By Josie Goldberg
Cannes, France (The Hollywood Times) 05/07/2024
I believe in luck and destiny. I think the difference between “Luck” and being good at something is “Luck” is sporadic in success, where being “really good” at something is consistency thorough out one’s career. So far I consider myself lucky and working on being stable in my professional and personal life. However biblical scholars say that if you want a good laugh tell God your plans and wants. If you’re a believer in the big man upstairs (like me) we all know he does things on his time, his terms and his conditions. I have learned to surrender and try to control my anxiety and be thankful and grateful and basically enjoy my ride in life. Of course with some helpers along the way in moderations. I truly am thankful, just wish it could last more than my 15 minutes of fame. The other thing that I was forced to learn in the Entertainment industry was “Don’t call us, we see you, and if we want you, you will know “Just do your life and work on your craft and don’t worry Josie your time will come”. The ironic aspect of all my successful projects that I did, was when I had no idea what was going on that’s when I made all my marks, in the Industry!
As I am preparing for my next trip to Cannes Film Festival, I bumped into a friend who ironically was the first Producer/ Writer/Director who put me in his independent Film American Nudist back in 2009 when my career skyrocketed as a Playboy Model. His name is Clinton Wallace. I met him on the red carpet when he was working as a celebrity photographer for the legendary Globe Photo Agency which has been around since 1930s. Clinton was one of their youngest photographers and essentially brought them Young Hollywood, people like Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Bijoux Phillips, Taryn Manning etc.
I remember I was 26 and I was bigger than most in personality and in body type standing at 5’10” (155-165) lbs. Unfortunately, Anna Nicole passed the year before and Clinton smiled one day and said don’t worry “You have it” and you will make it to the top, and he introduced me to all his colleagues, friends, and photographers. They all worked for top photo agencies like Wire Image, Getty images, Splash and PR Photos. They all started shooting me at every event. Fy1 Clinton never asked for any Romance it was all based on my talents and hard work. I was lucky and blessed that Clinton helped me as I had only one reality show under my belt and one playboy pictorial. There were thousands of reality stars who were more famous and in addition Playboy was at its peak with many beautiful models who had many covers and pictorials. You always remember the first photographer who saw something in you, because they are few and far between. When Clinton approached me to be in his movie American Nudist, I never hesitated and just went with it and did whatever he told me to do! We built a trust and that’s what directors do to bring out the best in their actors. An actor has to TRUST the director or else the magic will not happen.
I recently added a new career to my resume as the Actors Strike happened and we were shut down for some time and recently called Clinton and told him about my romance with Mr. Bond at Cannes the previous year and how hard it is to break into the film industry from playboy modeling and reality tv land. He said “Josie, did you forget to mention your first independent movie I put you in, which btw is still selling out in Target, Walmart and Amazon?” To my surprise I just found out that the movie I was in won an award as “The Best Cannes Poster Awards” in 2013 and I was on one of the covers according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Film was screened at Cannes Film Market and then picked up by Epoch Films.
Since I was a popular Playboy Model (El natural boobs), and no plastic surgery, I was asked to talk about nudism for me and what it means to me. You’re going to have to watch the movie and see my answer. I speak about Hugh Hefner and my experience with Playboy and Nudism.
Q & A with Clinton Wallace (Director of American Nudist)
THT: Why did you cast me in your movie?
Clinton Wallace (CW): Because you are an independent self-thinker, who is not ashamed of her body, you are a champion of independent thinking women, you counteract the social expectations that close minded people have for women and you are not afraid to be vocal, you boldly use all your platforms to fight back against these bullies that try to tell women how to live their lives. You are a champion for female entrepreneurs, you lead by example and that’s why I put you in the movie, and you have all the accomplishments to back up what you say.
THT: What is your current emphasis in the Entertainment Industry today? What’s your background on how you got into the industry?
CW: I am a writer, director, producer. I became a celebrity photographer while at NYU where I was the chief entertainment photographer for the student newspaper. I got into independent films while volunteering at an organization called independent feature project IFP while a student at NYU and eventually got recruited to work on a slew of student films. The film American Nudist won best poster award in a contest hosted by Hollywood Reporter a few years ago at Cannes film festival in 2013.
I was director, co-writer and executive producer, the project changed hands a few times so by the time I came on board I had to restructure everything and got to find the funds to complete the project, after some script changes and a character adjustment the project became a bit more marketable, so I presented to some colleagues in Germany that helped me to get financing.
THT: What Advice would you give actors?
CW: The advice that I wound give actors in trying to break into this industry is persevere, never give up, continuously train yourself, educate yourself about the business side of things because in the end you are a product, and the goal is to market your talent and never quit your day job.
THT: Why did American Nudist take a while to make and execute?
CW: The movie took almost a year to make because we were constantly underfunded and I had to dip into my own pocket to complete the film, it’s a very unique film that I felt was going to be ahead of its time so I was dedicated to seeing it through, it had to be completed at all cost and when it was finally completed I screened it at AFM and in Cannes and found a low budget Distributor and the rest as they say is history. Most of the actors I cast I knew personally, they are all talented and dedicated to their craft and all made a commitment to complete the film no matter what and they honored that commitment.
THT: What is American Nudist about?
CW: American Nudist in a sense is about an artist trying to discover while being lost in this clandestine netherworld of the nudist movement. He immerses the viewer into this world through his own experiences, his struggles, his glories, to explain himself, he gives a historical perspective to the audience and by doing this he tries to make an artful story out of it, but in this pursuit he naively surrounds himself with what he thinks are people operating in his best interest. Nudism in America is still a taboo subject yet it’s a growing movement especially among a younger crowd.
Sometimes I get insecure because the competition is so immense and for the last 17 years I have relied on the talented amazing hard working people behind the camera and the executives for opportunities. I was lucky that my hard work would pay off and powerful people threw me some bones to keep my dreams and goals realistic My column is about sharing my journey to the top and helping others along the way to get where they want to go. I am “Only Josie Knows” and hope that one day someone will surprise you and you will get that lucky phone call to work on that special project you dreamed of. As they say in French “Bon Voyage” to my friends, colleagues and My-SELF. See you in Cannes Film Festival 2024!
For more information message me on Ig @OnlyJosieKnows14, and or email [email protected]
