photographer Emir Eralp

Film David Hache

models Nicole Fox, Rachel Ballinger, Daria Plyushko

Makeup Carlene K

Hair Nina Lucas

house of Susan Londoner

Jimmy Sommers

Intern Brooke Zegars

shoes Jeffrey Campbell

Jewelry Litter

my dog Stella :)

Jimmy Sommers