Daughters Of Eve

Skinny jeans for Christopher Plummer

LOS ANGELES—Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer set off to buy just a scarf for one of them to wear in the movie they were doing. But the shopping trip ended in over a thousand dollars being charged to Ewan’s credit card, for skinny jeans. The scarf was almost forgotten.

The movie, “Beginners,” written and directed by Mike Mills, casts Ewan as Oliver, son of Christopher’s character, Hal—who comes out of the closet at age 75.

(The story is based on Mike’s real-life dad, Paul Mills, who revealed he was gay in his septuagenarian years, after his wife of 45 years had died, and before he was diagnosed with terminal illness.)

It was the first day of a week of rehearsals. Ewan and Christopher had just met. Mike thought it would be a good idea to send the actors, who have an age difference of four decades, to a posh store in LA.

First meeting

Ewan was grinning as he recounted the shopping expedition: “Mike gave me $200 and sent us off to Barney’s, saying, ‘I want you to buy Christopher a scarf.’ I had never met Christopher Plummer; it was a big deal to even be sitting in a car with him.”

Regarded as one of the finest actors of his generation and memorable in such films as “Trainspotting,” the “Star Wars” prequel, “Moulin Rouge!” and “I Love You Phillip Morris,” among others, Ewan, all of 40, was understandably excited. At 81, the venerable Christopher is still reaping acting award nominations, the most recent one for his portrayal of Leo Tolstoy last year in the bio pic “The Last Station.”

For millions of moviegoers, Christopher will always be Captain Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music,” though he has played various Shakespearean roles onstage and racked up an eclectic mix of movie characters since the 1950s. He will be seen next in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

Going back to the story, Ewan said: “In the car, Christopher [noticed] my jeans and went, ‘What are those?’ I replied, ‘They’re black jeans.’ He said, ‘They’re very tight.’ I said, ‘They’re what you call skinny jeans.’ When we got to Barney’s, as we were heading toward the scarf section, Christopher saw the jeans department and he was off. He started flirting with a rather pretty shop assistant and said, ‘I want some skinny jeans.’ Within minutes, Christopher Plummer was trying on skinny jeans.

Demystifying the Dark vs. Light Skin Culture | Daughters of Eve

On this piece. I caution you that this clip will move you tears, for my tears kept flowing. For some of you, you will relate (either past tense or present). It is understandable that this topic would be shocking to other individuals who came from a society and/or ideology that a character of a person trumps race and/or skin complexion/superficial characteristics. I must confess that I am one of those who were shocked to learn of such “phenomenon” due to my parent’s values and cultural values instilled in me that skin is skin, black is black, people are people, and individuals are individuals.

My first experience of the “light vs. dark” skinned culture occurred when I was in middle school. I attended a summer school course program in a city that is outside of my sheltered, predominately Caucasian residence. The power went out in the school building and a boy, without any rhyme or reason, said to me “(insert my name here), Smile. So, I can see you.” At that moment, the room erupted with laughter and a girlfriend (white) of mine and one other male classmate (black) started arguing with the child (black boy) who made the comment. I recall smiling and laughing (for I have tendency to laugh sympathetically when others laugh: especially when I don’t get the joke. Similar to yawning when seeing others yawn). I actually had no idea what the boy was talking about. I even defended the boy who made the rude comment out of being unaware of the “joke.” The boy who came to my defense told me what the “joke” meant…that I was so dark-skinned that the only way anyone can see me in the dark is if I smiled. My first response was, “that doesn’t make any sense. He is black, too.” That is when the room died down with laughter. I didn’t realize it then that I unintentionally reclaimed my personal power. I believe it was due to my innocence of the “dark vs. light culture” that enabled me to turn back the “main issue.” The main issue is for black folks who are caught up in the “dark vs. light” debate that, no matter what color your skin is, you’re black. This I know, firsthand, residing in a predominately white community. Nobody ever made an issue why my mother was light-skinned black and my father was dark. In fact, I never really noticed it for Mom is Mom and Dad is Dad: as a family, we are all black. There are many tones in my family as well. Especially from my maternal side: my grandmother is mulatto (French for mixed ethnicity) and it never really dawned on me that she was of mixed race…Grandma is Grandma.

Daughters of Eve

Daughters of Eve, pregnant brides and unwed mothers in seventeenth-century Massachusetts

Daughters of Eve

Daughters of Eve

Daughters of Eve, a cultural history of French theater women from the Old Regime to the fin de siècle