Hollywood stars in its own disaster as fires ravage Los Angeles
For those watching the LA wildfires from a distance, seeing famous faces made the tragedy even more surreal.
The opening scene starred Steve Guttenberg. For many of us watching wildfires rip into Los Angeles from a safe distance, the once-boyish actor from “Three Men and a Baby” and other goofy ‘80s movies became one of the first faces of the disaster when he popped up last Tuesday in a video spreading fast online. It was a clip of an LA news crew interviewing Guttenberg on a smoke-choked road as he described the challenges in evacuating the Pacific Palisades area.
With a mask tucked under his chin, the “Police Academy” star looked into the camera and urged people abandoning their cars to leave keys in the vehicles so emergency workers and “people like me” could better clear routes for evacuees and firefighters. The man-on-the-street interview format was familiar and so was the man: a well-known actor appearing before us in an all-too-real role as one of the thousands of Angelenos trapped in a devastating crisis.
It’s the epicentre of movies and television with the world’s most famous talent pool and landscapes. So, to outsiders seeing it burn on our screens this week, it was impossible not to perceive LA as the setting of a disaster movie crossed with a horrific reality show.
Paired with hellscape imagery of flames and smoke, the appearance of celebrities and influencers made the impact of the destruction seem both more relatable and more surreal. There were paparazzi photos of Ben Affleck and other stars stuck in their cars in evacuation gridlock. On “The Tonight Show” Wednesday, a tearful Jamie Lee Curtis said, “Where I live is on fire right now,” and then pledged $1 million to relief efforts the next day on social media. TMZ offered a slide show: “Celebrities Who Lost Their Homes In the L.A. Fires,” which included several dozen examples, from Jeff Bridges, Billy Crystal and Mel Gibson, to famous couples Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry, and Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag.
By the end of the week, some of those bold-faced names were documenting the fate of their property. On Instagram, piano music accompanied Paris Hilton’s footage of still-smouldering rubble and collapsed walls against a hazy sunset, with a caption that began, “I’m standing here in what used to be our home, and the heartbreak is truly indescribable.” A CBS News team accompanied Milo Ventimiglia as the actor stepped through his house’s remains and recounted his evacuation flight with his pregnant wife. He also reflected on an eerie connection to his most well-known role: In the hit TV series “This Is Us,” he played a dad who died from smoke inhalation after helping his family flee their burning home. “It’s not lost on me, life imitating art,” he told CBS.
As observers from afar, many of us struggled with a fuzzy understanding of L.A. geography while trying to get our bearings on the locations and scale of the calamity.
Reality-TV fans mentally compared maps of uncontained fires and evacuation zones to the world people traverse in “Selling Sunset” and “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”. Reports of extensive damage to the Palisades Charter High School placed a campus we’ve visited as viewers of “Carrie” and other movies filmed on the school’s grounds.
Even as wildfires raged on this week, some highly visible residents entered an uncomfortable show-must-go-on phase. Stars of the reality competition “The Traitors” did their jobs to promote its Thursday season premiere with Instagram posts that doubled as personal updates on their safety status and thank-yous to first responders. “It feels surreal/strange/(can’t totally find the right word) to tell you that The Traitors premiers tonight as I’m evacuated from my home,” wrote contestant Gabby Windey, a former participant on “The Bachelor” franchise.
As the tragedy continues to unfold with an uncertain death and damage toll, so will its strange juxtaposition with show business, especially as Hollywood feels its way through awards season.
When actor Adrien Brody accepted an award for his performance in “The Brutalist” from the New York Film Critics Circle on Wednesday, he spoke of specific locations in the city where whole swaths of people’s homes, businesses and beloved landmarks have been wiped out. “This,” he said, “is our community.”
The Wall Street Journal