Archive for the ‘Photoshoots’ Category
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I’ve added new screen captures of Leighton Meester goes behind the scenes of her new photoshoots with “Lucky” magazine, July issue to the gallery.
GALLERY LINK:
- (x082) Photoshoots: 2012: Lucky
With a new movie out, an album in the works and another season of Gossip Girl to wrap, Leighton Meester drops the Blair Waldorf persona we know and love to reveal someone even better: a wisecracking, food-loving sweetheart with a wee best friend and a glamorous solution for bedhead.
Leighton Meester has been to the top of the Empire state Building twiceâonce to the walled-in tourists-only Observation Deck, and once to the very, very top, where, she reports, there are these really low ledges, and you just stand there and take in the view while holding on to hooks.
âYou mean: You, the sky and give or take 1,250 feet between your head and the pavement?â I ask.
âItâs unbelievable!â she insists.
Happily for me, today weâre only headed to the Observation Deck. Itâs a clear, sunny afternoon, and weâre tooling around Manhattan visiting the sites of several famous only-in-New York movie scenes. Our itinerary might be a little gimmickyâIconic New York Actress Pays Homage to Previous Iconic New York Actressesâbut Meester doesnât seem to mind and has come dressed for the job in a loose gray Isabel Marant sweatshirt, J Brand skinny jeans (âMore like jeggings,â she jokes), dark hair tucked inside an Autumn Cashmere floppy knit hat (âMy hair is a ratâs nest when I wake upâbut I slip this thing on and people think itâs a fashion statement!â), black flats (âIn case we end up walking a lotâ). Picture her Gossip Girl alter ego Blair Waldorf kidnapped from the Upper East Side, deported to the East Village and forced to shop at Urban Outfitters.
Which, as it happens, is a step up from Meesterâs pre-Waldorf self. âMy friend says that before the show I dressed like a homeless person,â she says. âI used to buy everything at garage sales. It was hard to give up! Iâd be like, âBut this crazy sweater is amazing, and it only cost 25 cents!âââ Waldorfâs influence hasnât turned her into a fashionista by any stretchâoff-hours, Meester is the low-key, comfort-first type who does most of her shopping online or when traveling, and she only uses a stylist for red-carpet events. âIâve learned from Blair, though. Now I like to pepper in something designerââshe tugs at her Isabel Marant sweatshirtââwith my usual stuff.â
When we step off the elevator, the high-speed winds tear my carefully done chignon into a whirling catastrophe. I attempt to say something witty and end up with a mouthful of hair (my own). As we push through the crowds for a gawking spot, the serenely be-hatted and hair-not-flying-anywhere Meester affects a posh, old-timey accent and quotes from the 1957 classic An Affair to RememberââThe Empire State Building is the closest thing to heaven in this city!â (In the movie, a besotted Cary Grant waits dejectedly on the Observation Deck for his presumptive bride-to-be, Deborah Kerr, oblivious that sheâs a no-show becauseâsorry to ruin it for youâsheâs been hit by a car.) As we take in the city arrayed below, searching out our favorite buildings (Meesterâs is the Flatiron), her tone quickly morphs from self-consciously campy to wistfulâthe first of many such mood shifts Iâll witness. âThat heart-racing feeling!â she says of Grantâs plight. âYou want him to know what sheâs going through.â As Iâm absorbing this, she grabs my shoulders and cries, âMake it shine like the top of the Chrysler Building!â I look at her uncomprehendingly. âThat oneâs fromAnnie,â she explains, and it dawns on me Iâm traveling with both a glamorous movie star and a straight-up film geek. (more…)
Leighton Meester lounges by a pool in this exclusive new fashion photo shoot for JustJared.com held on Saturday (May 19) at a private residence in Encino, Calif.
The 26-year-old Gossip Girl actress and singer will be heading out on a five-city concert tour next week with the band Check in the Dark!
Leighton will be making stops in Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, San Francisco, and Anaheim. Make sure to pick up your tickets before they are gone. Click on each city to purchase tickets!
Just Jared talked with Leighton and some of the bandmates from Check in the Dark: Mike Frieman (vocals/ rhythm guitar), George Laird (lead guitar), and Eli Hludzik (drums). Unfortunately Etienne Franc (bass) wasnât able to make the shoot!
Click inside Leighton and Check in the Darkâs full interviewâŠ
LEIGHTON MEESTER â EXCLUSIVE JUSTJARED.COM INTERVIEW
JJ: How did all of you start working together?
LM: Well, they landed out of an alien spaceship into my yard⊠(laughs) Basically it started because my friend, their manager, lived with Mike and George. They had Check in the Dark, their band. I was always a big fan of theirs and had gone to see them perform and got up on stage and sang. Then I started writing music that was more in their style and started sending them my little voice memos about everything and then after that the rest is history. They started putting their magic onto all my songs, which were mostly just simple progressions, my lyrics, and melodies. Then George added lead guitar and Mike added beautiful harmonies and his lead guitar. Then Eli is like the glue that keeps everyone together. He keeps the beat and he also does the keyboard at times and he can play pretty much every instrument I can think of.
Etienne couldnât be here today, he doesnât live here, but he will be on tour with us. Heâs really great. He brings so much soul vibe to the music. Itâs a really well-rounded sound and itâs exactly what I wanted. They really complement my style of music.
JJ: Whatâs the chemistry like when youâre all in the studio recording?
Mike Freeman: We havenât done too much recording â mostly demos. The first demos we did⊠we were all in there together and this last set of demos has been kind of separated. George and I laid down guitar and vocals and then Leighton put vocals on and then a couple weeks later Eli would come on. But when weâve been there all together, itâs been super painless, you know? And Iâve had some painful times in the studio. I guess itâs organic.
JJ: Have you guys finished the album?
LM:Â We finished recording everything thatâs going to make it onto the album, but we want to go back in probably within the next few months and record everything again. I feel like you just find different things when you record a demo and then go back to it. We have like 18 songs to work with so weâll probably only record like 10 or 11 of them for the actual album.
JJ: Are there any producers you guys want to work with?
LM:Â Not at the moment, but weâve been going from studio to studio. Weâll probably just end up doing it at my house.
MF: Weâre always talking about the album Raising Sand. That was like one of the first talks. Something like that. Some of our favorite albums over the past 10 years are people like are not doing much lately, that weâd like to maybe call and get them back into the mix of things. So if youâre reading this, please just call us. (laughs) Thatâd be great!
JJ: What would you say is the concept of the album?
LM:Â I donât think Iâm going to say the name of the album yet. (laughs) Youâll hear first, I promise. Itâs really just from the last two years of my life, like love and a lot of heartache, emotions, and having it all brim over. Some of it is just straight love songs, but itâs a mixture of totally personal. We should call the album Regurgitation of Feelings (laughs). It started about two years ago, I was here and I performed with them and I had written this one song, âJennyâ, which will most likely be on the set. It just felt right to perform together and do my sound with their sound. It works good together. That was such an emotional experience, The Who performance, and then after that, George and Mike sent me an instructional video on how to play it on the guitar. From then on, I just started playing and after that everything that I wrote was on the guitar and sent over to them. Thatâs just how it all got started.
I took a trip to Europe and I wrote a huge bulk of the songs that weâre doing on the tour. Since then weâve come up with a lot more stuff. But a huge portion of it is sort of driven from personal experiences both good and bad.
JJ: Is there a song that will definitely be on the album?
LM:Â There are a few. Thereâs one called âEntitledâ. Thatâs a perfect representation of what the whole album is about. Itâs about the heartache and sadness and you know all of those feelings that come along with being in love helplessly, then moving on and knowing that youâre better and entitled to something more. That was sort of the before and after of just me as a person to be honest.
JJ: Are you ready to tour? Itâs coming up soon!
MF:Â Iâm just excited that our first is in Seattle because it was such a huge impact on me getting into music at all. So itâs cool that weâre going to be hitting Seattle.
LM:Â Iâve never been to Seattle, Iâm very excited!
GL:Â Weâre definitely going to change the set up a little bit. Every show is going to be a little bit different. Weâre not going to play the same show every time. Every city will have their own taste.
LM:Â Including cover songs that fit the cities well!
JJ: How are rehearsals going? Youâve done six or seven days?
LM: Yeah, seven days. So weâve been rehearsing for a week straight. Itâs also like at my house and weâve been having BBQs and stuff. Itâs been really great! It works perfectly; we usually rehearse in a little place in Burbank. Moving everything to my house has just made me feel so much more relaxed. Itâs been good for me to be in my own environment. Itâs a bigger spaceâŠ
JJ: Do you guys have any music rituals?
LM:Â Weâve gone and had good vibe moments in my tepee. I have one in my backyard. So weâve gone in there and put good vibes and energy into the tour. I think it really does work. We just talk everything through and get really excited when we talk about the music. We bounce off of each other really well and nobodyâs opinion isnât overheard.
MF:Â Itâs fun to just arrange our music and bring us something new. Itâs been cool to just get something bare bones and be like, âWhat do we do with this to make it different than the other one?â So weâll take it and George and Iâll kind of dissect it and thatâs always fun.
LM:Â Yeah, I recently got to see it because they videotaped one of their sessions without me. I sent them a song and they turned it into something so beautiful. It was really interesting because I hadnât seen that before.
JJ: Whatâs going to motivate someone to buy your album or buy a ticket to see you on tour?
MF: Once we do this tour, thereâs going to be more buzz. I think people are going to be surprised with how good itâs going to be. Not to toot our own horn, but I think when people hear us at these shows theyâll be like, âOh, sâtâŠThis is legit.â
Shahine Ezell (producer): If people really want to get to know Leighton, she puts all of herself into every lyric, every performance and itâs different every time she sings every single song. So if you really want to know a person a little better and you want to get a better outlook on her and the band, just listen to the music on the album or see her live and youâll get a better view on that.
LM:Â Before, I was doing pop music and as much as I love that and am totally proud of it and think itâs great, Iâve just moved on from it. I think at that time, to be honest, I was writing it not totally for myself. It was the idea that other people will be listening and âwill this be a hitâ type of thing? And with this music, thereâs no judgment whatsoever. I donât judge a single lyric, I donât judge anything. Itâs just how I feel coming out from the beginning to the end. Iâm not ever worried and also not trying to move around anyone elseâs music. Itâs not like doing a beat on a computer. Itâs just completely complementary toward my voice and how I feel. It just works.
GL:Â Itâs just real. A lot of music, when you see it live, thereâs program tracks and something else going on. This is all organic. Weâre all playing real instruments, thereâs no track, no backing, anything. Itâs real what youâre seeing. Itâs just us playing. Leighton is playing the guitar and thereâs no safety net. Thatâs why every showâs going to be different. Youâre not going to hear any backing beats or vocals.
LM: I also feel so grateful for these guys because itâs such a good vibe. Iâm sure even men can relate, but my songs are a lot about being a woman in every aspectâŠin love or not in love or whatever. Iâm glad they can relate to it and vibe with it.
MF: Thatâs a cool dynamic, because while sheâs grateful weâre doing this for her, weâre also extremely grateful. Sheâs always thanking us and maybe we donât thank her enough â for having faith in us enough to let us try to do this with you and itâs been so successful. But you first had to take the leap and be like, âIâm going to have these guys âŠyou know you picked us.â
LM:Â We picked each other.
LM:Â Right. Itâs worked out well.
ââââââ
JJ: Whatâs the vibe on the set of Gossip Girl like now that itâs coming to an end? The last season!
LM:Â Well, we found out while we were on break, so Iâm sure everyone has mixed feelings like I do. Itâs bittersweet. Itâs the end of a hugely important time in my life, but also itâs good because I get to move on and grow and change. You wanna be able to move on. Itâs of course sad, but I think the hardest thing is going to be leaving the crew and the cast and everybody that has become like a family to me.
JJ: Has your trailer become your second home?
LM:Â Oh, yeah. Well, thatâs like in any job. Wherever you are you kind of gotta make home. I spend a lot of time in there. They let me redecorate my dressing room a couple years ago. We have a trailer thatâs away and sometimes we are at Silvercup Stages in Long Island City, Queens. We have like little rooms and they let us decorate them. Mine looks like a little garden â there are flowers everywhere and green walls. Itâs going to be sort of weird to leave it and know that Iâll never come back to that, but Iâm sure that Iâll shoot something in Silvercup way sooner than I even think.
JJ: Do you have a favorite Gossip Girl moment?
LM: Thereâs been a lot of good moments. I love when I get to do some funny stuff. I like it when Blairâs over-the-top and ordering people around. I love working with those girlsâŠthatâs the best part.
I love working with [Zuzanna Szadkowski] who plays Dorota. Sheâs amazing! Sheâs just incredible. I saw her in Love, Loss and What I Wore. It was so good. She can just do everything. Sheâs really intelligent and nothing like Dorota really. Sheâs like super young and it just completely transforms her for that role.
Itâs interesting. I like some of the dramatic moments, but I think that just the shock of reading something when something crazy is happening like when youâre like, âThis person is now going to dateâŠ.â And you donât really have a say in it, you just kind of have to go with it, which is kinda fun.
JJ: Do you know how Gossip Girl will end?
LM: I can tell you how I hope itâll all end, but I donât really have any say. I wonât know untilâŠI think I wonât know until after I shoot. I think Blair and Chuck, that whole relationship, is probably going to keep going round and round. I like her with Dan, too. They have an interesting relationship. My real problem is that I love working with both of them and I have a connection to both of them. I have love and chemistry with both of them in completely different ways. Dan is more of an intellectual stimulating partner, where Chuck is more I guess a sexually stimulating partner. She plays her little mind games and they do weird sexy time games and itâs kind of funny. So I donât know [who sheâll end up with].
JJ: Are there going to be any guest stars in the last season?
LM: I really hope that Liz Hurley comes back because I love and I love her son [Damian] who comes on set too. Heâs just a little genius awesome kid.
The fact that Chuckâs dad is alive is really weird. But I do love having him on set. It was like, âOh, now youâre back!â Itâs really cool to have him back. Maybe weâll just bring everybody back!
JJ: Whatâs your favorite line that Blair has delivered?
LM:Â I do really distinctively remember her giving this whole speech. Sheâs like, âYaleâs the only place I can go. I love the bulldogs, and remember when I wanted a bulldog?â and then it turns out sheâs talking to Darota and the whole time you thought she was talking to her mom, which is kind of sad, but funny.
But yeah, thereâs a lot of crazy stuff she says. Actually, they let me improv a little bit. Itâs rare, but sometimes they do. We did a scene at some club and we were shooting and I had to walk through the crown and people were in my ways so I had to be bitchy Blair to everybody as I was walking through the crowd and they were like, âOh, you can keep doing that.â I felt bad because it was nothing personal.
JJ: So how do you personally feel about Gossip Girl ending?
LM:Â Good, very good. Itâs just crazy, you know? Itâs a huge portion of your life.
JJ: Does it feel like graduation?
LM: It feels a little bit more⊠yeah to some extent, yeah, sure. Itâs just really going to be weird. Itâs going to be weird in every way, especially that I donât have that to occupy my time.
JJ: Thanks so much for taking the time to do this photo shoot and interview!
LM:Â Thank YOU!
PHOTO SHOOT CREDITS (PICTURES BELOW) ââ
Picture #1 & #7: Viktor & Rolf dress, Van Cleef & Arpels collar necklace and floral ring, Soffer Ari band ring.
Picture #2: Carolina Herrera dress, Solange Azagury Partridge earrings.
Picture #3 & #6: Blumarine dress, Baccarat necklace.
Picture #4: Calvin Klein dress, Kimberly McDonald Ring
Picture #5: Monique Lhuillier Dress, Dannijo earrings, Kara Ross ring, Eric Rutberg shoes.
Producer: Jared Eng (@JaredEng)
Model: Leighton Meester (@itsmeleighton)
Creative Director/Photographer: Justin Campbell (@JustJustinNYC)
Stylist: Sophia Banks-Coloma (@sophiabanksc)
Assistant Stylist: Ali Mandelkorn (@amandelkorn)
Makeup: Grace Phillips (@grace_phillips)
Hair: Tony Vin (@tonyvin)
Source: Just Jared
Leighton Meester, best known for her indelible portrayal of rich-girl snobbery and capriciousness as Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl, is getting her bowl on at Frames, a low-key alley abutting the Port Authority, Manhattan’s main bus terminal and one of the last vestiges of Times Square’s gritty past. She enjoys bowling â this is her second outing in a week. Which is not to say Meester is skilled at bowling. Because she is not.
“I never played sports,” she explains, before releasing her ball with an indifferent thump. “I wasn’t any good at them.” She watches the ball drop into the gutter with limp finality. Unfazed, she throws again, hurling it down the lane, knocking over a handful of pins. A second gutter shot follows. “I guess I need a bigger target,” she says flatly.
On growing up:
“My family has a crazy history. Probably the craziest I’ve heard of. I look back now and I see it in a nice light. It wasn’t uncomplicated. But I played outside. I went to the beach. There were happy, fun times.”On having little use for self-pity:
“You can take what is handed to you and use it as an excuse to mess up. But I’ve always handled what was given to me by life. I consider myself lucky. I was never lied to. And I was loved.”On not having or wanting a true childhood:
“I worked a lot, even though I was just a kid. It seemed normal to me. I couldn’t relate to kid stuff. ‘Jimmy doesn’t like me!’ Who cares? I was worried we didn’t have gas money or food. Those were my concerns.”On getting stronger through suffering:
“When you see how you react when you suffer, that’s when you know what you are made of.”On her indifference towards relationships:
“I never had a boyfriend until I was 18. It’s nice, I guess – when you like them. But it isn’t the most important thing. I’m not sure I ever want to get married. The only time a relationship is good is when you really love them. I don’t want to hang out with some guy I just like.”
Meester is no stranger to such things.
One of those rare children born with both full-blown ambition and the determination to avoid even the slightest derailment, Meester has been aiming at big game since grade school. Part of this is a rejoinder to circumstance. Meester’s mother, Constance, gave birth to her while serving federal prison time for drug trafficking.
Meester was not, she has oft clarified, born in jail. She was delivered in a hospital, then transferred to a halfway house for three months, after which she was sent to live with her grandmother until Constance’s release. Her father, Doug, also served time for drug-related offenses.
He and Constance would later divorce. The difficult facts of her childhood provided Meester with matchless perspective. Also, an ineffaceable blueprint of what not to do.
Source: Marie Clarie
I have uploaded new photoshoots of Leighton Meester for her “Espoir” campaign to the gallery.
GALLERY LINK:
- (x009) Photoshoots in 2010: M. Liddell [Espoir]
I have uploaded new photoshoot outtakes of Leighton Meester for “Vanity Fair” magazine. Many thanks to lovely Renee for donating them to me.