LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020E3
which hit select theaters Fri-
day. When she was asked to
pitch the film’s financiers on
her vision for the story
(which has been filmed mul-
tiple times, including a 1996
version starring Gwyneth
Paltrow and the 1995 mod-
ern update “Clueless”), she
decided against a digital
presentation.
Instead, in advance of
their Skype meeting, she
sent the executives a parcel
wrapped in silk ribbon. Once
everyone had virtually gath-
ered, De Wilde instructed
the team to open the box.
Wrapped in newsprint, they
found a set of cards she had
curated to illustrate her fan-
tasy film, complete with
fashion illustrations from
the 1800s, caricatures poking
fun at society and lighting
and design references.
Though she had never
made a feature film, De
Wilde had long become ad-
ept at the art of the pitch.
“On photo shoots, if I
don’t talk to the musician
about something that
makes sense to them, they’ll
panic and I’ll lose the job,”
said De Wilde, who chose to
meet at the Chateau Mar-
mont a few hours before the
Los Angeles premiere of
“Emma” last week. “And
when you’re a girl, you have
to prove yourself for any-
thing you haven’t done.”
Film development
De Wilde, who will turn 50
this year, is best known for
her work as a celebrity pho-
tographer. Over the last two
decades, she has shot every-
one from Willie Nelson to
Robert Pattinson, Lena
Dunham to Busy Phillips.
She has documented the
work of Rodarte designers
Kate and Laura Mulleavy
from the inception of their
careers. In Los Angeles —
she lives in a Glassell Park
home — her friends include a
hip collaborative of artists
she has also photographed:
the Mulleavy sisters, actress
Zooey Deschanel, film-
maker Miranda July and
singer Jenny Lewis.
July, who has watched De
Wilde struggle for years to
try to land her first film, said
she was filled with emotion
after attending the “Emma”
premiere alongside the
group.
“If there were more fe-
male directors, Autumn’s
story wouldn’t be such a rare
and precious thing to us,”
she said. “Basically a single
mom who worked so hard
and at this age is coming into
her own. I think we all feel
really tender because it’s a
very powerful example.”
De Wilde grew up in L.A.,
the daughter of two hippies
who once lived on a com-
mune called the Farm in the
hills above Warner Bros. stu-
dios. Her father, Jerry de
Wilde, was also a photogra-
pher who captured the late
’60s counterculture, shoot-
ing the likes of Jimi Hendrix
and Frank Zappa. Her un-
conventional upbringing —
at times, the family lived in
her dad’s photo studio,
where she bathed in the
work sink — encouraged the
younger De Wilde to figure
out different ways of ex-
pressing herself.
In junior high, she re-
called, she was bullied be-
cause of how tall and lean
she was. (She is 6 feet 2, and
her brother is 7 feet 2.) Tired
of crying every day after
school, she decided to em-
brace her Olive Oyl look. So
she culled together the most
bizarre outfit she could find:
a Laura Ashley skirt covered
with a tiered business slip,
her father’s oversized suit
coat and a pair of fluores-
cent socks.
“I think the boy I had a
crush on was definitely
freaked out, and I felt em-
powered by that,” she re-
membered. “I had this thing,
like, ‘Oh, if I freak someoneout, then they feel uncom-
fortable and I feel stronger.’
In him not getting why I was
dressing like that, I felt ex-
cited — like for once he may-
be wasn’t thinking how
much I would die for him.”
After studying theater at
Los Angeles City College, De
Wilde found herself at Lolla-
palooza in 1995, performing
political theater. At one
point during the festival, she
got stranded at a truck stop
in Missouri and came down
with heat stroke. The singer
Beck let her cool down on his
tour bus, and the two struck
up a friendship. She took a
few photographs of him, and
he suggested she start tak-
ing the craft more seriously.
“He was like, ‘These are
good. No one makes me look
like I’m not a dumb kid,’ ”
she said. The late musician
Elliott Smith was also an
early champion of her work,
telling his record company
that he would only do a mu-
sic video if De Wilde could di-
rect it. Because of the early
support from these men, De
Wilde is reluctant to place
blame on the men who have
kept her from working in
Hollywood.
Her daughter, however,
the 20-year-old Starcrawler
singer Arrow, is less cau-
tious. Earlier this month,
she posted a picture of her-
self with her mom on Insta-gram, noting how happy she
was to see her mother “prove
all the men in hollywood who
said she couldn’t do it
WRONG.”
“It’s fun having my
daughter throw blame all
over the place,” De Wilde
said of Arrow, whom she had
with ex-husband Aaron
Sperske, a drummer. “The
truth is, I did lose a lot of jobs
over the years. I would be the
runner-up on a film where it
seemed like it was a more
comforting choice to choose
the man. By the time I had a
reel with music videos and
commercials, it was obvious
I wasn’t a risk...
“But I hesitate a bit to
stand on a soap box and play
the martyr, even though I’m
totally justified. With every
challenge, I was like, ‘OK,
[jerks], I’m gonna learn
more and come back better
at what I do.’ If I went down
the road of feeling sorry for
myself, I wouldn’t be improv-
ing. There’s no age or
achievement where you
shouldn’t try to get better at
what you do.”Styling ‘Emma’
On “Emma,” De Wilde
said she felt more comfort-
able than she ever had on a
set. She relished throwing all
of her obsessive tendencies
into one job, bringing out the
pastel colors of the Georgianera or exploring how the re-
strictive fashion impacted
character’s natures.
Anya Taylor-Joy, who
was cast as the clever-but-
meddlesome Emma Wood-
house, said De Wilde was
fastidious about the look of
the film — particularly the
actress’ hairstyle.
“If a tendril was out of
place, the whole scene
stopped and we started
again,” Taylor-Joy said with
a laugh. “We had curlgate so
many times — and bonnet
gate. I knew how Autumn
would want it before she’d
even say it to me. I would be
coming out of the carriage
and I’d be, like, ‘You want me
to do the pretty, don’t you?’
So I’d come out of the car-
riage, look over my shoulder
and through some glass to
make it look pretty.”
De Wilde said she found
working with actors akin to
her work on photo shoots,
where she said she thinks
she’s developed a reputation
for “making a subject feel
safe.” In the past, she said,
she’s been turned down for
Spin or Rolling Stone cover
jobs because she was told
she was “only going to do
what the band wants.”
“As if that’s a bad thing —
as if it’s a sign of weakness
when the musician doesn’t
feel raped by the concept,”
she said with a scoff. “Inmaking this movie, it was
really useful that I’d spent
years making it look like ev-
eryone I photographed slept
with me. I was able to make it
sensual, sexy, private — al-
most like a moment with a
lover but I didn’t have to
touch them or make them
feel humiliated. Without in-
terfering with the subject’s
privacy, I’d say: ‘Look at the
camera like an object.’ I real-
ized you could fake intimacy
with some basic body posi-
tions. And then they’d be
like, ‘Oh, my God, it looks
like you were totally scam-
ming on me.’ ”
July said she was keenly
aware of this perspective
while watching “Emma.” In
the scene where the hero-
ine’s best-friend-turned-
eventual-lover Mr. Knightley
is introduced, the audience
first sees him in a state of un-
dress: His bottom is bare,
and a servant pulls stock-
ings up over his calves.
“When I saw that, I was
like, ‘Of course. That’s so Au-
tumn,’ ” said July. “One of
the things I was most struck
by that seemed very inti-
mately her is her female gaze
on men and romance. When
you look back through at the
men she has photographed,
she’s not afraid to take in
what’s beautiful about a
man’s body — this is how he’s
childlike but also tough.... I
just think it’s interesting in
this moment, when you won-
der what have we been miss-
ing — it’s a different way to
see men. Of course we’ve
missed women’s voices and
stories, but men have
missed out on a certain kind
of tenderness that someone
like Autumn can give. It’s in-
teresting to think there may
be some healing in that.”
De Wilde, however, views
“Emma” as an offering of lev-
ity during a period of politi-
cal unrest that makes us feel
“like we’re all being bullied.”
And she takes issue with
those who view films with or-
nate scenery — like those of
Wes Anderson, one of her
creative inspirations — as
pure fluff.
“I mean, have people seen
‘Moonlight’? There’s so
much color in that movie,
and it’s genius. It’s a strange
idea that movies about pain
and struggle should have
color removed from them,”
she said. “I don’t know why
it’s been assigned to extrava-
gance. I don’t walk into a
pastry shop in Paris and go,
‘Why are all these colors
here?’ I go, ‘That’s delicious,
and I want to eat it.’ How it
looks is part of the story.”Director makes a match with ‘Emma’
AUTUMN DE WILDE, pointing, directs actors Amber Anderson, left, Tanya Reynolds, Josh O’Connor and
Johnny Flynn on the “Emma” set. She says her work as a celebrity photographer helped prepare her for this.Liam DanielFocus Features[De Wilde, from E1]
Prime Video’s cachet not
only rises if Klum’s and
Gunn’s star power trans-
fers over to their new show
but also if it’s seen as a
place where people go to buy
high-end fashion and not
just stock up on diapers and
paper towels.
The strategy could also
resolve a dilemma market-
ers face with the popularity
of streaming services like
Netflix, which do not have
any commercials. Shows
that integrate shopping
and watching as part of a
series’ story line could fix
that problem.
Some analysts think
“Making the Cut” could even
change the way people buy
fashionable clothes.
“Amazon is going to com-
pletely rewrite the rules with
its brilliant show,” said
Burt Flickinger III, manag-
ing director of New York con-
sulting firm Strategic Re-
source Group.
“Making the Cut,” which
premieres March 27 on Ama-
zon Prime Video, will feature
12 designers competing for
a chance to launch a global
brand and a $1-million prize.
Contestants are given as-
signments, with the winning
outfits sold on Amazon im-
mediately after the episodes
stream.
Customers will pay about
$100 or less for the winning
looks on the “Making the
Cut” store featured on Ama-
zon, Klum said. Sizes will
range from XXS to XXL,
Amazon said.
Sales for the items will
help boost the company’s re-
tail business. Apparel and
accessories represented 29%
of Amazon’s retail e-com-
merce sales in the U.S. last
year, generating $35.79 bil-
lion, according to research
firm eMarketer. But many of
the apparel items sold are
considered basic clothing,
such as underwear and yoga
pants, and Amazon has
struggled to gain a large
enough foothold in high-end
fashion, which often has
higher profit margins, ana-
lysts said.
Amazon has tried to
court luxury brands with
mixed results. While Kate
Spade sells items on Ama-
zon, other companies like
the parent firm of Louis
Vuitton, LVMH, do not.
LVMH Chief Executive
Bernard Arnault expressed
concern about Amazon sell-
ing counterfeit goods on its
site in a January earnings
call with investors.
Some luxury companies
may be reluctant to sell on
Amazon because they don’t
like how high-end products
are positioned against other
items the tech giant sells.
“They don’t want to di-
lute or devalue the luxury
element of their brand, so
it doesn’t make sense to
have them sold alongside
light bulbs and batteries,”
said Andrew Lipsman, a re-
tail analyst with eMarketer.
“Making the Cut” could
help Amazon find the next
up-and-coming designer,
similar to how “Project Run-
way” propelled the career
of Christian Siriano, who has
designed a dress for former
First Lady Michelle Obama.
It could also change cus-
tomer perceptions about
what’s available on Amazon
and attract high-end fashion
buyers to subscribe to Prime
to tune into the show.
“If you have a show that
has an interesting wrinkle
on it, that can bring them
there,” Lipsman said. “If
you have the right shoppers
there, that tends to attract
the right brands.”
A major priority for Ama-
zon Studios executives is to
launch shows and movies
that will increase or enhance
Prime memberships. Ama-
zon has more than 150 mil-
lion Prime members glob-
ally.“We’re in a very different
business model, unlike the
pure play video players,” Al-
bert Cheng, Amazon Stu-
dios chief operating officer
and co-head of television,
said at the TCA session last
month.
“For us, it’s about our
Amazon Prime customers,
making sure that we’re de-
livering value, that we’re
looking at our content to
drive subscriptions.”
Unlike Netflix, which
focuses on just video, Ama-
zon markets its Prime mem-
berships as catering to all
aspects of a customer’s life
— whether it’s watching TV
shows, listening to music or
ordering paper towels and
groceries.
Amazon touted its life-style appeal in a recent San
Francisco subway ad that
read: “Tea kettle ... flu meds
... ‘The Marvelous Mrs.
Maisel’,” along with the
words “Sick day. Delivered.”
Amazon Studios execu-
tives tout the breadth of
services available to poten-
tial partners. For example,
the studio has worked with
Amazon’s live game stream-
ing service Twitch and audio
division Audible, along with
its retail division.
Jennifer Salke, head of
Amazon Studios, said that
her division worked closely
with Amazon Fashion on
“Making the Cut” and that
there could be similar com-
mercial collaborations on
other shows.
“Making the Cut” isn’tthe first time Amazon has
dabbled in combining
streaming video with shop-
ping, but it is the first global
series to do so.
Last year, Amazon Prime
Video aired singer Rihanna’s
Savage X Fenty fashion
show, and customers could
buy items from the collec-
tion on Amazon’s retail
site.
The company also has
Amazon Live, where influ-
encers and celebrities advo-
cate for certain products
with links to the items men-
tioned on the screen.
Other shows have also
attempted to sell clothes
featured in their programs,
but often through outside
retailers. For example, Net-
flix partnered with retailer
Net-a-Porter to sell clothes
by the winner of its reality
show “Next in Fashion.”
The show premiered Jan. 29,
and clothes designed by the
winner became available on
Net-a-Porter on Feb. 10.
On the newest season of
“Project Runway,” on Bravo
starting March 14, viewers
will be able to buy some of
the clothes featured on the
show.
Some collaborations
haven’t worked. An attempt
by “Project Runway All
Stars” to sell clothes im-
mediately after the show
failed after its partnership
with J.C. Penney ended.
“The big difference here
is a show that has a global
e-commerce platform that
is geared toward giving
these contestants a really
good shot at making a busi-
ness,” Cheng said at an in-
dustry panel last summer.
“Making the Cut” will
also allow Amazon to ex-
plore other forms of adver-
tising on its platform, some
analysts say. Already, view-
ers can use a feature called
X-Ray to pause an Amazon
Prime program to get more
detailed information on
what they are seeing on thescreen, whether it’s an ac-
tor’s biography or a song
title (with a link to listen to it
on Amazon Music).
Amazon said Wednesday
that Prime subscribers
watching “Making the Cut”
on Fire TV devices can use
their remotes to shop the
winning look on their Fire
TVs through the X-Ray
feature.
Some analysts speculate
that Amazon will eventually
make it possible for viewers
to order other items that
appear on a show with the
appropriate Amazon retail
links.
“If anybody can pull it
off, it’s Amazon,” said Ross
Benes, a video analyst with
eMarketer. “They don’t
really have to go and make
a new ad product if it’s part
of the show. I wouldn’t be
surprised if at some point
Prime Video does more of
this.”
Other companies includ-
ing Walmart’s Vudu and
NBCUniversal have rolled
out features that could
inspire more shopping.
NBC-Universal on some
programs has showed QR
codes that viewers could
scan on their smartphones
to purchase items they see
on TV.
But people involved with
“Making the Cut” down-
played any connection be-
tween clothing retail sales
and the show’s success at
Amazon Studios. Cheng at
TCA said apparel sales will
not be used to evaluate the
program.
Gunn, one of the show’s
hosts, emphasized that the
partnership with Amazon
hasn’t compromised the
designers’ work.
“There’s a big difference
between a dumb T-shirt and
a float in a parade, and
there’s a lot of fashion terri-
tory between those two po-
larities that’s profound,”
Gunn said at last month’s
TCA session.From ‘Cut’ catwalk to closet with a click
HEIDI KLUMand Tim Gunn are the hosts of a new
fashion-based show on Amazon, “Making the Cut.”Jessica FordeAmazon Studios[Amazon,from E1]