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Monday, April 28, 2014

Mary Cummins was in Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman" music video



I was "talent" in the 1999 Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman" music video. It stars Lenny Kravitz and Heather Graham and was directed by Paul Hunter. This video was a song for the movie "Austin Powers" starring Mike Myers and Heather Graham.

There were only two of us women who could ride Harleys and owned Harleys. Supposedly all the other women said they knew how to ride but they lied. The other women were being towed by a truck. You can see them revving with their clutch hand ;-) They also had some guys on Harleys way behind us so people couldn't tell they weren't women. They weren't supposed to be in the video. They just rode their bikes there to be used in the video. We were supposed to be a female biker gang led by Lenny Kravitz but his legs were too short to get on the chopper. We shot this in Lancaster on Avenue K or O I think. There's a deserted gas station and diner out there. It's actually a movie set called "The Four Aces" located at 145 Street East and Ave Q. It was freezing when the sun went down. There were also sand storms. Then intentionally bused in all the many extras because they didn't want them to leave because of the cold sand storms.

Mary Cummins in Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman" music video




Lenny Kravitz is in the background, so is his female drummer. 
My girlfriend and I were stuck in Lancaster for two days having to stay overnight at a cheap motel. $500 a day was not worth it, long hours, sand storm, freezing cold at night and bikes got buried in sand. Not good for a custom motorcycle. It also took me two weeks of hounding the producer to give me my money. He tried to stiff all of us. 

For the shot they wanted me to look like a dirty greasy biker so they put grease and dirt in my hair. I also had to wear a bikini top, no helmet and only some decorative glasses which did not block the wind. The wind caused my eyes to water and I thought my contact lenses flew off. I was riding blind. Turns out they were just washed to the back of my eyes and came back later. I was also riding next to someone at one point who could not ride very well. They did a quick swerve and the rest of us had to swerve around them so we wouldn't go down. All the while the cameras are held on cranes that are literally a foot in front of my face or a foot to the left of my head while going 30 to 35 miles per hour. It was also windy and the road had a lot of sand and gravel as the area is deserted. 

A few other things happened on set. At the night scene when they lit off the fireworks one landed in the female drummer's hair which just briefly caught on fire. She was able to put out the flames and only needed a short break. Heather Graham was supposed to drive the old Corvette. Only problem was she did not know how to drive stick. They had to put the Corvette on the same tow truck to make it appear that she was driving. Heather Graham was supposed to do more of a dance routine on the top of the bus. Unfortunately she cannot dance very well. They videotaped her just a tiny bit and did a bunch of fast edits. Then they found dancers in the mosh pit who were really very, very good dancers. 

You've heard of the director's cut. Well, this is the "extra's cut" ;-) There appears to be a few different cuts of this video. One has a few more scenes of me and my bike. They unfortunately cut the scene where I peel out, burn rubber then peel out and kick gravel up. I can't believe they asked me to do that. Last thing you want to do is peel out while turning on gravel with a lowered, raked, slammed bike with street tires. 

Mary Cummins, Lenny Kravitz, American Woman, music video,  FXR
Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.


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Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.


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