Shadow Lands

January 21st, 2010

Images Amy Troost Words Susan Locht Style Editor James Worthington DeMolet Model Rie Rasmussen at One Management

Hollywood siren and couture model Rie Rasmussen has spent the last few years more-or-less off the radar, but now she’s back, and once again poised to stun everyone watching. But this time, Rasmussen isn’t just under the spotlight: she’s directing it. Human Zoo, a feature film she wrote, directed, and starred in, is making waves at festivals around the world.

Rasmussen’s earlier creative endeavors include a role in the 2002 Brian De Palma film Femme Fatale, modelling in Tom Ford’s Gucci campaign, and walking the Victoria’s Secret runway show. But back then, Rasmussen wasn’t looking for acclaim. In fact, she claims not to have accepted the Victoria’s Secret gig for career reasons at all. “I did it as a sort of personal performance art experiment. And so that I could fuck a supermodel.” She laughs, adding, “And I did.” She won’t go on record to say who it was, of course, but explains the affair inspired a lot of incredible paintings. “I paint and draw a lot of female nudes, and this woman was one of the most beautiful subjects I’d ever seen.”

Never one to follow convention, the Denmark native avoided the spotlight despite her high profile, choosing, rather, to focus on her personal art and film projects. But today, after having worked tirelessly on Human Zoo, Rasmussen is more than ready to share her work with the world. She’s been touring the film for the past nine months to rave reviews and an official selection at the Berlin Film Festival.

The film follows the character of Adria, a woman struggling to survive after the Kosovo conflict. She is half Serbian, half Albanian, and was raised strictly in a male-dominated context. With this, Rasmussen explores what it means to have an “identity,” to be male and female, and to be born where you were born. Rasmussen believes borders act as human cages, and that our passports are our prisons. “So much of how we define one another is based on manmade global borders, the invisible lines men have placed on the map to protect the little piece of land they’ve fooled themselves into believing is their own.”

Now that Rasmussen has had a few years to explore some of the things she is most passionate about, which, as she explains, really focuses on championing the “underdog” – namely women and, more recently in her art, gay men – she says she’s been able to revisit modelling from a new angle. “I feel more available to model now. I’ve laid down my hard work, my credibility. And what woman doesn’t want to play dress-up from time to time?” She says that now, thankfully, people want something more from her when she’s in front of the camera. “They want some sort of expression, something wilder, or crazier, harder or more involved. Like really giving the image a certain emotion, be it joyous, freaky, hysterical, sad.”

On the set of The Block shoot, Rasmussen explored emotions of inner joy and pleasure. “All of it was really centred around that one sunny moment in winter when the sun comes through your window for the first time in a while and your body contorts with that feeling of pleasure. Almost like a cat stretching in that joy.”

Hair Rita Marmor at Streeters NY
Make Up Sil Bruinsma at Streeters NY
Photography Assistants Mark Champion
Digital Technician Justin Shaffer
Retouching Norkin Digital Art Ltd