Petra Collins and Richard Kern Talk Armpits, Addison Rae, and Hollywood Crushes

Petra Collins is relaunching her tongue-in-cheek fashion label I’m Sorry with the help of a few of her favorite creatives. The new collection was drawn up in collaboration with British designer Mimi Wade and features playful, L.A.-inspired looks that transport us into a teenage fever dream replete with tiaras, strip malls, and carpeted bedroom floors. And who better to capture an inadvertently salacious and intimately female moment than the master of erotic photography himself, Richard Kern? A few weeks ago, while Kern and Collins were suffering from what they dubbed a “post-shoot flu,” the two got on a call to talk about their all-time favorite movie crushes and reminisce on the TV show that would now face immediate cancellation, Shot By Kern.

———

PETRA COLLINS: Oh, this is so much pressure.

RICHARD KERN: Yeah, really. I like that poster behind your head.

COLLINS: I actually don’t even know what this is, exactly.

KERN: Is this your house?

COLLINS: Yeah, this is my house.

KERN: And you put the poster on the wall or was it there?

COLLINS: No, Jake did. That’s why I don’t—

KERN: First, I want to know, where did you get that pasta that was shaped like underwear?

COLLINS: Oh my god! Isn’t that so good? I follow so many of these girls that make the cutest, kind of perverted little food things, and this is one of those. Ah, fuck, what’s her name? This is one of those people that I just follow and I absolutely freaked out when I saw the pasta and the tank top! I’ve never seen something that spoke to me more than this.

KERN: So did you order it and you were cooking it or—

COLLINS: I wish. I’ve never been able to cook.

KERN: What were you doing in the room at the inn? It looks like you shot three different girls in that one tiny room. It looked like a party in there.

COLLINS: It’s funny because sometimes I get stuck in one spot. We’ll have some big location and I’ll be like, “No, I really love this one little ditch,” or one little tiny space. And you saw it, that one room felt like it was out of Bully or something. It felt very Florida, so it just kept bringing the girls back in there, because in my head I was like, “This is where they were getting ready to go out.”

KERN: I missed all the looks though, and I’m dying to see because I saw your lighting setup, which was interesting.

COLLINS: Why was it interesting?

KERN: It was heavily backlit. 

COLLINS: It’s funny because obviously I really love the backlight, but it’s everyone’s nightmare with Instagram and selfies, people really hate the backlight. 

KERN: I mean, you’re shooting on film, so it works really well. I used to backlight everything too when I was shooting film. Now you see how complicated I am. One light. And the placement of the light depends more on where it’s out of the shot than anything else. It doesn’t have to do with anything else really.

COLLINS: Yeah. There’s one powerful backlight that I like and I stick it in the back and it just works for me. If I’m shooting outside with the sun, that’s the natural backlight. But it was really cloudy that day.

KERN: Well, the shoot was really fun and, I mean, I don’t know how much I can say.

COLLINS: You can say as much as you want, I think, because this comes out after.

KERN: I mean, Addison makes everyone else look like they’re standing still.

COLLINS: Yeah.

KERN: There’s a video called Last Year at Marienbad, where everybody’s just motionless and she’s the only alive part of everything. And that was really her. She was so easy to shoot.

COLLINS: She’s so easy to shoot. I haven’t shot someone in so long who’s so—I hate saying captivating, but she honestly was. I could have shot her for the entire day. She just feels like a star, like Britney Spears or something. 

KERN: She never got tired. She never turned off.

COLLINS: No.

KERN: Yeah, that was a good experience.

COLLINS: It was really fun for me too. The next day I felt so tired and hungover from the adrenaline.

KERN: Yeah. I went back to sleep like three times because I thought I was getting sick, but I was just really tired.

COLLINS: It’s the post shoot flu. I always get it.

KERN: Was that only the second time you’ve done the clothing line? 

COLLINS: It’s the fourth drop. You shot the second one, I think during COVID. 

KERN: That was a fun day.

COLLINS: It’s also really fun for me because I get to have your photos that I’ve admired for my entire life. 

KERN: Well, that’s why I wanted to see your lighting set up so I could find out how you do it. 

COLLINS: Yeah. What’s something that’s more interesting than us just talking about photos that no one can see?

KERN: Well, I’ll just say that from the casting shots or the location shots, I thought it was going to be like Tony Montana‘s house in Scarface, but then when you got there, it was more personal.

COLLINS: It was like grandma and grandpa’s house. It felt more Florida than it felt Malibu. There was that big bedroom with the bathroom where the water went brown.

KERN: Yeah. 

COLLINS: I’ve just been staring at the one photo of Addison smoking from her toe. It’s something that I would print and put on my wall.

KERN: That was your idea, but it was something I’ve shot a million times.

COLLINS: I’ve seen it in your photos.

KERN: Yeah. Because I shot it for all these leg magazines in the old days. And actually Addison, man, they would love her feet and legs in those magazines. 

COLLINS: Yeah, the way that she can move her feet and her body is incredible. She kept talking about— 

KERN: Jackie Brown. That’s my favorite [Quentin] Tarantino movie, except maybe the last one.

COLLINS: I think it’s mine too, but also, I’m a Tarantino hater.

KERN: I can understand that. But I had the hugest crush on Bridget Fonda back then. She was in Single White Female also.

COLLINS: Who are your top five film crushes? 

KERN: Oh, man. That changes all the time. I guess, [Léa] Seydoux, is that her name?

COLLINS: Yeah.

KERN: Anything she’s in. 

COLLINS: Have you shot her?

KERN: No, I wish. You probably could.

COLLINS: You probably could too. I had such a big crush on her. She was in these American Apparel ads when I worked there. Have you seen those?

KERN: Yeah, yeah. Because she—well, she has no problem showing her boobs.

COLLINS: I agree with you on that. 

KERN: Let’s hear one of yours.

COLLINS: Well, I was just watching Cat People, and obviously–

KERN: Nastassja Kinski. One of mine too. Especially that movie.

COLLINS: Oh my God. When she’s running through the forest naked—she also has amazing body language.

KERN: You know that scene wasn’t supposed to be in the final movie. They tricked her with all the nudity. She wasn’t aware of all that. But yeah, almost anything she’s in. Lately, I’ve really been liking that French actress, Juliette Binoche. I’ve seen her in a bunch of stuff where she’s really great. I just watched Three Colours: Blue, and she’s also in a new movie called The Taste of Things and, man, as an older woman, she’s so beautiful. But I don’t even know if she would be in the top five.

COLLINS: She can be in the top five. I just rewatched All That Jazz. I’ve watched it so many times. 

KERN: Who’s in it? Roy Scheider?

COLLINS: Yeah. He’s so good in it. 

KERN: So you’re into him?

COLLINS: Yeah, him in–

KERN: Oh, dude, you’ve got to watch the remake of Wages of Fear with him in it. It was William Friedkin‘s movie after The Exorcist.

COLLINS: Oh!

KERN: Sorcerer! That’s the name of it. Have you ever seen it?

COLLINS: No, but I’m reading Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, that book about films from that time.

KERN: Yeah. So it was this movie after The Exorcist, and it was a huge flop. And they had to change the name to make it sound like it’s a horror movie, so they called it Sorcerer, but it’s not. It must’ve been impossible to shoot. There’s this scene where they’re trying to pull over through this flood and rainstorm.

COLLINS: Oh, I know! Yes.

KERN: Insane. It’s amazing people didn’t get killed. 

COLLINS: I think they shot it in Vietnam or something. And the production kept firing the whole crew on set, and the turnaround was really fast since he was just like, “Everyone’s doing a bad job.” I really have to watch it. 

KERN: He’s in Jaws too.

COLLINS: Oh, yeah. 

KERN: Ok, name another one. 

COLLINS: Say a guy and I’ll see.

KERN: Okay, Gérard Depardieu.

COLLINS: Oh, wait. When he was… Not for me. Wow. Really not for me.

KERN: Just because he’s an asshole.

COLLINS: Yeah.

KERN: Big fat asshole. But all his old movies, he definitely would liven them up. You name one.

COLLINS: It’s hard. Well, I love Mia Goth. Have you ever shot her?

KERN: No. She’s just made a couple of movies, right? Those horror movies.

COLLINS: Yeah. She was just in MaXXXine. I feel like she’s the Shelley Duvall of now. She was in Nymphomaniac too.

KERN: I have to see it. And you like Charlotte Gainsbourg?

COLLINS: Yeah. I feel like I came onto her sort of late. But I met her in person last year. They have this thing in Paris where they kept the house that her mom and her dad lived in, and you can go in. They have these auditory core experiences that you can do, which is when basically you put on a pair of headphones and you sit in a room and it’s just sound. It’s like she’s whispering in your ear, talking to you as you go through the house. But she’s like, “This is where my father…” You’re going into the real house, and I feel like it’s still open because it’s sort of like a cultural site, but they did it so, so, so well. You go into the living room first, and then you walk into the kitchen and then you see his bedroom, which is insane.

KERN: Does the whole place smell like cigarettes still?

COLLINS: Kind of. 

KERN: Whenever I think of him, I think of smoke.

COLLINS: Yeah. 

KERN: Here’s a burning question for you.

COLLINS: Yeah?

KERN: Oh, it’s not a question. Look at those hairy armpits!

COLLINS: You’ve seen these!

KERN: Yeah. That used to be a thing where I’d be like, “Can you please grow out your armpit hair?”

COLLINS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, okay, that was one of my… Because obviously Shot By Kern, one of my favorite shows, which I’ve been trying to find. I don’t know how you can find it online.

KERN: I have it.

COLLINS: You do?

KERN: I mean, I have the files. Send me a message and I’ll send them to you.

COLLINS: Oh, really? The amount of people I’ve talked to about it who came of age watching that… That was really important to me, that show. It felt very liberating to look at those. I mean, obviously–

KERN: How did I not shoot you for it? Maybe you were too young then.

COLLINS: Yeah, I was too young. But I was definitely a fan. But I remember being like, “Oh, these girls are so hot.” Everyone has different bodies. It was just amazing. We need to bring it back! Netflix needs to buy it or something. 

KERN: That would be great. But I could see them trying to get the rights from VICE. Trying to get anything from VICE…. I think they’re in chapter 11, someone told me.

COLLINS: Oh, damn it. I’m glad you have them because I would watch them.

KERN: I just watched one the other day and it was one where the model, halfway through the shoot, started feeling weird.

COLLINS: Oh, no.

KERN: I said I wanted her to wash herself. And she’s like, “No.” And I said, “Well, can you wash your face?” And she’s like, “No.” I said, “Can you wash your hands?” And she goes, “Hmm. Okay, I’ll wash my hands.” And I’m just like, “God.” But they made it look not so bad.

COLLINS: Yeah.

KERN: She was the only person we ever shot that I had a problem with. And it was just funny to see that one.

COLLINS: Yeah. That was the one that you accidentally clicked to watch?

KERN: Yeah. But I mean, shooting this thing we just did was like that. We got these beautiful girls and we just get to run around and do whatever with them. It’s exactly the same.

COLLINS: Oh, God. I wish we were–

KERN: We’re doing it now.

COLLINS: Now I’m like, I wish we did a Shot By Kern four yesterday. Mark my words, Interview. We’re going to bring it back.

KERN: Good luck. I’d get canceled immediately. While I’m watching it I’m thinking, “Okay, I’m going to put one of these on my website. Now what could I put on there that I could get away with these days?” And I couldn’t really find anything. Even though I’m very respectful in the videos, they just wouldn’t fly these days, that’s for sure.

COLLINS: Well, it’s almost like forensic photography because you’re so quiet and so respectful, and I feel like a lot of people don’t know how you shoot because maybe they haven’t watched Shot By Kern, but it’s truly forensic science. 

KERN: All that forensic stuff I had to do when I used to shoot for the sex mags. But seriously, in Shot By Kern, I was a lot worse than I was on this shoot. I mean, you could use different words like describing body parts, things like that. It wasn’t so uptight as they are these days. But I think it’s good the way it is now. By the way, Spencer was such a good stylist, mainly because of those giant shoes he made Addison wear in the pool. And then that button that says ‘I love Kansas’ was so great.

COLLINS: Yeah. I feel like he would be a good costume person in movies because he kind of gets what the story is. 

KERN: Oh, I have my burning last question.

COLLINS: Oh, yeah. 

KERN: What’s next for Petra Collins? What are you working on next?

COLLINS: Well, we know how crazy the film industry is, but there hopefully is a movie on the horizon.

KERN: Wow. You actually had an answer.

COLLINS: Yeah. It’s something that I can’t say anything about. I’ll tell you offline. But I can say, I feel like people expect me to make a certain kind of movie, and it’s definitely not going to be like that.

———

Photography: Richard Kern

Styling: Spencer Singer

Creative Direction: Petra Collins

Art Direction: Thom Bettridge

Models: Janice Kim, Liana Perlich, Addison Rae

Hair: Tiago Goya

Makeup: Yuki Hayashi

Manicure: Sojin Oh

Set Design: Niamh Hannigan

Production: Chloe Snower