The studio hasn't yet released an image of Tim Gunn in The Smurfs, but considering that he's a New Yorker we can surmise that he's somewhere in this picture.
I've a hunch that he doesn't have a very big role, but he was on set the day I was there, so we did have an opportunity to chat and, by extension, offer me one of the strangest moments of my professional career.
Here's the scene: we're in the big stage at Kaufman Astoria Studios. The set is of Central Park and Belvedere Castle at night. There's a giant screen behind it, with a painting of the city skyline, just like you see in Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies. I'd like to think that it comes with the studio and that this humongous painting, that probably looks very real when shot out of focus, has been in every Sidney Lumet and Woody Allen movie ever made.
There's also one of those giant scoop lights illuminated, so everyone is harshly backlit, so all you see are silhouettes.
Hank Azaria and a team of dancers are shooting the big musical number, and at this moment it is a big dance break in the middle. The playback is a vamp of Azaria going "oh Smuuuuuuuuuurfs. . . . " in a "come-out-and-play" sing-song voice. It is extremely loud. And repeats over and over and over and over again.
So Tim Gunn, who is funny anyway, is in an impeccable suit, backlit like a silent film villain, and whispering to us about is character. He is a henchman for an evil cosmetics mogul (played by Sofia Vergara) who discovers that Smurfs have magic powers. She must extract the power (hence the Smurfalator) to capture the "essence of Smurf."
I'll ask you now to take a moment and say the phrase "essence of Smurf" to yourself the way Tim Gunn would say it, but picture him in complete silhouette with a fake giant New York skyline painting behind him. And just after he says it, the booming recorded voice of Hank Azaria shouts "SMUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURFS!" at ear-splitting levels.The funniest part is that nobody laughs at this, because we'll all working.
When asked what other films Gunn is looking forward to he says, "Can I be honest with you? I haven't been to a movie since The Devil Wears Prada."
The Smurfs will be in theaters, and in 3D, on July 29.
