why coming home to l.a. is always > anything else :

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the streets of buenos aires : a visual poem

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you get to see so many sides of a city

when you produce in it.

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some of my favorite moments:

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(yes, that is leela and nibbler.)

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THE BEST LAID PLANS vs. THE HAPPY ACCIDENTS :

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here's the thing about all this stuff i do.

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you can plan every detail, down to every single frame in your head:

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you can fly between countries,

trying to find the "perfect" cast for the story:

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your producers can be so buttoned up you want to see them TRY to relax:

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your locations,

they can be spectacles unto themselves:

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you can eat out at amazing places,

learning about each other:

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you can have your director of photography,

toshi,

create sunbeams and shadows,

anywhere:

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your clients,

they can be the kind of people

who will sit on stone stairs at the end of a 17 hour shoot day

without a whimper,

and laugh,

and sing,

and make you smile:

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and still,

there will be moments you find yourself isolated,

a little exhausted,

almost alone:

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and still,

it will rain for hours

and kill a favorite shot,

and you have to just suit up in neon and push through:

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and still,

you will find yourself on a rooftop 

on the other side of the world,

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and you will look down as dusk falls,

and see an older couple,

just beginning to tango:

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and through it all,

you will think,

yes,

i am not lucky,

i am blessed.

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wardrobe fittings, and the BOTTEGA VENETA dress that got away . . .

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no secret,

one of my favorite parts of shooting

is when we get to the fittings.

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it's like playing dress up with life size barbie dolls.

almost literally.

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and i've learned from experience,

that when traveling to buenos aires,

it's often best when you have a vision to have your amazing stylist in the states

(cue : bic owen)

pull ALL the looks,

rent, borrow, buy, or steal,

and bring it with you.

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why?

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cause they can't get THIS stuff

down there:

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the driving gloves along in dove gray?

the dolce lace?

the vintage white?

the models were lucky i gave them a chance to put it on.

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so.

you put it all in the film planet "warehouse",

bring in the girls,

and get going.

high to low,

basic to full on

until you have a story,

told in clothes.

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and it rocked.

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you'll see most of it when the commercial releases,

but there is one dress

that "got away".

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as sometimes happens,

in the middle of our location day a torrential monsoon 

came out of nowhere

(after the riot police.  and the protesters.  not making this up.)

and you lose three hours,

and one of your favorite shots / outfits.

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it's just a dress . . . there's always another spot . . . but oh, what a dress this was.

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bottega veneta fall 2010.

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ex. quisite.

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alas.

next time, b.v.,

next time.

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