#Sundae's weirdness had nothing to do with Troyer. that dog character was destined for weirdness from the get go.

[just-the-cool-page]

The project we were shooting was for the magazine’s Holiday issue so predictably the art directors wanted to explore photographing them as Santa and his Elf.  In this town virtually any costume imaginable is available at one of the studio wardrobe departments but it was obvious that these outfits wound need to be custom-made, a task that the magazine delegated to me.  I immediately made the executive decision to make the Santa suit for Verne and designate Shaq as the Elf.  I felt this was not just more visually interesting but perhaps less offensive to little people who were regularly cast as sprites, elves and mythological characters.  This decision delighted Shaq and Verne but seemed to infuriate the art director that had flown out from New York for the shoot.  After the shoot she insisted on keeping the wardrobe and told me upon her return to NYC that she had “burned the outfits so that no one else would have them”.  Needless to say there was an “interesting energy” on the set that day. 

Robert Sebree