Robert Evans introducing the forthcoming HBO Documentary “
Helmut By June” at a screening in Century City last night. We attended the screening, held at the
new Creative Artists Agency building.As we noted above,
Robert Evans was there, joined by Courtney love. Don’t believe all the hype about her
suddenly looking good again. Sure, she's rail thin, but she looked like any other blonde you’d see sitting outside Broadway station at 3 AM on a Tuesday night.
As for the documentary, It’s a collection of video footage taken by fashion photographer Helmut’s Newton's wife during his shoots. A nice documentary, funny at times, and a tender ode to her husband.
But do we recommend the movie? Not for most of you who are reading this Web site - odds are the five of you are not the intended audience (but your wives and girlfriends may be.) Here's an example of what we mean: during a scene where a young Cindy Crawford emerges onto a Monte Carlo street wearing only a tight bathing suit and high heels, the two men seated behind us gasped loudly and one of them squealed: “Is that
Andre Leon Talley she’s walking with?”
The documentary is great if you a) like fashion photography, b) like Helmut Newton’s work, c) want to see some
fashion models completely naked, d) want to see Gianni Versace naked, or e) want to see a genuinely nice story about two people, married for over 50 years, who are still in love with each other.
Here’s the problem, tho. we saw the film immediately after Robert Evans spoke to the crowd and told several stories about his good friends the Newtons. He really set it up well. We’re not sure if the movie stands up as well without the benefit of that speech.
Here are some excerpts from his speech (some of it paraphrased)
Through (Helmut Newton) I met more girls in my whole life … not directly either. I’d meet the girl, take her into the room, and she’d say, “Do you know Helmut Newton?” I’d say, “Yes, I do.” “Do you think he would photograph me?” And I’d say, “Well, we'll talk about it…” and this went on for 30 years.
Conversely, Helmut and June… here is a man who has photographed some of the most beautiful women in the world, and yet he was always faithful to his wife. I remember one time, we were at dinner a few years ago, they had been married for over 50 years at this point. June gets up from the table, and as she’s walking away, Helmut says to me “Look at her. Isn’t she beautiful?”
We were excited to be in the same room as Robert Evans. In person, Evans looks exactly like his
cartoon. And he sounds in person just as fantastic as he does narrating “The Kid Stays In The Picture.” If there was one person we could pick to narrate our documentary after we died, it wouldn’t be Morgan Freeman, James Earl Jones or even Liev Shreiber.
It would be Robert Evans.
Postscript:The event was preceded by
a small reception at the Beverly Hills Neiman Marcus. Uneventful time, filled with Hollywood and fashion types. The women, most of them over the age of 50, looked exactly the same. Here's the thing about plastic surgery- now that so many people have it, we all know how to recognize it. Meaning it defeats the purpose – instead of looking youthful, a woman who’s had a lot of plastic surgery now just looks like… a woman who’s had a lot of plastic surgery. Is it about time to call it quits on this whole thing and go back to letting people age naturally?
