No one ever asks how a celebrity shoot actually went. They don’t ask if you knocked anything over, or took an $8 Coke from the minibar, or if you walked up to Robert DeNiro and said, “You talkin’ to ME?” (ummmmm…no) They just wanna hear, “What are they REALLY like?”
Natasha Richardson
And generally I can give them a little insight. Matt Damon isn’t really like Jason Bourne, I mean, he didn’t try to kill me with a toothbrush, or anything. He’s actually really nice, even pretty quiet. And Scarlett Johannson was much nicer to me than I expected. And P Diddy is much less brash and self-confident than you’d think…almost kind of reserved.
But some celebrities…some celebrities are exactly what you’d think.
I have to admit I am most familiar with Natasha Richardson from the 23 times I watched “The Parent Trap” with my kids. She seemed kind, fun, at-ease, and was of course, beautiful. I photographed her when she was playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret, and when we met she made me feel like I was the only person in her world at that moment, the kind of person who’s a brand-new old friend. She made it easy, like taking a photo of a sunrise, it’s there and you take the photo. She laughed and smiled and was completely engaged. Such a loss.
Lauren Graham at Sardi’s, her caricature is over her right shoulder.
Another show I watched repeatedly with the kids was Gilmore Girls. The banter between Rory and Lorelai was a source of amusement in our house for years, and it still sneaks into our conversations. Lauren Graham played Lorelai, a kind of goofy, witty, single-mom raising a teenage daughter who was every bit as charming. Lorelai had a pretty specific set of mannerisms, looks, ways of walking and standing, voice inflections. I was looking forward to meeting her when I arrived at Sardi’s on West 44th., but when she arrived I was like…wait…what? She walked in dressed like Lorelai. She stood there for a second, put her hands in her back pockets and kind of rocked-up on her toes and back down…like Lorelai. She talked, looked, and gestured like…well, you know who. She’s played a dizzying number of roles over the years, but I think I identified with her so much as Loreli that it’s who I was expecting to walk into Sardis on that April morning. “Get this woman some coffee!!” If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to share Chinese food with Lauren Graham, just watch an episode of Gilmore Girls where she shares Chinese food with Rory. She’s every bit as fun, off-beat and charming. She has a caricature at Sardi’s, if you look closely you can see it over her right shoulder in the photo.
I’ve always thought that Robert DeNiro played Robert Deniro. In practically every movie, he pretty-much played the same gruff, no-nonsense, borderline sociopath that he played in the movie before. Mrs Doubtfire just isn’t going to work with DeNiro in the lead. “Life is like a box of chocolates” would never work if said by DeNiro, unless some scritpwriter changed it to, “Hey…life is like a box of f……n’ chocolates you little *#&*!”
I really don’t know what I was expecting when I showed up to photograph Deniro and Michelle Pfeiffer when they were both in the move, “The Family” (DeNiro playing a gangster,) but I think a part of me was hoping DeNiro would show-up in an expensive suit and a nice haircut. That he’d shake my hand, look me in the eye, say something like, “Nice to meet you,” and almost make me believe him. Michelle Pfeiffer was a sweatheart, more-or-less, DeNiro looked like he slept in the car on the way over and was pretty disinterested. I guess that’s why he’s so good at the roles he plays. He’s the perfect personality to play the steely-eyed, don’t give me any of your BS, tough-guy role, there’s no one like DeNiro. Though, I would love to see him take a crack at the lead in a re-make of Ghandi. (“You better be the f#@*’n change you wanna see in this world, or it’s not gonna go good for you, capisce?”)