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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breakfast on the terrace, dinner at the wine bar, buenos aires style :

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we quickly learned that the best way to do business

is to do it while sitting in the sun.

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here are rita, my producer,

lara, my assistant director,

and me,

being me,

going over boards:

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then at night,

we found you could retire to the lounge,

order champagne,

and have platters of exotic cheese brought to you.

with orange honey and tomato chutney.

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rita, moi-meme, marge, the art director, and gradwell, the creative director:

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then you would leave,

stuffed and happy,

and walk down the gardens, looking back at THIS:

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i KNOW.

right?

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each morning?

wait for it.

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i woke up to doves outside my window.

could. not. make. this. shit. up.

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they love their buffets down here in buenos aires, they do -

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witness

the

mid-afternoon

three o'clockish

dessert

buffet:

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let's finish callbacks, scouting, and prep wardrobe in one day after traveling back from brazil. YEAH!

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back on track. the palacio duhau/park hyatt . . .

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when you're on the road,

home is your hotel.

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which is why waking up to this,

called a "submarino":

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in the gardens of this hotel,

with it's grand salons and stunning architecture:

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i am just SO relieved that i found the havaiana store in brazil 

before returning.

can you imagine being here if i couldn't wear the right shoes?

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(silver/pink/yellow for timmer.  cause he loves em.  and lets me travel like this.)

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and then, apres dinner, a model appeared -

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true story.

we just finished dessert,

and this insanely gorge brazilian girl walks up to our table 

and says

"you are landis?"

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she had been shooting lingerie 

in a castle outside rio,

had just flown in,

and ran to the restaurant 

so as to not miss us.

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i know you already know it,

i did too,

but it was one of those

"huh. creatures like this DO exist in real life"

combined with

"god, did i really eat that much meat??"

and

"she's a hardworking gal, that brazilian lingerie/hair model".

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ok, i guess this makes that day a leeeetle bit more glam.

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i guess this shows it's not ALL glamour :

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i've been country-hopping.

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went from argentina to brazil for casting call backs 

and to meet up with the agency and client.

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how to put this . . .

bru-tal.

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the hotel in sao paulo reminded me of a stephen king novel.

about a corporate hotel in shifty neighborhood,

with stained toilets,

strange overly sanitized scent,

two full beds in every room

(there is something INCREDIBLY disturbing about that set up.

who travels that way?

rob and laura petrie?)

no wifi

and a palette i can only describe as "golden girls" meets "full house".

talk about HORROR.

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this was flying into sao paulo.

the clouds were a sign.

did i mention the six hour delay before takeoff?

yeah.

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day two, 

casting, 

better,

mainly due to the team having fun together.

here is marge,

checking emails while ignoring the cheese sandwiches on the table behind us.

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we went to lunch, came back to callbacks,

and suddenly THIS had appeared on the stage:

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no one could explain why.

or what it meant.

or why.

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BUT,

we did get to go eat that night 

at Figuera,

a restaurant built around a three hundred year old fig tree

in the heart of the upscale neighborhood of sao paulo:

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we got drinks.

we got meat the size of our heads.

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here are marge and GL just about to start:

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yay, photogenic creative design-y type people to play with!

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the clients, kimberly and ana just seemed eager to eat.

i was with them:

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so i had this:

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and this:

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(note the size of the POTATO in foreground for reference.  THAT my friends is MEAT.)

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which fortified me for this:

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they are big on the dessert buffet down here.

no complaining,

just an observation.

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i am going to get SO FAT.

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so i guess the moral here is

not all is glamour,

it is sometimes strange smells,

ookie hotels,

bad neighborhoods,

draining flights at bad hours,

pressure,

stress,

keeping it together,

and solving things with tequila,

a big tree,

and meat that would make the flintstones envious.

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