Stand-In Shoppers Give Star Treatment
“Oh, look at this bag,” Marnie says. “The leather is really beautiful.”
“They have some great totes too,” says Cynde, pointing at another array of bags. “Maybe we should get something like that. It would be just right for Julia.”
It’s a sultry spring afternoon, a perfect day for two young women to do some shopping in Century City. When Cynde Cassell and Marnie Lerner finish checking out leather travel bags at J. Hambleton Ltd., they go next door to Signatore, where they eyeball an assortment of old-fashioned fountain pens and ink wells.
“We could get one of these for Julia,” Cassell says, studying a handsome fountain pen set. “Remember, this is where we got those pens for Harrison.”
This being Los Angeles, that would be Julia as in Julia Roberts; Harrison for Harrison Ford.
Think it’s hard finding the right gift for your wife or husband or mother-in-law? Try buying a special something for Julia and Harrison, not to mention Jack (Nicholson), Eddie (Murphy) and Meg (Ryan), which is what Cassel and Lerner do for a living. Armed with a wad of credit cards and constantly beeping cell phones, the pair of high-energy twentysomething women are shoppers for the stars, the little-known gift-giving gurus of Hollywood.
In the past three years, their Star Treatment Gift Services has purchased presents for more than 75 films and innumerable movie stars. They’re not hired by the stars; in fact, Julia and Harrison probably don’t know they exist. Cassel and Lerner buy the lavish presents that movie studios, producers and talent agencies give actors to commemorate such milestones as the start-date of a new movie, the arrival of a TV pilot script, an Oscar nomination or special moments in a star’s career trajectory, say an attempted raid by a rival talent agency, that would merit a “talent appreciation” package.
In a business where everything is personal, fussing over gifts is high art. Even a $20-million-a-picture star appreciates being pampered with that special something--a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes or a set of titanium golf clubs.
The culture of princely gift-giving has been an integral part of modern-day Hollywood since the mid-1980s, when Creative Arts Agency super-agent Michael Ovitz began sending out start-date gifts as a way of saying, “Who loves ya, baby” to agency clients. By 1993, the sky was the limit. After “The Firm” became a hit, Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing showed her appreciation to Tom Cruise by buying him a new Mercedes 500 SL.
Studios have been known to spend as much as a million dollars on gifts for talent during the course of a year, with much of the tab going for hundreds of splashy holiday presents. Cassel and Lerner say their budget for gifts runs from $100 up to $1,500, depending on the importance of the film or stature of the movie star. They don’t do chintzy flower arrangements or Pink Dot liquor baskets.
When Ovitz was at CAA, he gave top clients first editions and modern art, saying “to spend $50 or $70 on champagne, which flows in Hollywood like water, is thoughtless.”
“When you go into a star’s trailer on the first day of production, it’s so packed with gifts that it looks like a Sharper Image showroom,” says producer Mark Johnson, who got a telescope from DreamWorks--picked out by Cassel and Lerner--as a start-date gift on his current film, “Galaxy Quest.”
“Everywhere you look you see these incredibly costly presents, from palm pilots [electronic organizer] to video cameras. It’s just one sign of how important relationships are in the movie business.”
In fact, stars get so many gifts from so many people that one of Cassel and Lerner’s biggest concerns is that the star hasn’t already been given the same Armani suit or Prada bag on a previous film. Roberts’ film “Erin Brockovich,” which just started shooting, is co-financed by Universal and Sony, so both studios are sending top-of-the-line gifts to the actress.
One way to avoid duplication is to buy something unique. Amy Frankel Nau, who runs AFN, another company that shops for stars, often goes “trend shopping,” flying to London or Milan to discover “what’s coming next in the clothing and cosmetic industries.” Nau bought a Swiss Zenith watch--still unavailable in the U.S.--as an “Entrapment” production gift for Sean Connery. The star liked it so much he wore it in the movie.
A good gift often gets great exposure. Drew Barrymore is pictured on the cover of the March issue of In Style magazine wearing a pair of earrings Nau bought for a studio executive who gave them to Barrymore as a Christmas present.
Cassel and Lerner try to pick start-date gifts that reflect the theme of the movie.
* For “Crazy in Alabama,” which stars Melanie Griffith as a nutty Dixie diva who drives to Hollywood with her husband’s severed head in a hat box, the actress received a hat box full of gifts, including mint julep glasses and a book about Southern women called “Hell’s Belles.”
* For “U-571,” a fictional World War II drama about a group of American soldiers who capture a German U-boat, Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel and Jon Bon Jovi got shortwave radios, antique brass binoculars, World War II duffel bags and original Vargas pinup photos.
* For “Hanging Up,” a comic tear-jerker due from Sony Pictures, Star Treatment bought Meg Ryan and director Diane Keaton palm pilots, chocolate cell phones and a Prada cell phone bag. The movie’s principals weren’t the only ones doted on--the studio also hired Nau, who bought 300 pairs of Ugg boots for the rest of the cast and the crew.
For Roberts’ “Erin Brockovich,” Lerner and Cassel keyed the presents more to the shooting location than the film theme. Since much of the legal drama is being filmed in the summer swelter of Barstow, Roberts got an Eric Javitz sun hat, Oliver Peoples’ sunglasses and various gourmet mineral waters, plus a Fernando Sanchez silk robe. When Harrison Ford was shooting his upcoming film, “Random Hearts,” in Washington, D.C., one of his Star Treatment gifts, a plush black leather overnight bag, came with a Zagat restaurant guide to local eateries.
Lerner and Cassel first met in the early ‘90s at a fashion show in New York City. Lerner was doing celebrity interviews and movie reviews; Cassel was a personal shopper at Bloomingdale’s.
“I didn’t know anything about Hollywood,” Cassel recalls. “I once took David Geffen shopping and had no idea who he was. My boss yelled at me because I took him to the house-ware department. My boss said, ‘You idiot--David Geffen doesn’t need housewares!’ ”
Once both women were living in Los Angeles, they started Star Treatment out of Lerner’s parent’s guest house in Van Nuys. It didn’t take long for business to pick up. For most jobs, Star Treatment submits gift package proposals, e-mails photos of sample gifts or makes an in-person pitch, showing the studio samples of what they’ve bought. The duo either take a percentage fee from their purchases or buy wholesale and sell retail.
They have favorite shopping stops; in Century City, they always slip into the Metropolitan Museum of Art Store, which has quirky one-of-a-kind items. As a start-date gift for “The Mummy,” they bought Egyptian wall painting note cards and a “Make Your Own Mummy” kit, which includes a plastic cadaver with removable organs, gauze to wrap the mummy and decorative headpieces. “Very cool,” Cassel says. “I kept one of those for myself.”
Still, what do you buy for the star who must have everything--say, Jack Nicholson? Last year Sony wanted to get Nicholson an Oscar gift for “As Good as It Gets.” Cassel and Lerner had heard Nicholson loved electronic ashtrays that sucked up cigar smoke. After canvassing Beverly Hills without success (“everyone told us to go to Target,” Lerner says), they found a supplier in Sweden. But the firm couldn’t ship it to Los Angeles in time.
“So we did what any shopper would do. We got him something else,” Lerner says. They went to Christofle in Beverly Hills and bought a three-piece silver cigar holder and a Lalique ashtray.
“We never heard whether he liked it or not, but I can’t see how he wouldn’t have,” Cassel says. “It was really beautiful. You’d like it even if you don’t smoke cigars.”