Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini was drawn to Winnipeg Manitoba to play the role of a legless Beer Baroness in the art film, "The Saddest Music In the World".  Her legs had been replaced by prosthetic beer filled glasses and she draws musicians in from all over the world to hold a contest for the saddest song.  Isabella is no stranger to unique film making and she braved the Winnipeg winter where it is common to have days that are -30 Celcius to work with film maker and Winnipeg icon, Guy Maddin.  I too was drawn back to Winnipeg where I lived from the ages of 15 to 20 to work with Guy who I had known from the past.  
The studio where we were filming was an old empty hangar which was only heated in a couple of areas.  While the crew were wearing huge Sorel boots and massive down filled parkas, the performers were sporting costumes of winter wear from the depression era. 
I was very excited to find out that I would have an opportunity to have my own photo shoot with Isabella for the poster art.  I can't say I have ever met an actress that was so involved with the creative process during the shoot.   We collaborated about ideas and after we had shot those ideas, she had come up with many more! It was such a delight! 
I used one of the (heated) sets as my studio and surrounded Isabella with soft light to flatter her classic features.  I was shooting with good old fashioned film stock back in 2003.  A large negative is necessary for printing large posters so I shot with a medium format Hasselblad camera and my film of choice;  black and white Kodak TMax 100.




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