Shirly Brener: Super Star Style

August 27, 2010 Jackie Chambers One Comment

Busy mom and super star actress Shirly Brener may be busy, but she always looks drop dead gorgeous! Her classic sense of style from the streets to the red carpet got our attention here at Forward Fashion, and we are honored to have her answer a few of our questions on being a successful actress, style, Israel, and Hollywood.

FF: How does it feel to become another character, do you feel like the costumes add to your ability to become this person?

Shirly Brener: Turning into other characters is part of any acting job. The real challenge is to find yourself in each of those roles, or if the character is far off from you, do enough research and find things such as manner of talk, way of walk, props, costume, hair, etc that make you feel and behave as this person.

In Righteous Kill, working with two of the greatest legends of cinematic history and together in the same film in and together in the same scenes with me added to my ability to become the character. The whole team of producers, director (Jon Avnet- “Fried Green Tomatoes”), other cast of A list people and the high budget all made it super lucrative.

I really enjoy playing characters that are emotionally complex and challenged and that come from a darker place. Natalya is a Eastern European prostitute. To prepare for this role, I did a lot of research on human trafficking from Russia and the Balkans. It was fascinating and amazing all the detail I discovered. And working on the foreign Slavic accent which was a much welcomed challenge.

Finally, the actual opportunity to share the set and learn from Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, was really a pinnacle moment in my career.

Streets of Blood, with Val Kilmer, Sharon Stone and 50 Cent, was also a great experience. Charles Winkler the director (Irwin Winkler’s son- “Raging Bull”, “Goodfellas”) is one of those directors that just lets the actors go go go. He lets you explore what you have to bring to the character. When I met him for the film. I had my hair all strait and very little make up. He looked at me and said “I know you can do this role but how are we going to rough you up? You are way to classy looking.” I told him to trust me and that I will surprise him on the set. I play Selina who is a crack taking white girl living in the ghetto post Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. I went to one of my favorite people in LA- Robert Easton, the greatest dialect coach, and worked on a deep Louisiana- black, plantation accent. I also watched a ton of films like Hustle and Flow and Spike Lee’s documentary “when the Levees Broke” for inspiration. Finally I walked into a hair salon deep in the LA Ghetto and asked for African braids all the way to my waistline, 6 hours later I turned into Selina. When I arrived in Louisiana I WAS the character, I embodied Selina. Charles was shocked! He barely recognized me. As I mentioned before, I immerse myself in my vision, my art and I do all it takes to bring the character the raw reality that think it deserves.

Some upcoming projects that I’m super excited about are Hit List with Joey Lawrence and John Savage directed by Minh Collins. I play the romantic comedy lead- Charlotte. She starts of as a sort of Bridgett Jones kinda gal, a lovable loser. I created a girl that’s sort of clumsy, wears glasses the majority of the film till she blossoms. Charlotte is very different than me, but very the same. It’s a quirky dark comedy about a girl that falls in love with a hit man in a very unusual way. I got to play the character from 18-30 and that was a challenge bringing something new to every age. I enjoy doing comedies immensely. The genre gives you the freedom to explore all sorts of things that tend to be more constrained in drama. Minh did a great job, he was very focused but also very laid back on set. He let me do my thing. He was my favorite director to date to work with, all we did is laugh throughout the shoot and if I can’t have fun while doing my job, then why do it? Minh is a super-talent and many people will hear of him, he is going to make a big splash in Hollywood!

One of the things that my mentors in the biz have taught me is that 50 % is talent and 50% is getting along with other people. Minh’s personality is so great, that you can’t help but fall in love with him and his honesty and you cannot, not get along with him. And a lot of people are going to be shocked (in a very positive way) when they see what he brought out in Joey Lawrence in this, he is channeling Bruce Willis in Die Hard, totally JL like you’ve never seen him before.

Definitely wordrobe is a very important factor!. For Selina we went for very “Ghetto like” cut off jeans and skimpy shirts, coupled w huge gold hoop earrings and stripper heals. For Natalia, we did short skirts and high boots that will show some class but still convey a “working girl” . The outfit helps the actor become the person. My acting teachers Milton Katsales, Richard Lawson, and Alen Barton, have spent hours talking to our master class (At the Beverly Hills Playhouse) on finiding the “right shoes” for a character, the wrong shoes alone can make you err and create a wrong walk and a wrong demeanor for the character your playing.

Another project “Touched” I play the Lead- Monique who is a Manic Depressive, BI-polar physically and mentally abusive mother. It’s from some of the same creative French team that did The Class. We just returned from it opening the International Film Festival at the Dominican Republic, which was a 9-day extravaganza where we opened the film in a different city every night. It was very well received. It’s based on a real life story, which is scary. I play Monique who has sides of her that are so menacing to her child it’s unfathomable. Being a mom and having a child, this role was very difficult to adapt to b/c I could not imagine ever abusing her verbally and definitely not hitting my child. I had to find sides of her that are soft and that have compassion in order to not come off as a pure monster. I cannot even begin to describe how I went about prepping for this one- but the usual methods, online research, documentaries, films, real people that I interviewed. I have to go from extreme sides of emotions in a matter of seconds; it’s very challenging. In this movie Monique is a white trash from the Midwest, so we used lots of short denim skirts that looked like we bought them at K-Mart, and some leather vintage pieces that would indicate the poverty of this woman and some worn boots as well as more flashy/tacky purses. I’m glad to bring a film to life that encourages awareness of abuse, which is a growing epidemic in many families globally and I’m glad to send a message of forgiveness.

FF: What was your favorite outfit from the film?

Shirly Brenner: My favorite outfit in the film HITLIST, was a red dress, sort of 1940’s,very Marilyn Monroe, Veronica Lake inspired. Its used in a scene that’s inspired by “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” My character in the first half of the film is sort of frumpy and not the best styled (on purpose!), then Charlotte, blossoms and becomes more sexy and sophisticated. This outfit symbolized the epitome of Charlotte’s rebirth. We did the hair and makeup to match the whole look and I think I also like it because I look beautiful and feminine in those moments on screen (always a plus right? – wink)

FF: Did you get to pick out any of the clothes that you wore in the film, or was everything styled for you?

Shirly Brener: Yes , me and Michelle Wang, our fabulous costume designer, worked on “Touched” before this film. So we were accustomed to working together. Also working on indie films you’re always faced with budget issues. I got to use a lot of my personal closet stuff. Being an actor, I save lots of clothes from different periods specifically for these reasons. Whenever I clean out my closet, the first thing that goes through my mind is “will I ever need to use this in a movie?” Michelle has excellent taste and a keen eye. We had this idea that the wardrobe evolves as the character evolves. Also in terms of color scheme- at first more Plain Jane, muted colors, and then, once she finds her confidence and independence and sex appeal, she wears more bold colors. We mixed and matched stuff from her collection, to things she borrowed from fashion houses to my personal closet and came up with the perfect combination of things.

Also, I’m a very hands on talent. I’m really not one to sit and wait for the department heads to pick for me. That’s a lazy artist. I think that’s your responsibility as an artist is to go the extra mile, to figure out what works for the character your creating, you have to take responsibility for what your putting on screen, after all its my work and my face and my character that people will analyze, I can’t just leave it up to “whatever” you have to take the bull by its horn. I do my homework and yet remain open minded to the department’s ideas, filmmaking is a collaborative art where ideas are shared, mixed and out of it magic occurs.

FF: If you had to pack a suitcase and could only bring 2 looks that had to last for a week, what would they be?

Shirly Brener: ohhhh noooooo!!! I can’t even answer this question!!! Hahahahha, I over pack always !!! I actually vowed in early 2010 to take control over my over packing obsessive issues. I always panic and think that ill need daytime stuff and then night time and the bathing suites and accessories, and like any healthy female I have an Imelda Marcus complex and always bring waaaaay too many shoes. But if I really had a gun to my head I would a) bring jeans (long or cutoffs depending of what the weather is like) and a tank top and flip flops- that would be the daytime look, I can live in tank tops, jeans and flip flops my whole life! and b) the second would be a little cocktail dress with sexy heals for the PM

FF: What is one word that you would use to describe your personal style?

Shirly Brener: I do love fashion tremendously. I can go from red carpet glamour with full designer duds, hair and makeup, spray tan, to the next day bumming around in sweats, with zero makeup and bed head. My dear friend Lati Grobman- the producer, always says that no matter where I’m at and where I go I always manage to make it look “chic.”I love her for saying that. It’s true, even if I’m in sweats, they are cool ones, and I always try to throw a scarf, a bracelet, some accessory that will make the outfit more fun and cool.

As a mom, I’ve learned to accept myself less done up. Sometimes there is just no time to blow dry the hair perfectly and do the makeup camera ready. Being a mom made me love myself totally made under. But it has not changed my style.

I got from hobo, 6o’s and 70’s chic to contemporary designers, to red carpet by Israeli designers that I love like Dina Bar El and Yotam Solomon and casual Israeli design by Gypsy. When I have producing meetings I try to dress more sophisticated with blazers or suits, definitely more structured pants and shirts. My favorite look is and will always be a great pair of jeans and a cute T-shirt. I have every jean you can imagine. Frankie B, True Religion, 7, Rock and Republic, Hudson etc etc, in every color and style, currently I’m pretty obsessed with skinny leg in dark, dark denim, or gray rock n roll.

I’m also a shoe freak, definitely every woman has an Imelda Markus complex, in the summer its gladiators and flip flops in every color and style, in the winter its boots, high, short, leather, suede you name it I have it or will get it!

FF: You grew up in Israel, how do you feel that the fashion scene there is different from LA?

Shirly Brener: I spent about a third of my life in Israel. The fashion there is in many ways way more laid back. Women wear less makeup, less spray tan, more sort of a “natural” look. Lots of plain white tanks and brown leather sandals. The kind of glamour you see in Hollywood red carpet designer dresses like Oscar De La Renta, Marcesca or Versace just does not exist there. The one glamour place you see amazing gowns is in weddings. My wedding gown was designed by Oshida, a very famous local Israeli designer who does a lot of actresses. People in general dress down mostly. Even big CEOs in companies wear a button down and slacks. You don’t really see suits and blazers and sport jackets. There is no “black tie” for men. At the same time when you see hip girls on the streets, you always find some sense of chicness. Like French women in Paris where you see really well put together more dressy pieces, in Israel its sort of more casual laid back but with lots of twists, belts, bracelets, scarves, sandals, the girls always pull off something that looks so simple yet so original and hip. The whole college tee and flip flops is an American thing, you really don’t see that there. The designs also of the local designers are always a bit left of center. The cut of the pants, the slink of the shirts, it’s always a bit off beat but in a very funky chic way. I love going to Israel and shopping there, when I come back to the US I get stopped everywhere by friends, colleagues and strangers asking me about the unique pair of 7/8s pants I got, or the original gladiators I have. I’ve actually had people give me money to take to Israel to bring them back a unique pair of jeans or such.

FF: What do you like/dislike about the style in Hollywood?

Shirly Brener: I don’t really dislike anything about Hollywood fashion. I think the ability to go from high end couture pieces on a glamorous red carpet to wearing an Urban Outfitters type hobo vintage looking dress with some oxfords the next is brilliant. Fashion today in Hollywood really allows for originality, its no longer about being matchy matchy- its experimental, colors, prints, earth tones, high glamour to sexy club wear, to rock and roll , to lazy Californian to New York corporate chic, to preppy ,to vintage and 40’s, 60’s ,70’s, and 80’s. Lots of accessories, lots of accents. It seems like anything and everything goes. It’s about finding what’s personal to you for that day/time/event. Luckily there are so many outlets: premieres, award shows, store openings, after parties, meetings, beach hangouts, record releasing parties etc etc that you can literally switch around the style non stop. That is freedom and that is creativity and that is art and those are the things which constitute fun!

FF: If your personal fashion sense of style were a car, what kind of car would it be?

Shirly Brener: A White or Silver Porsche Carrera for evening and the daytime one would be a Jeep Wrangler.

FF: What kind of dress/look would you like to wear on the red carpet?

Shirly Brener : Red Carpet- here is my list of favorite designers: Gucci, Versace, Oscar de La Renta, Dior, Marchesa, Herve Leger.I tend to like current hip motifs with some throwback to a period. I always opt for classy but still sexy, I tend to go for colors such as white, nude, blue, black, gray, brown. I hardly go for colors like red or pink, but sometimes I diverge from my “usual trends” I don’t really do patterns or floral it’s not “me”.

I like one shoulder pieces, spaghetti straps, or dresses embroidered with very light beading and sparkly stones without being over the top, I like stuff that accentuates my good parts, my biceps, my shoulders and my legs. But not all at once. That’s trashy. If you are going with a very open back and neck, don’t do too much leg and vise versa. These days I try to support my Israeli designer friends/colleagues like Dina Bar El, Yotam Solomon , and Tal Shayne. They are all original, sexy and sophisticated . They are all making a splash and will hear about them more and more in the future.