INSIDE STORY: OPTICIAN TO THE STARS: 'I'VE GOT HOLLYWOOD SPECS
Sunday Mirror, Jun 20, 2004 by Words: Kim Carillo.
Original Post:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20040620/ai_n12898299
She's Hollywood's 'optician to the stars' - from Tom Cruise to Julia Roberts, when the celebs choose their specs, they turn to Cheryl Shuman.
'I had no idea my little venture would turn into such a big business,' says Cheryl, an ex-model who was forced to change careers following a car accident, and retrained as an optician in 1984. Since then, she's worked on more than 3,000 film and TV projects over the past 19 years, including Tomb Raider, The Terminator, When Harry Met Sally, Mission: Impossible, Erin Brockovich, ER and Friends.
Michael Jackson was Cheryl's first star customer. As crowds of fans formed outside the optician's where Cheryl worked, she had the idea that would make her fortune. 'It was obviously uncomfortable for him with everyone staring, so I offered to make house calls.' Jacko recommended her to his friends and before she knew it, Cheryl had a string of celeb clients.
But things really got moving when she landed her first film job on Postcards From The Edge. 'I took 3,000 frames to the set - and discovered nobody had ever offered that service before. I'd hit the jackpot. Now I consult on just about every movie in Hollywood,' Cheryl says. 'With each new project, the studio sends me a script and a breakdown for each character, and I come up with the glasses I imagine they'd wear.
One of my big breaks was working on When Harry Met Sally with Meg Ryan. She went through 2,000 frames, but didn't like any of them. But as I was leaving, I put my own glasses on, and Meg said, "They're exactly what I want!" After the movie came out, an incredible 13,000 pairs were sold across the US.'
Recognising the demand, Cheryl created a range of glasses identical to those worn by the stars on screen, called 'Starry Eyes'. When Arnold Schwarzenegger sported the infamous wraparound shades in The Terminator, Cheryl was responsible for a staggering pounds 13 million worth of sales of that design. Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts also guarantee big sales.
'I first worked with Tom on Risky Business in 1983, where I chose a pair of old Ray Bans for him, because I just happened to have those frames in my prop box,' she says. But the design she created for Tom in Mission: Impossible didn't come quite so cheap. 'In the film, he receives radio messages from his shades, which self-destruct, so we had to modify them - at a cost of pounds 20,000,' Cheryl explains. 'But Tom's easy to work with - he just says, "Make me look good."
INSIDE STORY: OPTICIAN TO THE STARS: 'I'VE GOT HOLLYWOOD SPECS
Sunday Mirror, Jun 20, 2004 by Words: Kim Carillo.
Continued from page 1.
'Julia was lovely too. I worked with her on Erin Brockovich - we chose glasses in an upswept, cat-eyed shape to show off her great cheekbones.'
Though Cheryl has 10,000 frames in stock, she often has to design custom specs for a character. 'When I worked with Angelina Jolie on Tomb Raider, they wanted shades that fitted close to her face because the film involves a lot of running and jumping. Angelina said, "Don't make me look like a man!" But she's so beautiful, I just said, "How could I possibly do that?"' she laughs.
Many of the stars Cheryl has worked with have become good friends. 'Russell Crowe gets all his sunglasses from me,' says Cheryl. 'And Demi Moore has one of the best collections I've ever seen,' she adds. 'She has frames to go with every outfit. But Elton John is the king of glasses! Price is no object. We had one pair that spelled out "ELTON" with lights that went on and off, which cost pounds 5,000. But the most expensive I've made him were hand-jewelled Cartier frames, with a panther sprawled around the lenses in diamonds and emeralds - for a staggering cost of pounds 36,000.'
One thing the stars have in common is they all want to look special. 'They know I work on all the films, and ask, "What's she wearing?" There's no way they want to be seen wearing the same thing.'
Still, Cheryl says the studios want their money's worth. 'They have all my phone numbers, and they don't hesitate to use them. There have been times when I've gone back into the office at 11pm and not left until 4am. In Hollywood, time is money.'
CELEBRITY SHADES Get the stars' look on the high street
Meg Ryan: pounds 6, Claire's Accessories
Victoria Beckham: pounds 5.99, Woolworths
Martine McCutcheon: pounds 15, Dorothy Perkins
Demi Moore: pounds 10, Allders
Copyright 2004 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
For Cheryl Shuman:
Contact: www.CherylShuman.com
Email: Cheryl@CherylShuman.com
Phone: 310.285.1777
I stumbled across your blog while I was in the process of doing some online research. An interesting story about an unusual topic, one I've never seen covered by any other Hollywood-oriented site!
Posted by: thebizofknowledge | August 20, 2006 at 04:26 PM