Tom Ford's Indecent Proposal
Jan. 30 2008, Published 8:04 a.m. ET
We hear flesh-obsessed designer Tom Ford's gig as guest editor of Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue recently hit a kink. Sources close to the glossy say demure rising starlet Rachel McAdams stormed out of a November cover shoot for the annual industry mash note--and fired her publicist--after learning Ford expected her to pose nude.
According to mag insiders, Ford had prearranged with McAdam’s rep, Wolf Kasteller’s Ame Van Iden, for the in-demand Red Eye actress to appear naked in a group portrait of Hollywood’s breathtaking beauties-of-the-moment, alongside Keira Knightley, Scarlett Johansson, and others. (We presume the shoot was conceived along the tasteful lines of Herb Ritts' iconic 1989 supermodel ensemble, “Stephanie Cindy Christy Tatjana Naomi”, but considering Ford's involvement it’s possible to imagine a raunchier scenario.)
Unfortunately for legions of mouth-breathing McAdams fans, we’re told Van Iden neglected to brief her family-friendly charge—who may have been the only actress in Wedding Crashers to keep all her clothes on—about the concept beforehand. When she arrived on the L.A. set and found out what Ford had in mind, we’re told she turned tail and promptly fired Van Iden.
“Every magazine wants her on their cover and thinks she’s gonna be huge, so she can get away with being picky,” says a Condé Nast insider. “But everyone’s really impressed that she stood up for herself. It’s kind of amazing, actually.”
While the 29-year-old actress’s chaste retreat suggests she has a tad more dignity than the average Hollywood climber, it’s odd she was so blindsided by Ford’s request. After all, the former Gucci designer has previously told reporters the "entire issue would be naked," and his recent work has certainly showcased his fondness for letting it all hang out—he posed au naturel for a 22-page spread in last month’s W, his new line of cosmetics for Estee Lauder is called Amber Nude, his ad campaign for the fragrance Youth Dew features a naked Carolyn Murphy, and an advertisement he produced for a new line of sunglasses reportedly features porn stars whom he says were paid “to have sex on set.”
Neither Ford nor VF spokeswoman Beth Kseniak returned calls about the incident. McAdam’s manager, Shelley Browning, confirmed that McAdams "presently does not have a publicist," but referred questions about the cover shoot to the magazine. Van Iden herself did not return calls.
UPDATE: So much for dignity. Even though McAdams fired her publicist for neglecting to tell her she was expected to pose nude, we hearshe ultimately decided a VF cover was toogood to pass up and returned to disrobe anyway. We also hear Van Iden, herfired rep,wasn’t even on set when it happened. A top-tier Hollywood playerwritesin:
“Ame was absolutely set up by Vanity Fair. No one talkedtoher beforehand about her client posing nude. (Seriously—if they had,shewould never have agreed to it). Ame had to cover another client’sshoot inL.A. and sent her counterpart from Wolf Kasteller’s New York office toaccompany Rachel on the set. When they arrived, VF celebritywranglerJane Sarkin told Rachel, ‘Oh, Ame knew all about thisandagreed to it,’ which was an out and out lie and, moreover, a way tointimidate a young actress into taking her clothes off. Of course, theyalwaysblame the publicist, and sweet, mild-mannered Ame got fired by her clientforit. Very low-end, nasty stuff if you ask me.”