Anne Hathaway, Manhattan NY, 2001. I’ve done thousands of shoots, and usually I can charm my way into a good picture. I’ll find some way to connect with the person I’m shooting. Talk about their interests, crack jokes, dance around—I’ll do headstands if I have to—but this time, nothing worked. It was early in her career but I knew Anne was going to have significance, enough for me to want to capture something portfolio-worthy. So I kept trying. No matter what I did, we just weren’t clicking.I have had very few experiences in my career where I couldn’t get that connection—maybe 3 or 4. The seamless was killing me. There were no props, nothing to distract her with, and my company was clearly not cutting it. When I do feel stuck in those studio settings, I can seek refuge in the context of a shot out on the street or with some real object...you see that throughout my archive. But we didn’t have that option in the penthouse studio. We needed something different, and the only thing around us was the bathroom.At least it had pipes, tiles, weird shadows, brick—somewhere for her to sit, something for me to play with. I’d done it before. Billy Bob’s been in the toilet. Whoopi’s been in the toilet. Why not add Anne Hathaway to the list. So I ask her, “Hey Anne, what would you think of taking some pictures in this bathroom?” The odd question was outweighed by the lack of chemistry in our studio set up, so she obliged.And you know what, we made it work. The photos may not be magic, but they certainly have a presence. The bathroom saved me that day on set. I may have not walked away with a solid connection, but I did get the shot.
