When producers decided to update the movie The Thomas Crowne Affair, the first change made was to move the action from Boston to New York, and to relocate the heist from a bank to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. While the city of Boston was simply background noise in the first film, suddenly New York was front and center, and the Museum itself was a third character. (Discerning readers will know it was actually filmed inside the New York Public Library and on a soundstage, with artists hired to make the set authentically “The Met”.)
The films, despite their differences, are both about surveillance- she watches him, he watches her watch him. Both films boil down to the same plot–Thomas Crowne, a wealthy business man, pulls off a stunning robbery out of boredom. A beautiful insurance investigator begins to build a case against him, following him, photographing him–yet all the while falling in love with him.
Of course the original film had one thing (or two things as the case may be) that the follow up didn’t have–Faye Dunnaway and Steve McQueen. His blue eyes and her upswept buns make for a chemistry that can never be replicated. Both of them are incredibly put together and stylish in that Mid-Century fashion that is incredibly sexy. So for this photoshoot, we decided to take the new with the old and borrow from the best of both worlds. We take Faye and leave Boston. We see her likeness through his eyes. Him watching her watching him.
And we take the Met, that mysterious place where different times and places come together under one monumental roof. The American Wing, Temple of Dundar, and Greek and Roman galleries provide a particularly dramatic background to the unfolding drama. But flirtation through surveillance is a dangerous game and you will just have to wait for the sequel to find out the ending.
Find out more about the secrets of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Photographs by Nick Shepard
Styling and art direction by Annie Shepard
More photos on www.NeonMamacita.com
