The Stepford Wives Then and Now

I received a press release the other day about some of the new words added to the dictionary (Noah Webster must be rolling over in his grave) and for some reason I wondered if the term Stepford Wives was already included.

The Urban Dictionary describes the term as 1.).. servile, compliant, submissive, spineless wife who happily does her husband's bidding and serves his every whim dutifully. 2). ...a wife who is a cookie cutter  and bland in appearance and behavior. Subscribes to a popular look and dares not deviate...
I feel relatively certain I could fill Yankee Stadium with the many I have met in the past.

Barbie never looked this perfect

The actual term comes from Ira Levin's chilling novel of the same name based on a fictional town known as Stepford, Connecticut where the men replaced their wives as Barbie Doll robots, serving their every whim and absent of any thought in their pretty heads. It was later turned into an equally chilling film starring Katherine Ross in l975 (a role which almost went to Diane Keaton) and a not so wonderful yet star-studded remake in 2004 with Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, Glenn Close and Christopher Walken.

Walken and Close in the remake....

Patrick O'Neal and Nanette Newman in the original

Katherine Ross and a Clairol Three Way Lighted Makeup Mirror -- an innovation in the seventies

While remakes seldom top the original, the interiors designed by Jack De Govia and Debra Schutt of the well ordered and well appointed Connecticut house were pitch perfect. (Schutt also recreated a different kind of antiseptic suburbia in Revolutionary Road as well as the tony Upper East Side penthouse in A Perfect Murder). Many of the scenes were shot in Darien, New Canaan and Norwalk as well as New York City.

The designers opted for a Martha Stewart/Architectural Digest world of perfection. "People in Stepford are living at the height of stylish luxury and they make no apologies for their lifestyle," notes De Govia. "No one questions whether they deserve the opulence. They simply have it and intend to take full advantage of it."

Interiors were shot at Kaufman Studios. Schutt used high end appliances and furnishings for the kitchen and great room above. Florist Christopher Barrett was brought in for the arrangements as seen below.

If you haven't seen it already, be sure to check out the original first! Better still, read the book. You can find it here on Amazon.

Photo credits: Paramount Pictures

Javier Bardem: One Serious Spaniard

If you are female and reading this, no doubt you saw Eat Pray Love over the weekend. Here is my cover story and interview with the film's star Javier Bardem for  Celebrated Living, American Airlines inflight magazine. Besides the fact he is an incredible actor (he won the Best Actor prize recently at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in Biuteful), he comes from a long line of actors in Spain. I also found it interesting the first time he met Julia Roberts (his leading lady in EPL) was in Bali. And the fact he does not drive a car....you can find this and other tidbits here. Enjoy!

You can also read my review of the film on The Huffington Post.

Photo Credits: Celebrated Living

At Long Last -- A Labor of Love

I thought I would share with you a sneak peek at my new book Designs on Film: A Century of Hollywood Art Direction (Harper Collins) which will be in bookstores just in time for the holidays on December 7th. I have literally given my heart and soul  to this massive project (not to mention countless hours in the Oscar library and film studio archives as well as dozens of interviews) for the past several years and looking forward to its publication. For a film and design buff like me, the research was phenomenal and many thanks to my cohorts at the Art Directors Guild for their help.

Designs on Film will feature more than 400 photographs of films from every era and genre from the great silents of the twenties to films of the past decade. There is literally something for everyone whether you are an avid moviegoer or design aficionado (and particularly if you read Cinema Style).

For more on the book, see my new book website here. I will report on upcoming book events and lectures this fall so stay tuned!




Photo Credit: MGM, Harper Collins

Architects on Film

Hollywood has portrayed them as tortured, egomaniacal, adulterers, visionaries fighting against the establishment and primarily men -- in movie terms, it's just another day at the drafting board.

The following are a few of my favorite architects on film:

The Fountainhead (Warner Brothers, 1949)

Gary Cooper is superb as the maverick architect Howard Roark who rails against the New York architectural establishment unwilling to compromise his ideals.  Based on writer Ayn Rand's best selling 1943 novel, both the film and book are rumored to have shades of Frank Lloyd Wright -- true or not, the film's designers took their design cues from the famed architect's thirties and forties work as well as those from the International Style. (Warner Brothers asked Wright to design the film but his $250,000 fee was too steep so the duties went to set designer Edward Carrere).

While the design and architectural critics trashed Carrere's sets, his modernist designs for the Enright House (reflective floors, indoor terraces, unsupported staircases) were a futuristic look at things to come a decade later. And while many film critics cited the film as pure camp (even Roark's jack hammer became a phallic symbol in the presence of his suitor Dominique played by Patricia O'Neal), it's a great look at ego, genius and the power of the press.

Strangers When We Meet (Columbia Pictures, 1960)
Kirk Douglas as architect Larry Coe has a different problem of conscience when he meets and falls in love with his next door neighbor played by Kim Novak while juggling a plum architectural commission. The melodrama was one of the first to tackle adultery in the Kinsey Report era and very Mad Men.
Central to the movie is the Bel Air mountaintop/oceanfront view of the home that Coe is building for a novelist (played by Walter Matthau). The real life home was rumored to be the future love nest for Novak and director Richard Quine which only added to the on and off set soap opera.

Towering Inferno (Twentieth Century Fox, 1974):
This time it's Paul Newman as an architect of conscience who builds the world's tallest building in San Francisco which succumbs to fire in the definitive disaster flick of the seventies. He also has one of the best film lines about the building of these mammoth spectacles in sky -- "Maybe they just oughta leave it the way it is. Kind of a shrine to all the bull**** in the world."

Indecent Proposal  (Columbia, 1993)

Woody Harrelson as an architect who is struggling financially to save his beachfront dream home property and his answer is a million dollar role in the hay with a billionaire character played by Robert Redford with his wife Demi Moore. (Only at the movies). Despite his talent, he is overqualified for work at a firm and teaches at a local university, advocating students not to sell out.

The Belly of an Architect (Tangram Films, 1987)

This art-house flick went straight to DVD but interesting in its coverage of food (from director Peter Greenway who brought us The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover), sex, death and of course architecture. Belly follows Brian Dennehy as he travels to Rome with his young wife to curate an exhibit of an 18th century architect who is obsessed with (and of course he thinks his wife is poisoning him).

Other films to check out are Jeff Bridges as a plane crash survivor/architect in Fearless, Albert Finney in Two for the Road, Richard Gere in Intersection, Sam Waterston in Hannah and Her Sisters and Wesley Snipes in Jungle Fever. And with the exception of Finney, all are pretty tortured personally.

 One of my favorite books on the subject is author Mark Lamster's Architecture and Film (Princeton Architectural Press, 2000). The book examines the way architects are treated on screen through a wide array of contributor's features from an even wider range of disciplines. You can purchase the book on Amazon.

I also love Donald Albrecht's Designing Dreams: Modern Architecture in the Movies (Hennessey and Ingalls, 2000) which literally became my bible for book research. He covers the modernist designs of films from the twenties and thirties and has some wonderful material on Metropolis, The Fountainhead along with Art Deco and the Bauhaus movements.

I did a piece for Architectural Digest and Turner Classic Movies several years ago on the subject. You can read it here. Enjoy!

Photo Credits: Twentieth Century Fox, IMDB, Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures, Peter Greenway.

Eat, Pray, Love = Italy, India, Bali

The phrase highly anticipated has become synonymous for fans of Elizabeth Gilbert's runaway international best seller-soon-to-be-movie Eat, Pray Love (Sony Pictures). Opening in theaters August l3th, EPL follows the real-life journey of journalist Gilbert who flees New York after a grueling divorce and embarks on a year long journey of self discovery and love. First stop is Italy where she learns the language,  expands her waistline and finds the ultimate pizza in Naples.  Next, she learns to quiet her mind in a sacred ashram in India, spending numerous hours in meditation. Her last stop in Bali finds the celebrated author her true love. And the cast alone will be worth the price of admission -- Gilbert will be played by Julia Roberts, while Javier Bardem (Felipe) and James Franco (David) play the love interests.

I caught up with Gilbert this past spring who was still trying to catch her breath from the heady ride of the EPL phenomena. She felt the filmmakers completely "got it right" in portraying her story as the film has a lovely sweet energy around the book." She explains that "Life is very surreal right now -- I am on a 'surreality' overdose! Maybe when I am in my eighties I will put it all in perspective." Life today finds her happily married, living in New Jersey and spending most of her time gardening, "which is now a metaphor for my life." While the year long journey was certainly life-changing, she is more interested in staying home as there is "something exotic about it." 

Gilbert also confided that Javier completely nailed the performance as Felipe. The Oscar winning actor and her real-life husband spent an evening together in New York and "hit it off from the start," she says. "Javier has a warmth and affection" that was needed for the role. "After watching the movie, it made me fall in love with him all over again!"


And speaking of the Spanish heart throb, I will post my interview and cover story with Javier (and more on the film)  in two weeks. Stay tuned!

Shot on location in Manhattan, Rome, Naples, Delhi, and Bali, the film will be a travelogue of eye-candy, sights, food (styled by Julie & Julia foodie Susan Spungen) and adventure. Directed by Ryan Murphy (from Glee and Nip/Tuck), the film was designed by production designer Bill Groom and set decorators Andrew Baseman (of Nanny Diaries fame).

Bali

India

Italy

For more on the film, see the official website.

Photo Credits: Sony Pictures

Grace Kelly Style

Perhaps no American actress, dead or alive, had more style than Princess Grace. Her cool and calm demeanor, regal features and exquisite taste made her a favorite with everyone from Hitchcock to Christian Dior and ultimately the Prince and principality of Monaco. At a time when the studios were churning out glamorous stars by the dozens, Kelly stood miles apart.

Kelly won the Academy Award for Best Actress her performance in the 1954 film Country Girl

Written by Kristina Haugland with Jenny Lister and Samantha Erin Safer, Grace Kelly Style (V & A Publishing) is the companion book to the Victoria and Albert Museum's exhibit in London. The book is filled with wonderful illustrations of Kelly's wardrobe, including creations from Madame Gres, Christian Dior, Chanel, Yves St. Laurent and Balenciaga that display both her personal, film and royal style. And who but Grace could have an iconic handbag named after them?

Grace Kelly and Prince Rainer Engagement Photo

Kelly with James Stewart in the Hitchcock classic Rear Window, 1954

You can order the book on Amazon and read an excerpt at 1st Dibs.


Photo Credits: Grace Kelly cover-Photograph by Erwin Blumenfeld New York, 1955.

© The Estate of Erwin Blumenfeld 2009

Grace Kelly with her Academy Award for Country Girl: 30 March 1955

© Everett Collection/Rex features

Engagement of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco, 1956:

© Snap/Rex features

Grace Kelly in ‘Rear Window’ with James Stewart, 1954

© Everett/Rex features

A Legend In Its Own Time

One of the most successful advertising campaigns during the sixties was Blackglama fur's "What Becomes a Legend Most." The brainchild of copywriter Jane Trahey in 1968, the campaign featured luminaries from Hollywood and New York to the Met and Motown in glamourous black and white photos. It was a time when wearing fur was considered glamorous (along with smoking) and an interesting window into social, fashion and Madison Avenue history.  Sophia Loren, Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis, Shirley MacLaine and even Ray Charles were  a few who lent their famous faces. Ironically Brigitte Bardot, now an arden animal activist, was also a part of the ad campaign.

Brigitte Bardot

The campaign ran from 1968 to 1994, went on hiatus and has been back in full swing in the 2000's. Next up is singer Janet Jackson as this fall's cover girl (and facing the wrath of PETA). Ad Age even named it one of the Top 100 ad campaigns of the 20th Century.

Lauren Bacall

Shirley MacLaine

According to a wonderful story on the New York Social Diary, Ava Gardner is one of the few who would not do the photo shoot as she wanted to wear leopard (which was outlawed).

While I don't condone the use of fur (I prefer mine on the backs of four legged animals),  I thought this was an interesting walk down memory lane...

Photos courtesy of Paper Pursuits, New York Social Diary

Italian Eye Candy

Many of you in LA and NYC have already seen I Am Love and it's just now hitting the rest of America this weekend. The film is filled with lots of wonderful Italian eye candy and something for everyone --- passion, food, couture, beautiful Italian landscapes (Milan and San Remo), great interiors and yes, lots of melodrama.

The film is the story of the Recchi family, wealthy textile manufacturers experiencing a changing of the guard. Actress Tilda Swinton plays Russian turned Milanese wife Emma Recchi whose passionate affair ultimately changes her family forever.

Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino worked with Raf Simons of Jil Sanders on Swinton's clothing (above and below) and Silvia Venturi Fendi on the male actors's wardrobe, each custom designed.

Food plays a major role in the film as many of the dramatic tensions take place during the film's many dinner parties. Both prawns and ratatouille with sweet and sour sauce and Oucha soup play important plot devices. Actor Eduardo Gabriellini who played the chef in the film studied with Italian chef Carlo Cracco (of Milan's Ristorante Cracco) to learn his many moves in the kitchen.

Swinton and Gabbrielini

The Villa Nechi opened its doors for the filming and was the perfect place according to director Guadagno for a home of "great wealth but also a restrained sensibility." Built by Milanese architect Piero Portaluppi between 1932-1935 and decorated by Tomaso Buzzi in the fifties, the house is a stunning mix of modern architecture and decorative arts. As the New York Times notes, it's a "modernist palate cleanser in a city chocked full of palazzos."

For more on the Villa Nechi, see the New York Times article "Leading Mansions."

For more on the film see the official website.

Photos courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. The World's 50 Best and Villa Nechi.