arts & entertainment

do

When The Bubble Burst

Documentary tells the story of the Siegels and their
dream McMansion, a Versailles-like palace in Florida.

Curt Schleier
Special to the Jewish News

other hand, knows how repulsive it might
be considered but doesn't care. Asked
by Greenfield why he's building it, he
t first glance, David and Jackie
responds, "Because I can!'
Siegel come across more as
He also claims to have won the election
caricatures out of central casting for George W. Bush with shenanigans that
for a Three Stooges comedy than central
"might not have been legal:'
characters at the center of The Queen of
But the mortgage crisis impacted his
Versailles — at once a brilliant and infu-
business, forcing him to stop construc-
riating documentary that has garnered
tion on "Versailles" and sell off a large new
much praise and awards, including a best
resort in Las Vegas that he was particu-
director win at Sundance for filmmaker
larly proud of.
Lauren Greenfield.
David sued the filmmaker
David is the stereotypical
claiming the movie makes it
rough, gruff, self-made million-
appear he was going out of
aire, the founder of Westgate
business, that profits are high-
Resorts with a surgically
er than ever and that the film
enhanced trophy wife and a
was edited out of sequence
take-no-prisoners attitude.
to the way it was presented.
Jackie is the wife, a naif in
Several requests to contact
designer garb that despite their
him directly were referred to
price generally leave little of
a public relations agency in
the plastic surgeon's work to
New
York. Because Westgate is
Director L auren
the imagination. She admits to Greenfield : "We're
privately held, it is impossible
spending $1 million a year on
to verify Siegel's claim that the
all obsess ed with
clothes, including $17,000 on a consumer ism and
company is now more profit-
single pair of crocodile boots.
able
than it ever was. The suit
luxury an d the
But she is an innocent without trappings of wealth, is pending.
a filter — or the slightest idea which is k ind of why
The JN spoke to filmmaker
of potential consequences for
Lauren
Greenfield about The
this story is worth
what she says.
Queen
of
Versailles:
telling."
The pair decide that their
26,000-square-foot Orlando
IN: You met Jackie when
home is not sufficiently large for their
you were on assignment for Elle maga-
family: seven children, a niece, 19 servants zine to photograph Donatella Versace.
and a passel of pets. So they plan.what,
What was your reaction to her?
if completed, will be the largest home in
LG: She intrigued me because of her
America, a 90,000-square-foot manse —
wealth and she was building the largest
with 10 kitchens (though Jackie doesn't
house in America. She showed me pictures
cook), 30 bathrooms, a bowling alley and
of her seven kids on the steps of her pri-
roller rink — modeled after France's
vate jet. There was something about her.
Palace of Versailles.
She didn't have the veil of privacy a lot of
Jackie in her naivete doesn't think
rich people have. She was a free spirit with
there's anything obscene with that level of
a generosity of heart that made me think
conspicuous consumption. David, on the
she was accessible about her life. I thought

A

the film was going to
be an inside view of
wealth and, of course,
the building of the
house.

David and Jackie Siegel in The Queen Of Versailles.

IN: Why do you think they allowed
you to film them?
LG: I think Jackie is very comfortable in
front of the camera. She's a former model
and liked the attention, and I think she
was proud of what she accomplished and
where she was in her life. I think David
was proud that he was building the biggest
house in America. But for me, it was more
Jackie. In the beginning I didn't know
what David's business was. I came in
through Jackie, and the story was going to
be about her. It was only as the economy
changed that he became a more important
element in the film.

IN: Why did they allow you to con-
tinue when things went sour?
LG: First of all, I'd been filming for a
while. It wasn't until my fifth trip there
that they put the [unfinished] house on
the market. That was in the middle of
2010. Until then, I didn't think people like
them would be affected by the economic
crisis. Also, I kind of assumed that any
person with this kind of wealth would
have a lot of money on the side, a cushion,
some protection. It wasn't until then that
David told me he had signed personally
for all his business loans and hadn't taken
anything off the table.

IN: Yet he still allowed you to con-
tinue filming.
LG: I think David always thought he
would conquer his problems in the end,
and I did, too. I think David didn't feel like
he had done anything wrong; the banks
were the villains. And I think Jackie never

saw it in [economic] terms. She liked all
the stuff and liked to be filmed and pho-
tographed. She has this playful, almost
childlike love of life, and she was sad when
we stopped filming. What impressed me is
that they were both survivors.

IN: But they didn't seem to have a
major grip on what was going on in the
rest of the country.
LG: I don't want to idealize them either.
The thingthat was interesting about them
to me is that in some ways they repre-
sented both the virtues and flaws of the
American dream. The film shows the con-
sequences of going too far and is a lesson
not just for rich people but for all of us.
The financial crisis made me look at ram-
pant consumerism as a kind of morality
tale. We filmed families in foreclosure who
lived below the poverty line and yet owned
several large TVs, at least two computers,
fancy cars and designer clothes.

- JN: The only holiday the Siegels
celebrate in your film is Christmas. I
don't know if Jackie is Jewish. Her first
husband was. But Siegel seems to be.
Did you have any reservations about
filming what many may consider ste-
reotypical Jews?
LG: Jackie celebrates Jewish holidays.
But, no, I didn't really think about that.
Remember, I started the story about
Jackie, and religion wasn't part of the
equation.

The Queen of Versailles is scheduled
to open on Friday, Aug.10.

ei w s

silit I Nate Bloom
WINK Special to the Jewish News

New Flicks
viCk Opening
Friday, Aug.10, is

The Bourne
Legacy, with Jeremy Renner replacing
1111111111.
Matt Damon as the
new hero. Co-starring
are Rachel Weisz,
42; Scott Glenn, 71;
and Corey Stoll, 36.
Hope Springs,
which opened Aug.
8, co-stars Meryl
Streep and Tommy
Rappaport

30

August 9 . 2 012

Lee Jones as a boomer couple who
undergo marriage therapy with a
relationship guru (Steve Carell).
Ben Rappaport, 26, plays their son,
and David Frankel (The Devil Wears
Prada, Marley & Me), 53, directs.

Short Takes
Mazel tov to actress and Farmington
Hills native Elizabeth Berkley, 40, and
her husband, painter Greg Lauren, 42,
on the July 20 birth of their first child,
a son named Sky Cole.
Sadly, singer Tony Martin died on
July 27 at age 98. Born Alvin Morris,

the grandson of Jewish immigrants,
he continued to appear in nightclubs
almost until his death. Martin, mar-
ried to dancer Cyd Charisse (1948
until her 2008 death), was buried
next to her in Hillside Jewish cem-
etery in Los Angeles.
The front page of the July 29
"Sunday Styles" section of the New
York Times featured a profile of the
remarkable career of Tavi Gevinson,
16, who has just completed a 16-city
tour (including Ann Arbor) to promote
Rookie, her online magazine for teen
girls. Rookie grew out of Gevinson's

blog, Style Rookie,
which she began
at age 11, and has
morphed into a full-
scale web magazine
with a professional
staff. Celebs like
Gevinson
Judd Apatow, Paul
Rudd and Ira Glass
are fans and contributors. Gevinson, of
Oak Park, Ill., is the daughter of Steve
Gevinson, a retired English teacher,
and Bergit Engen, a Norway native
and convert to Judaism who makes
Judaica-themed tapestries. L7