life: acting in a film directed by my friend NEMO LIBRIZZI and executive produced by JIM JARMUSCH!

Posted on June 21, 2009 • Posted by vashtie — 19 Comments ↓

my friend NEMO approached me about being in his short film, titled “A NIGHT AT THE OPERA”. the film follows NEMO (as himself) approaching and courting women of all nationalities after his wealthy friend passes on opera tickets to him. it’s sort of a docu-drama…where characters play themselves partially.

when he asked me to play the part of TANUJA, an east indian girl singer, i was very clear that i stay on the other side of the camera. i acted in film school as part of my program, you know – to understand the actor you become a better director. i did it for fun in the past…with friends and associates, but not seriously.

when he assured me that i would need to act similar to how i am and that a lot of our other mutual friends were in it, i debated the idea. when he told me icon director JIM JARMUSCH was EP’ing it, i jumped off the deep end and agreed. come on, not only is he LEGEND…he also had a starring role in THE SIMPSONS!

since i was to play an “EAST INDIAN” girl who had soul, i needed to play up the look. my hair came into question and a weave was decided upon. yes, you heard me…

the only place i would take my virgin scalp to was Q’s…legendary weave master to the stars.

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this chapter is called THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A WEAVE…

*blowing it out…Q says, “yes miss thang, get into that mutha-effing hair!”

*i’m not tenderhead-ed and this part was a breeze…the next to come was not.

*he works with sunglasses on and still manages to do create magic!

*this is where it got tricky and scary. he used a net to cover the braids, where the hair would be sewn into to avoid stress on my scalp…but sewing the net into place was super painful. i started to feel dizzy and i needed a break.

*i cried a whole lot. props to girls who do this on the regular…i took it out right after the shoot, which was 2 days later. i felt bad, Q is amazing and his work was flawless…but, i just like the feeling of comfort and my own scalp more than anything else.