I’ve met plenty a celebrity before. I’ve had coffee with Mary Kate and Ashley, helped Giselle Bündchen into her sky-high stilettos and was charmed by Christy Turlington over lunch. I guess you could say it’s a perk of my chosen profession. Familiarity of famous faces aside, I have never ever been so nervous/excited/giddy/intrigued/jazzed to meet someone as I was to meet Ashton Kutcher. What do you say to the guy who played Michael Kelso? How do you remain professional in the presence of the guy whose face was plastered all over the inside of your high school locker? How do you even begin to act cool?
Sunny day. Late November. Beverly Hills. I woke up to a voicemail from my mother sweetly asking, “Did you ever think when you were watching That 70’s Show in high school that you would be doing a photo shoot with Ashton Kutcher?” Her inquiry brought back a flood of teenybopper emotions. Like the hair twirling, doe-eyed teenager crap … AK was like my Jake Ryan—well, except that he didn’t go to my high school, and I wouldn’t have had a chance with him even if he did. But I digress.
We set up shop in the über swanky penthouse of the Thompson Beverly Hills. This allowed us enough room for the entire crew (there were at least 15 of us) plus Ashton and his publicists, manager, hair, makeup—surprisingly all women—racks upon racks of clothing and plenty of food. The talent was to arrive at 10, so we had roughly an hour to huddle with photography and wardrobe to discuss our plan of attack and scout our locations—the rooftop pool overlooking the Hollywood hills and the mod-inspired boardroom.
The door boomed open at 9:59 AM. Talent had arrived—apparently he is very prompt, even after calling in sick to work the day before, which, according to his publicist, is a “very rare occurrence.” A boisterous, “There is a lot of people in this room” was bellowed from the entryway. I took a deep breath and pulled it together. AK gracefully moved from person to person, Starbucks cup in his left hand, introducing himself with his right. As he got closer, my nervous jitters died down a bit; it was time to get to work. As I introduced myself, I couldn’t help but notice that this guy had not a single pore on his face (and was even more handsome in person). I took a moment to swoon before moving on to wardrobe choices.
Super stylist Michael Nash and I showed Ashton racks of John Varvatos, Marc Jacobs, Bottega Veneta and vintage Tim Hamilton. We explained that we were looking for, “Sophisticated: a young Carey Grant look with a hint of boyish charm for the cover. Inside is AK: the businessman and mogul in the making.” During the fitting, he questioned how we were going to tie both stories together, wanting to make sure the shoot came full circle. Although our concept didn’t require both concepts to overlap, the man was on a mission to make sure it did and his wheels were turning.
We moved to the rooftop. Ashton was our poster boy for the February Love Around the World issue, so we stocked the rooftop set with dozens of heart balloons, faux graffiti walls and spray paint for him to play with. Somehow, in between Ashton shouting out potential cover lines, reenacting the film UP! and tagging the heart with his name (plus the initials of a certain “Wifey McWiferson”), we managed to sneak out some amazing cover shots. And even though we didn’t end up sending it to print, AK’s cover suggestion of “Love is in the Air” did get tossed around quite a bit in our edit meetings.
Our cover shot secured, we headed to the boardroom for our “AK: The Businessman” shot. Energy levels were lessening as the afternoon was wearing on, so the moody boardroom was a perfect fit. While the photographer was lighting the set, Ashton perused the photography-lined wall before picking up a book, Wasted Youth by Tim Noble and Sue Webster. I watched as he flipped though the book, laughing smugly to himself before his entire face lit up. “Ha!” he exclaimed, turning the book to reveal a spread with two juxtaposed hearts made out of neon lights. “How’s that for full circle?” Dumbfounded, we all nodded. He did it. After nearly 5 hours of plotting to make this all tie together, thanks to his creativity and a book that just happened to be there, he pulled it off.
The day ended, we said our goodbyes and I even turned down a photo op (hey, I was being a professional). I walked back to my room with the day’s activities running through my head and realized how impressed I was with Ashton’s creativity and comedic timing. Following Ashton’s lead, I needed to make my day come full circle, so I rushed back to my room to call my mom and tell her all about it.
Now, if only I could go back and gush to my (admittedly awkward) high school self.