Baywatch Diary – Day 10
Although we dont film on weekends, all the actresses had to do a photo shoot today for FHM magazine (probably the February issue). All nine of us will be on the cover, although it will be a triptych – 3 groups of 3 actresses on 3 pages that open up. Carmen, Pamela and Yasmine are on the front page of the cover; then Gina, myself and Nicole; then Stacey, Angelica Bridges (“Taylor”, who just arrived from LA), and Brande. Since Pamela is no longer here, Carmen and Yasmine are only shooting their inside photograph, but Gina and Nicole and I had a 6:30am call to shoot our page together. Everyone is in white suits, and we got to pick what we wanted to wear out of about 35 choices. My first two choices were nixed, so I was put in a bandeau bikini. I thought it showed too much of my stomach (my torso is my least favorite part of my body. I have that darn scar, no waistline, and only OK abs), but I was reassured that FHM will retouch like crazy. I told the photographer that I would like him to retouch (i.e. remove) my scar, make my belly button look normal (any body part that has been cut into 7 times aint beautiful), and give me killer abs and curves. Believe it or not, they can do all that. Heck, they can trim off an inch from everywhere on a woman’s body in photos, to make her look 20 pounds lighter. They do it often for magazine covers, even on models. They can whittle away your waist and thighs, put a sparkle in your eye, erase wrinkles, change your eye color etc etc. It is in my contract that they cannot give me bigger breasts, as I am proud of my natural shape and size (but not that proud of other parts, as you can see. If I were really a person of character, I would insist they leave me as is with no retouching anywhere… but I dont have that much character…(see Jamie Lee Curtis’ article in the September issue of More Magazine for more on this subject).
So we shoot the shot (Richard McLaren is the photographer, and Jaason and I took some fantastic shots with him 7 years ago. I am very happy it is he shooting for FHM) with the ocean in the background, and I am between the two blondes, Nicole on a couple apple boxes (these are crates that are used on the set to sit on or stand on) so she is our height (I am 5 ’10”, and Gena is 5’9”). It works out fine, although I am not comfortable doing that vampy “I’m so sexy” thing. I probably will end up looking stern in the photos, instead of come-hither. Can Richard touch that up? Today is not windy, luckily, but every day this week it has been a real trial for all the women to keep our hair out of our faces for filming – the North Shore of Hawaii is beautiful, but windy! In all my scenes this past week, my hair is blowing every which way – I look like I just got off a speedboat, instead of a hair stylist’s hair.
After an hour on a quiet beach shooting some singles of me for the inside of the magazine (once again in a bikini — yikes), with the television show “Extra!” following my every pout (and they dont retouch), I am done for the day and it is only 1pm. As I am an early riser, I lobbied to be the in the first group of actresses in (hence the first group out…). My publicist Jerry, my manager Daniel’s boyfriend Chris, and I go for a half hour ocean swim. Both of them are excellent swimmers, although Chris hasnt swum in the ocean for 20 years so he feels a real sense of accomplishment when he finishes. And he should – the waves were alot different from a pool, and we had alot of chop on our way back. Jerry is like a fish: he has raced in the 8 mile swim between 2 Hawaiian islands, does triathlons, wins ocean swims, plays on a water polo team etc.
Daniel and I went to the grocery store together and bought naughty things like potato chips and chocolate covered macadamia nuts. He is so fun to be around, a wonderful, enthusiastic friend (but also a very strong and protective manager, when it is called for). Daniel, Chris and I sat on our porch and ate (yum) and talked while I sorted through the photos that I had taken for Hal the sound man, putting them in a little album. Nicole ran by, but stopped to chat for a long while – she is so nice.
As I woke up with a sore throat this morning, I dont go out with the guys. I stay in my room and learn my lines for the week, as Ian will be here and I want to spend as much time with him as possible. By the way, we are on “salmon” pages now, although I must say these pages look more beige to me.
Off to Pearl Harbor tomorrow, and a visit with an old friend, Dana Satler, who worked with Daniel and I on American Flyers 18 years ago.
