|
 |
|
|
| |
Now, let me just stop right here and say, I am 5'10" and weigh 125 lbs. I have never in my life had a problem with weight. I eat what I like. I stay away from foods that I don't like. I have been a vegetarian for as long as I can remember for reasons that have little to do with animal rights-I honestly do not like the way meat and poultry taste. I love seafood. I love cheese. And as far as exercise is concerned, I do Pilates (mat work) on a semi-regular basis and go jogging in Battery Park when the weather is nice. I am very fortunate, I know. Just ask my sisters.
So you can imagine my reaction to this comment. (Why he did not simply say, "They went with someone else" is anybody's guess.) I certainly did not take the criticism seriously. Moreover, I did not interpret it to mean that I was fat. Instead, I did what any actor would or should do when he or she is rejected: Forget about it and move on. To my surprise, however, two days later the same insensitive male employee called to tell me-and in such a tone of voice that I had to wonder if he even remembered talking to me once before-,"They want you to body double for Gwyneth Paltrow. Can you be on the set tomorrow at noon?" Biting my sarcastic tongue, I replied, "Yes, of course."
And so the following morning at ten (welcome to the wonderfully disorganized world of movie making; at 9am I received a call from the key 2nd assistant director notifying me of a time change), I arrived at Paris Stages in Long Island City. Having never worked in film before-my background at the time was limited to theater-I had no idea what to expect. A part of me had actually thought I'd be provided with my own limo. (I was not.) Getting out of my cab, and upon entering the studio, I was approached by a young production assistant who recognized me immediately as "The Body Double". He then showed me in the direction of the wardrobe department's trailer where I was greeted by two women who, as soon as they saw how thin and gangling my arms were, thanked me-and then confessed how it had been one of their bigger concerns.
My costume, which I would take off during the scene, consisted of a beautiful emerald-green and black pair of panties and matching bra. Up until this point I had just assumed that the nude scene was a love scene-Kee Casting had not informed me of the circumstances surrounding the character's nakedness-and I'd already envisioned myself in bed (without clothes) with the star of Great Expectations, Ethan Hawke. This, however, was not to be. The scene that I had been hired to body double for was not a sex scene, but rather, a sketch scene. Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow) strips for Finnegan Bell (Ethan Hawke) inside his hotel room before eventually sitting for him while he draws her picture.
Next
|
|
|
|
|
|
