Brunettes Have More Fun, or My Day as Jackie O

Have you ever been to Simi Valley? When I wrote my senior thesis in college, one of my advisors suggested I come up with several key words or phrases that reflected my topic. In other words, if someone were to place these key words in a search engine, my thesis would pop up in the results. Here are some key words and phrases for Simi Valley that I've come up with: Charles Manson (his caves where he lived with his tribe of followers are there, no joke. You can go tour them if you want), Ronald Reagan (he loved this place for some reason. The 118 Freeway which takes one from LA to Simi Valley is also called the Ronald Reagan Freeway), desert fauna (are you sure Simi Valley isn't in Arizona?), and finally, Jackie O. What connection, you ask, does this first lady have to Simi Valley? Not much of a connection, actually, except for the fact that a couple weeks ago, I found myself in front of a green screen in small studio in Simi Valley, playing Jackie Onassis in an upcoming book trailer. Here are some pictures as proof:

Great. Now you believe me. A few days before my audition for this shoot, I heard a story on NPR about the Moby Awards (as in Moby Dick, obviously. Any Melville fans out there?). Book trailers are a new and fast growing genre in the industry. The Moby Awards honor the best and the worst of this new art form. There are some pretty awesome and even more pretty awful ones, as is often the case with "art." I love books, and awards that are given out ironically, so I guess I was destined to star in a book trailer.

I auditioned via Skype -- truly an audition of the future. I "logged on" to my audition wearing giant Jackie-esque sunglasses. The rest is history.

The trailer is for Maxine Schnall's (under the pen name Maxine Kenneth that she uses with a writing partner) new novel, "Paris To Die For." It's a fictional re-imagining of Jackie Kennedy as a CIA agent when she was still Jacqueline Bouvier. The novel is based on a real letter found in the JFK library. The trailer has even been posted to the Publisher's Weekly Blog. I could go on, or you could read the book when it comes out on July 28th in honor of Jackie's Birthday!

Lately, I've been more in tune with Jackie's cousins, the Beales, than with the first lady herself. Ever since I watched Grey Gardens on HBO last year, I simply cannot stop calling my mother "Edie" and asking her if she'd like cat food for dinner. On set, it was difficult to not let my transatlantic accent a la Drew Barrymore run out of control. Luckily, I had prepared for the role by watching YouTube clips of Jackie giving a tour of the White House and an on-air interview. I also got to talk with the author a lot about how she wanted me to portray Jackie. It was an honor to even think about acting as my favorite style icon. By the end of the shoot, I couldn't imagine taking off my pillbox hat or speaking above a whisper.

So here's to you, Jackie: I hope I did you some kind of justice. You have the power to make Simi Valley classy. And that is quite a feat.