There are lunches at Michael’s and then there are
lunches at Michael’s. Today I joined
Isabella Rossellini
at Table One and had a fascinating conversation with her about aging,
celebrity, fashion and gay geese. Stay with me … these seemingly
disparate topics are all connected. Ostensibly there to talk about
Mammas,
her new series for Sundance Channel which looks at the ways different
creatures use their maternal instincts in nature, Isabella did get
around to the topic eventually. Yet, there was no feeling of the usual
PR spin to the lunch which was attended by a handful of journalists who
sat enthralled by her stories of her days as an actress and model and
her charming tales of growing up in Rome as the daughter of iconic
actress
Ingrid Bergman and director
Roberto Rossellini.
“The image I have of myself doesn’t correspond to the image people
have of me,” she said. “I live on Long Island and I don’t go to fancy
parties and premieres. I don’t like that aspect of celebrity. I never
said, ‘When I grow up I want to be a celebrity.’” She didn’t have to.
Between her famous parents, ex-husbands (
Martin Scorsese and model
Jon Wiedemann), her
celebrated career as a model and 14-year run as the face of Lancome
before the brand dismissed her in 1996 for being ‘too old,’ and her
unforgettable turn as tortured nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens in David
Lynch’s
Blue Velvet, she secured a permanent spot in our
collective consciousness without employing any of the usual contrivances
associated with modern celebrity.
Isabella Rossellini and Diane Clehane
When she showed up to join the small group of journos gathered to
meet her (I was lucky enough to score the best seat in the house right
next to the guest of honor!) the conversation first turned to fashion as
Frazier Moore
asked her who designed her understated ensemble of a wool tweed cocoon
coat, navy mandarin collared silk jacket, foulard blouse and simple
slacks. She gamely removed her coat to reveal the impeccably tailored
pieces designed for her by
Christina Bomba in Italy. “It’s less expensive than
Donna Karan or
Dolce & Gabbana,
and I like that I can pick the fabric and have it made just for me,”
she said. Isabella told us she can’t relate to the fashion-celebrity
complex which has turned the red carpet into big business. “When Mama
got dressed for the Oscars, she wasn’t solicited by designers.
She didn’t have a committee of business people telling her what to wear.
She was loyal to one or two Italian designers, and, when they could no
longer make dresses for her, the costume designers from her films
created something unique.”
My eye fell on her beautifully
understated handbag whose jewelry-inspired clasp I immediately
recognized. She designed it for Bulgari when she was working with the
house a little over a year ago. “They were between administrations, and
they came to me and asked if I wanted to work with them and appear in
their ad campaign,” she explained. “We have a real connection because
both our families are from Rome, so it was easy for me. I went to the
factory because I wanted to see how the bag was going to be made, and it
was extraordinary. I went to the factory in Florence, and it looked
like a photo studio. But these people were true artisans; it took 15
people to make one bag. I was honored to witness their craft. Today if
someone came to me and asked me to design a line, I would not do it; it
would be too hard. They probably wouldn’t ask me anyway.”
After all these years, people do still ask about her role in
Blue Velvet
as we did today. When the comment was made that she has made some
brave, bold choices in appearing so vulnerable and exposed on screen,
she explained matter-of-factly: “I don’t feel that I have been bold. It
is about committing to the material. When my mother made a film, she
spent most of her time reading everything written by the author whose
work was used for the one film. There was a passion for the work and the
process. My father was the same. For me, it is about that passion. I
think that is why I left New York (City), because you are solicited to
do so much (promotion) and I never liked that.”
She told me that she inherited her approach to her career from her
mother. “It wasn’t really advice that she gave me,” she explained. “It
was really by example. My mother was very practical and down to earth.
She liked to keep things simple. Simple was good.” It’s clear in
talking to her that she was never interested in the slightest in
prolonging a career in front of the camera if it means being anything
other than being true to herself. Still naturally beautiful at 60, she
doesn’t believe in plastic surgery (“I think one must be so insecure to
resort to that, because surgery is torture”) and is completely realistic
about what getting older means to women in entertainment. “I
don’t consider myself an actress. I’m someone who used to be an
actress,” she told me. “Life goes in stages and thing fall away. It’s
linked with age — there’s nothing you can do. You can be trapped at home
waiting for the phone to ring with calls that never come, or you can
open a new chapter in your life. ”
This new chapter started a few short years ago when Isabella found a
unique way to channel her lifelong fascination with animals ( She
currently shares her home with two dogs, a cat, two rescue rabbits, two
chickens and two pigs — one of which was a birthday present) into some
interesting projects. She’s getting her masters in animal behavior at
Hunter College (“I am going slowly, taking one or two classes a
semester, because I am still working. I love that I am doing it for no
other reason than to satisfy my curiosity”), and she did the Webby-award
winning, internationally acclaimed short film series
Green Porno about the sex lives of animals. There was a second series re-titled
Seduce Me
after it proved difficult to get sponsors for a project with the word
‘porn’ attached. “I am so happy that Sundance stayed with me even when
we couldn’t find any money.”
Mammas came out of Isabella’s reading several books on
female biology where she found some interesting discoveries about the
maternal instincts among animals, particularly in the writings of
Marlene Zuk,
who serves as a consultant on the series. After spending months on
research, Isabella told me her greatest task was distilling all the
information into “dense but light” content that would translate well on
screen. Among her discoveries: “Canadian geese are homosexual. Many of
the female geese are. They find a male, and then when they lay the eggs
they go back to their partners.” Another revelation: “The male seahorse
is the one that gets pregnant. This comes out of new studies, but
scientists already knew this.” As writer and director of
Mammas,
her unique style of subversive wit and intelligence is plainly evident.
Isabella appears in each episode in fantastically elaborate animal
costumes (my favorite is the fish head) in strangely hypnotic
enactments. Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? It’s airing on Mother’s Day,
Sunday May 12 (the Web series will air simultaneously on
sundancechannel.com).
As for what’s next, Isabella is developing a monologue on biology
that she is planning to perform. “I’ve created a monster,” she said with
a laugh. The producers have plans (sure to be scaled down at her
request) for a very ambitious tour throughout the United States and
overseas. And she’s hoping
Mammas, will extend to
Papas and
Babies.
Whatever happens, though, she will find a way to stay engaged and
fulfilled. “There are so many interesting things you can do in your life
if you evolve and change. What counts is that you’re happy and I am
happy.”
Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:
1.
Isabella Rossellini,
Suzy Berkowitz Weksel and
Katie Lanegran from Sundance Chanel,
Frazier Moore of AP,
The Los Angeles Times‘
Meredith Blake,
People.com‘s
Caryn Midler,
WSJ.com‘s
Katherine Rosman and yours truly
2.
Jimmy Finkelstein
3. Showtime’s
Matt Blank and a blonde gal we didn’t get to meet
4. Would love to have been a fly on the wall at this table:
Harvey Weinstein and
Jeffrey Katzenberg
5. Allen & Co.’s
Stan Shuman
6. The “Imber Gang:” Dr.
Gerald Imber,
Jerry Della Femina,
Andy Bergman and
Jeff Greenfield
7. Artist extraordinaire
Kim McCarty (
Michael McCarty‘s wife, as if you didn’t know), hosting a table of oh-so-chic pals including
Simon Doonan and his husband, designer
Jonathan Adler
8. The absolutely ageless
Nikki Haskell (Happy Birthday!), celebrating with three pals
9. An impeccably dressed
Star Jones with her equally stylish pal CBS News contributor Dr.
Holly Phillips
11. Who’s that woman behind those Foster Grants?
Jeanine Pirro, rocking some death-defying leopard platforms and bangs. Yowza!
12.
Anne Hearst
14. Simon & Schuster’s
Alice Mayhew
15.
Evan Greene
16. United Stations Radio chairman and CEO
Nick Verbitsky
17. PR maven
Lisa Linden and the best dressed lobbyist in New York,
Suri Kasirer
18. Random House’s
Jon Meacham
19. Author
Wednesday Martin
20.
Wenda Millard
21.
Marshall Cohen
22. EIC of Hearst’s Design Group, the dapper
Newell Turner
24.
Lucianne Goldberg
25. PR guru
Tom Goodman and
Ed Adler
27. Producer
Chuck Pfeiffer
28.
Erin Malone
29.
The Wall Street Journal‘s
David Sanford and
Lewis Stein
Faces in the Crowd: DialGlobal’s new CEO
Paul Caine
who is in Day Four of his new job. Time Inc’s former chief revenue
officer told me he took two weeks off before starting his new post to
clear his head so he could start fresh at the audio content syndicator.
Good luck in your new gig!
Please send comments and corrections to DIANECLEHANE at MEDIABISTRO dot COM and LUNCH at MEDIABISTRO dot COM.
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