- 14 hours ago
Behind the scenes of the Woody Harrelson cover of The Hollywood Reporter.
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00:00Hi there, I'm Jennifer Lasky at The Hollywood Reporter, and this is Decisive Moment, where
00:04we talk about the cover shoot of the week, and it's a good one. Elizabeth Moss. We have
00:11photographer Olivia Bee here. Hi, Olivia. Hi, thank you for having me. I'm so glad that
00:15you're here. Me too. To talk about this, which I think I say all the time, every week, maybe
00:22not every week, that it's my favorite cover shoot, but I think this is, I'm going to go,
00:27I mean, I've done 300 covers here, so it's definitely in the top 10, but I definitely
00:32need to look at all of them. It's definitely like nothing we've ever done before. It's
00:38definitely, which we try to change it up every week, week after week, and I think that we've
00:43done a pretty good job of it, but this is just really special, so I'm excited to talk to you
00:48about it. Me too. It's a pleasure to be able to make it. The first thing is, we use a
00:53lot
00:53of the same photographers all the time. Miller, Mobley, Austin Hargrave, Ramona Rosales. We've
00:58worked with Olivia a couple times at Hollywood Reporter and at Billboard, but this is Olivia's
01:04first Hollywood Reporter cover. It's true. So when we called you, so Jenny Sargent produced
01:13the shoot, and she was on set in New York, not Scotland. When she called you and said,
01:20hi, I would like you to shoot Elizabeth Moss for the cover of the Hollywood Reporter,
01:25what did you think? I mean, I was stoked. I guess I hadn't watched The Handmaid's Tale
01:31yet, but I had heard a lot about it, so I thought it was like a really wonderful opportunity
01:36to get to know everything about the show and get really addicted to it before. Oh, you
01:40did? Oh, yeah. Okay. I like binge watched the entire thing before the shoot. It was so
01:45good, and just like, I mean, such a pleasure to be able to do y'all's cover, and I think
01:50she's amazing. I knew her from Mad Men, so I was excited to, I mean, she's so captivating
01:55in a lot of ways, and I think shows, she's just so good at being a woman and being a
02:02multifaceted
02:03emotional character, so I was really excited to shoot her and get to experience that. Cool.
02:08Um, I heard she has a foul mouth. Is that true? Kinda. Yeah. Yeah. It's in the story.
02:14It's in the story. Yeah, she's really goofy. Yeah. But I heard she swears a lot. Yeah,
02:19she does swear a lot. Okay. And I was there, it was okay. Okay. And I heard she loves baseball.
02:25Loves baseball. And you guys shot some baseball shots I saw. They didn't make it in the magazine,
02:29but I saw some baseball stuff. Yeah. She loves baseball, and she loves Beyonce, and she loves
02:32Lemonade. She loves Beyonce? Yeah. So she was in this yellow dress. Ha ha, there it is. So we shot
02:37her
02:37with a baseball bat. Ha ha. And then we shot her in front of baseball, also. Right. And
02:41then we shot her in a Knicks jacket. Right. There's a lot of sports. She loves sports. Cool.
02:46Um, and then, is this film or digital? It's film. So, um, you know, I, I'm old school. I love
02:54film, and I was one of the last photo editors to let my photographer shoot digitally, uh, whenever
03:01that was. And, um, and I have photographer, a lot of photographers I'm friends with who shoot
03:07Polaroid, like Frank Offenfeld and Billy Phelps. And I'm always like, stockpile Polaroid.
03:12Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then will you bring some Polaroid to my shoot, please? Um, so I love
03:16film. I, I was a photo, um, major at school, and I developed film in the lab, which I love
03:22the lab. Oh, yeah. So, my question to you is, where are you buying film, and where are you
03:28getting it processed? Ha ha. Um, you can buy film pretty much at every photo store. It's, like,
03:34readily available. What photo store? Um, I buy my film at Sammy's, or I buy it at Freestyle.
03:39Okay. Um, or B&H online, or you can get it from Amazon, too. Okay. And then I get mine
03:43developed at Photo Impact. Okay. So, you can buy everything that we used to buy. I mean,
03:49you're, you're pretty young, so I don't know if you know everything we used to buy, but
03:52do you know if there's, like, the same supply? I think so. Or if there's less things to choose
03:58from, because there's just not that many people shooting film anymore, so people aren't developed,
04:02people aren't producing as much film. There's no more Kodachrome, but other than that, like,
04:08you can pretty much buy anything. I think. I don't know. I'd have to go in a time machine
04:13and figure it out at home. Yeah, I guess we'd have to, or we'll get you together with, like,
04:15an older photographer and talk about it. Someone, um, I was on a shoot yesterday, and Ramona Rosales
04:21was saying that some of the things she used to like to buy aren't available anymore. Okay,
04:25then I would think it's true. Um, so. There's no more Kodachrome. That's a bummer. Um, did
04:31you shoot on Kodachrome ever? I got to shoot, like, right when they said they were, like,
04:36not going to be able to develop it anymore. A photographer found me, and I was, like,
04:40really young on the internet just posting things. I was, like, 14 or 15. Okay. And they
04:44sent me two rolls and, like, gave me a voucher to, like, get it developed. I don't remember
04:47who that person was, but they were great. Oh, cool. Yeah. Um, and what, what camera did
04:53you shoot on? Um, I don't know what the cover image is. I shoot with, like, a bunch
04:59of different cameras, and some of them work, and some of them don't. When you get fun
05:03accidents. Um, all right. And is, is the whole shoot film? Yes. Okay. I remember
05:11saying, oh, that's so cool. I'm very excited about her shooting film, but obviously we
05:16need to back up with the deadline and make sure that we can meet that deadline and do
05:21all, all the processing and everything that you need, because everything now is so instant.
05:24Yeah. And back in the day, we had to wait for film to get processed and then send a messenger
05:28to pick it up. So, um, so is the whole shoot shot with film and different cameras? Yep.
05:34Okay. The entire thing. And then one of the things that we said to you, because you've
05:38shot for us at Billboard, and Billboard is younger, and the, the acts are younger, and we can be,
05:44you know, we shot the Migos together, and you, we can be a little bit more edgy, I'd say,
05:51for lack of a better word. But a Hollywood reporter, like, even the Hollywood reporter
05:55is, um, we can kind of, we, you know, test the boundaries, and we've done comedy, and we've
06:00done elegant, we've done all kinds of things. It's, it's more elegant looking. It has a more
06:05sophisticated look to it. Yeah.
06:06Yeah. So, did you remember when, um, Jenny asked you, like, can you dial back the blurry,
06:16light, street, out of focus stuff a little? And, like, I love that stuff. But, like,
06:21for Hollywood reporter, can you just rein it in? Then she showed me some pictures of yours,
06:25where you obviously, people have said this to you before, can you just rein in the, the
06:29coolness a little bit? Uh-huh. Um, so, and I think you nailed it.
06:33Oh, thank you. I think, like, this is my favorite picture. I love that picture. And
06:38I'm sure Jenny told you I want a print. Oh yeah, it's been ordered. Don't worry, it's
06:41coming to you. Okay. Okay, I want a signed print. I love a signed. Oh, absolutely. I
06:44like, I like a signed print. Absolutely. And then, um, and then, okay, so when we were
06:51doing post-production on this, they were trying to take out all the orange and all
06:55the weird, like, radiation look to it, and I was like, and they were trying to fix it, and
06:59I said, actually, no. That's what I was supposed to look. Don't do anything.
07:03Don't do anything. Like, if you do that, it's gonna start looking weird. It's gonna
07:07be a different picture. So just let it be the way it came out. So, I love this, I love
07:11this right here. Thank you. Me too. It makes it feel like something you hold in your hands.
07:15What was your favorite part of the shoot, or, like, an experience you had with Elizabeth
07:20Moss, or shooting, or being in Central Park? I mean, it literally looks like Scotland.
07:24We went to Scotland. Um, I mean, I just, her vibe was really infectious. Like, she plays
07:30these really dark, intense characters, but she's, like, so goofy, and, like, really, I
07:36don't know, just really light, and it was nice to see someone who can do both, and experience
07:41that kind of image-making with her. Um, also, her mother was there, and I thought that was
07:45really sweet. I love seeing people with their moms on set. That's so cute. I think, and she
07:49was, like, so proud of her. Aw. It was really, really sweet. I love that. Yeah, in the video,
07:54she was, like, kind of talking to her mom off camera a little bit. Yeah, which always helps. It's
07:57really nice to have people around that, um, talent is really comfortable with, and, like,
08:02kind of get to watch and also be a part of it at the same time. Um, I also wanted
08:06to ask you, um,
08:08this, I remember the styling. Jenny was showing me the styling direction, and we had, we had batted
08:14around a few ideas. Some of it was, there was, like, a menswear idea, or there was, like,
08:20dresses with converse. So there was all kinds of things, but we just went, we ended up going
08:24full romantic. Yeah. So was that, was that Elizabeth? Was that you? It was all of us.
08:29I think we were, I mean, this dress just, like, spoke to everybody. It's so, like, I mean, we were
08:34shooting her in front of a castle. Like, we had to do it, like, 100%, you know? Yeah. So did
08:39you,
08:39were there a lot of, like, like, amazing clothes, and you guys? Yeah, there were, there was a lot
08:44of awesome stuff. Um, I mean, there was a lot, there was a lot of menswear, and then there were
08:47all these, like, there's a lot of black and white, which we didn't end up shooting. We ended up
08:51going for a lot of, like, the colorful, romantic stuff, and, like, this Dolce dress is really
08:55great, with all the colors. Um, and then we did one look with her in a jacket. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
08:59Just to, like, balance it out. Where, did that not make it into the story? It's probably online.
09:04I think it's online. I don't think it made it into the print. I don't think it did either. It
09:08kind
09:08of looked like a different story, in a way. Yeah, it did. Yeah. You were, like, inside, and it was,
09:12like, all of a sudden, like, why is she inside, and why is she wearing, like, a sports jacket? But
09:15those are
09:15really cute, too, and it's funny, because you have to curate the story. Totally. You
09:19know, so it's, like, oh, I love those, but all of a sudden, it feels like a different
09:22story, or a different shoot. Yeah. Yeah. Then it doesn't go well. Cool. And then, how did
09:26you get into photography? How did this happen? Um, I started, I was always making things as
09:31a kid, but then I started taking pictures when I was about 11, when I went to an art-based
09:35middle school, and went to a darkroom class on accident. Where? What city? Portland, Oregon.
09:39Okay. Um, and then I just started making things, and putting them on the internet, and then I got
09:44discovered when I was, like, 15, after I, like, gained a following, and started shooting
09:48for brands, and then it's a low effect. How did you gain a following, and who discovered
09:52you? Converse discovered me when I was 15, and asked me to shoot pictures for them. How
09:58did they discover you? Um, they saw my presence online. They saw my Flickr page. Flickr, okay.
10:04Yeah. And, uh, how did I gain a following? I don't know. I just was, like, relentlessly spamming
10:09people, but my work was really good, so I don't know. It was, like, a combination of both. Right,
10:13right, right, right. Yeah, and then people started looking at me all the time. And how
10:17important is, like, Instagram to your life? Um, to my life? I mean, honestly, Instagram
10:21makes me anxious, but. Me too. Yeah. You know what I put it? I put it on my fourth screen
10:26on my cell phone. Nice. Yeah, me too. Yeah, that really, really takes a little bit. Sometimes
10:29I deleted it. I deleted it. Sometimes I want to, but then I don't. I, but I think about it.
10:33I delete, I just delete the app. I don't delete the. Right, right, right. And then I download
10:37it again when I have to. Right. It's traumatic. Um, but I mean, it's an amazing tool for work. It's
10:43per,
10:43I mean, everyone looks at your Instagram. It's just, like, we're looking at images all
10:46the time, every day, so here's what I do, you know. And, like, um, is it okay if I ask
10:53you how old you are? Yeah, that's cool. I'm 23. Okay, so you are as young. Well, you said
10:58something about being 15. I'm like, how is she now, 16? Um, so do you, and you have a baby
11:04face, which you'll probably always have, which is awesome. Oh, yeah, for sure. But, um, do you
11:07ever get on set and people don't treat you with respect because you look young and you're
11:12a girl? Um. You're a woman. Yeah. I mean. He looks like a girl. It's cool. Uh, definitely
11:17used to happen to me a lot more. Like, I mean, it's really, being 16 and, like, shooting a
11:22five-day car campaign and, like, people being like, are you the PA's daughter? You know, that
11:27happened to me all the time. It's not as much now, but people are still like, who are you?
11:32And I'm like, I mean, why are you here? Um, well, like, hipsters are in, too, so you're
11:37kind of on the hipstery, hipster side. I mean, I'm from Portland. Right, right. Yeah, you're
11:42like an original hipster. Um, so, when, um, so Jenny Sargent, who, she and I have worked
11:49together for years. She's the co-photo director of Billboard, and she's in New York, and then
11:55she's the photo editor at large at Hollywood Reporter, and she used to be my number two at Hollywood
11:58Reporter when we launched, and she and I have known each other and worked together for years
12:03at Moore Magazine when people were shooting film, and when Mariah, who is the producer
12:10here, um, showed me the first digital image on Wire Image, and I was like, that's so cool.
12:16How does that get into the magazine, though? Wait, that's amazing. I said that. Those words
12:22were spoken. That's amazing. I was like, yeah. What? Um, so, um, like, you shot, so,
12:32you shot with film, so you should have always shot digitally, but why, why did you get into
12:37film? How did this happen? Why, how would you even see film? I started shooting film
12:41from the very beginning. But, like, how, like, why? You wouldn't, like, you wouldn't, you're
12:44supposed to be a kid who's on the internet. Why are you, why are you looking for film? Are
12:49an old soul? What is happening? Well, that too. Yeah, for sure. Uh, but my middle school
12:53had a dark room. Like, it was just part of the art curriculum. We had art. Okay. All
12:58of our classes were art classes. What school is this? Da Vinci Arts Middle School in Portland.
13:02Okay. Da Vinci Arts Middle School. That's a good school. You heard it here. Um, and then
13:07I had a summer camp that also had a dark room, like, in a shack, and so I was always
13:10working
13:10in a dark room. Okay. I just felt, I don't know, it felt natural. That's cool. I used a digital
13:14camera, too. I've always kind of used everything simultaneously. I've never, like, been like,
13:17I only shoot film, but I'd like to only shoot film. But, um, but I don't know. Everything
13:22was just part of the same, like, scene. In your career, um, has there been a super challenging
13:32moment where you were, oh, crap, this is bad? Or, oh, crap, maybe I don't want to do this
13:40anymore? Or just something that, just a challenge that... Um, I mean, there have been really intense
13:46days where you have to, like, make 10,000 things in two hours, you know? Um, I guess, uh, this
13:54is kind of a hard question. You guys are going to edit this, right? Um, not so much. We try
14:01to make it, like, uh, perfectly seamless. But, um, I mean, you know, we were on a shoot
14:07once where a talent fell off a horse. Oh, yeah. We had a shoot where a talent fell off a
14:12horse.
14:13And I stopped the horse with my hands. Hands. And, um, that was, and it was nighttime.
14:23That was crazy. It was, and we were lit by headlights. Oh, I know. Oh, when the sun went
14:28down and we didn't have any lights because things were happening. Yes. Tell that story.
14:31Oh, yeah. We were, I mean, we were shooting the cover and, um, there were no more, there
14:36was no more sunlight. They were taking forever. Things were taking a long time. As they do.
14:40Yeah. As it happens. But we're losing light. We're losing light. And then, well, we have
14:44to do this, like, epic. It's, like, the most important shot of the day. And it's, like,
14:47super epic. And then there's no light. Light. So, um, I pushed all my film two stops, which
14:53I'd never done before. Which I didn't tell you at the time. Oh, no, no, no. I was freaking
14:57out. I know. We were all freaking out. I was acting, I was acting calm. And I was like,
15:01is anything going to come out on the floor? I mean, me, me too. Me too. We're, like, on horses.
15:05I think I know
15:06how this works. And there is no light up here, y'all. Yeah, we're on horses. And then
15:11we're lighting things with the cars. And iPhones. And, like, yeah, cars and iPhones. iPhones
15:14work. I shoot with iPhones all the time as light. But then we, like, iPhone flashlights.
15:19We reversed a car. So we get the brake lights. And that turned out to be the image that I
15:23love. Yeah, I love it. It came out really good. But I was, I act really calm. And inside,
15:28I'm dying. Just so people know. You seem, yeah, you seem really calm. Oh, yeah. I stay
15:32really, really, really calm. Are you dying right now? And then I feel awful worse. I'm
15:35actually really calm right now. I feel really good right now talking to you and I'm getting
15:38to know you. That's awesome. Yay. And then what was, like, a wow moment that you've
15:44had in your, in your young career? Um, I guess when I shot Katy Perry and then her picture
15:51was all over the whole world. That, like, the photo I shot was, like, on these award shows
15:56and it was, like, on billboards and it was on t-shirts and I don't know. It was really cool.
15:59What did you shoot her for? I shot her for her. For her.
16:02Yeah, for the record label. For, like, her change of the rhythm, um, single cycle. Cool.
16:06Yeah. That was really, really cool. You're like, I made an iconic image of Katy Perry.
16:11You know, it's everywhere. It was really cool. That's cool. I mean, I've always wanted to
16:14make pictures of, um, people that you see all the time and that people, like, experience
16:19their art all the time. So, it was really amazing to be able to make, like. Do you have,
16:24like, a dream person to shoot? Everyone knows mine. Who's yours? Johnny Depp. I've never
16:31shot him. Really? Uh-uh. He's not in there? Nope. That's crazy. Mm-hmm. I want to shoot
16:36Lana Del Rey really bad. Oh, she's the best. I've heard. I want to shoot her really bad.
16:41She's so nice. And just so you know, like, because, you know, sometimes it's not good
16:44when you meet someone that you love and they're not that nice or something. Sure. She is,
16:49I'm going to go with, I mean, I have to look around, but she's definitely in top five people
16:54I've ever photographed in my 20-year career. Oh, wow. That's amazing. She is so nice. I think
17:00she did her own hair and she had a makeup person or vice versa. Shot at her house. There was
17:05no one
17:05there. No publicist. Nothing. We were there for hours. We had to be like, I think we got
17:09the shot. Like, I just went in her closet with her and we just picked things out of her closet.
17:14That's so cool. And she's so nice and she's so cool and she's so chill and we were listening
17:19to like Chet Baker or something and she's like, she's lovely. So I hope you guys would be a match
17:26made in heaven. I know. Okay. Next time you shoot her. She's all yours. Holler at me. Jenny, can Olivia
17:33shoot
17:35Lana Del Rey? I think that would be a good match. Mm-hmm. I also like, so you shooting
17:44Lana Del Rey is like an obvious, you know, photo editor pick. But I like, like, mixing
17:50it up. I like being like, I want Olivia to shoot, I don't know, I'm just going to make
17:54this up, George Clooney or something or like, I don't know. I can't think of anyone right
17:57now. But, you know. Someone that is unexpected. Yeah. Or like Joe Pugliese who has like, he's
18:03a more serious, whatever. He shot Lana and the thing that really worked with that shoot was
18:08we shot at her house and she lives in a, sorry, a Neutra or one of those guys' house
18:13and it's, there's no right angles and it's all, everything is made of nature so everything
18:17is wood and the view is amazing. And so, so he loves architecture. So for him it was Lana
18:25and the house. So he was really finding all these cool things within the house and the
18:30shoot just was like magical. And he's like super professional and super sweet. But like
18:34you wouldn't necessarily think, oh I'm going to have Joe shoot Lana Del Rey, but it was
18:38literally one of the best shoots that we've ever had. It was beautiful. But I would love
18:41to also, you know, do something with you that you don't expect. Yeah. You know, so that's
18:47I mean, I think Migos was a really cool match. Yeah, totally. Because like it did make sense
18:51but it was also like we're really different. Right. I thought that was cool. Right. And
18:56um, and then with Elizabeth Moss, you know, this could have gone so many different ways and
19:00I love your take on her, you know, because I know that she was really excited that you
19:06were shooting it. And, um, and you know, and it wasn't because I knew Elizabeth Moss is
19:12whatever, a feminist or speaking out for women's rights. I didn't know any of that at the time.
19:17I really didn't. Um, but I think she was like, oh, girl power, like that. I had that we hired,
19:22you know, a young, cool girl to shoot her. And so I think that's what all the magic happens
19:27when like you're making the soup and everything. Sometimes you make the same soup. I'll make it
19:32my tortilla soup last week and I'll make it in six weeks. And for some reason it's better in six
19:36weeks. But like, so I think the, um, I think that the combination of you and Elizabeth and,
19:43and Jenny Sargent and this location and film and it's just like, that's when they're like mad,
19:49the magic soup. I think so too. Um, I wanted to end on a couple fishing for answers. Okay. Okay.
19:55I don't know what's in here cause the producer changes it up. Okay. What is your go-to photo
20:02editing program? Photoshop. Since you shot this in Central Park, was there any obstacles that arose?
20:10Oh, there was a marionette show and it was very cold in the marionette theater. Like damp, right?
20:18Like kind of damp. Damn. But no, nothing went wrong cause Jenny Sargent produced it. Exactly.
20:24And she's the best. I don't know why I just did that. What is your favorite place that you have
20:28traveled for a photo shoot? Um, Lebanon and Cuba. Ooh. Japan and Thailand. If you could explain the
20:38Elizabeth Moss cover in three words, what would they be? Really romantic, goofy. I've used that
20:47word like 10 times. She's really goofy guys. She's really goofy. Okay. Let me get it. Let's end on this.
20:57When did you realize you wanted to make a career out of being a photographer?
21:00This is deep. When I was 14. Yeah. And? And Converse had emailed me asking me to shoot for
21:09them. And then when I was 15, I shot it and I was like, Oh yeah, I can do this
21:12for the rest of my
21:12life. Cool. Yeah. So, um, we are going to end on, um, Olivia saying that she wanted to be a
21:23photographer
21:23person. She's 14 years old and is a, sorry, millennial who shoots film, which is amazing.
21:29Thank you. So, um, and also like your last name is B. Is that your real last name or is
21:34that your
21:34stage name? My stage name. Oh. It's my pseudonym. I wasn't allowed to put my real name on the
21:39internet when I was 12 for my parents' request. Oh. Oh. So what's your real last name? Not
21:43gonna joke. Ooh. It's bold. It's on my Wikipedia page. Yeah. See, I'm going to Wikipedia now to find
21:50out what her real name is. It's like Bertha. Olivia Bertha. Olivia Bowles. Bowles? Yeah. Is that
21:57really it? Yeah. B-O-A-L-S or B-O-W? No. B-O-L-L-E-S. B
22:01-O-L-L-E-S? Yeah. Oh, is that French? No. I think
22:05it's Scottish. Scottish. Yeah. Scottish. Like when you shot Elizabeth Moss in Scotland? Yeah. When we
22:10went to Scotland. Just going back to my roots. This is at your parents' estate? Oh my gosh. Yeah. My
22:16parents
22:16are so rich. Um, you guys, we're just kidding. This was shot in Central Park.
22:21So, um, but that's the magic of photography, I think. It's true. I wanted to thank Olivia
22:26B. for shooting, uh, her first Hollywood Reporter cover. Pleasure is all mine. Thank
22:31you. And, um, for coming in today and doing Decisive Moment. Uh, we'll see you guys next
22:35time. Thanks so much. Thank you. Bye. Bye.
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