She Does Her Own Stunts

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Once upon a quarantine, a father of two decided to haul a plastic ride-on car into the house. The plan was to stick in the shower for a fun and highly distracting “car wash.” But it turned into an epic odyssey of film, photography, set design, costuming, and procuring inflatable orca whales.

matilda Never Ending Story DIPTIC copy_cropped 1Alex Zane and his 5 year-old daughter Matilda have quite a following on Instagram, posing for kiddie parodies of classic movie scenes. Beginning with Teen Wolf, the pair have explored all genres of film. Oh, and there’s a giant stuffed fox who does cameos as well! I caught up with Alex to ask him about this amazing creative collaboration…

matilda love actually 01 xx 3576 DIPTIC www_cropped 1Do you have a background in art and film?

Aside from loving movies forever I have no background in art or film. This project has made me realize how much I missed being creative. I had rarely taken a photograph before all of this (my wife could attest to this).

Generally speaking, how long does it take to create a shot?

The actual clicking of the camera is all of fifteen seconds – we are working with a five year-old so we only have a few seconds before she loses interest in everything and is ripping the wig off. The lead up can take some time though – since I don’t know how to take a photo Andrew [a friend who is a professional photographer] walks me through everything with diagrams and test shots.

We also have to pick the scene we are going to do and make sure it’s nothing to complex that a brand new photographer and toddler can handle – finally we figure out if we can “kidify” the scene – the Reservoir Dogs with Mr. Potato or the Barbie doll leg in The Graduate were major eureka moments. We spend probably way too much time on this trying to match everything up – my forearm is still burning from holding the stuffed fox up trying to line him up just right with Keanu. I remember thinking, “It’s amazing this is my life.”

Photo Jan 03, 8 53 12 PM_cropped 1How have your skills changed over the course of your work?

I understand the importance of lighting! And that you can get a kid to wear any kind of wig if the prize is big enough.

I’ll wager that many of these films haven’t been viewed by your daughter quite yet! Do you explain the scenes to her? Just show her a screen shot? Simply ask her to pose? 

She always sees a screen shot. She always asks questions centered around “why do they look that way.” I sometimes forget what I tell her but it’s a G-rated summary of any PG-13 and above movie. One time she was showing a cousin some of the photos and I heard her say “That’s about a wizard who took his mouth away …” I had to look over to realize she was telling them about The Matrix. I can’t stress enough that she thinks Silence of the Lambs is about a man who accidentally dropped a quarter down a well…

Since you started this venture, what are the TOP THREE weirdest props you’ve purchased?

I wonder if the FBI has flagged my Amazon account. No, a lot of the props have come from local online yard sales. I will also post on community thread asking for items – a neighbor gave us an old karate outfit we used for Karate Kid. I once posted on an online town group asking for a kid size straight jacket and Hannibal Lecter mask and got immediate responses from people who had the items. I love my town. To answer the question: fur coat (The Royal Tenenbaums) inflatable orca (Free Willy) and plastic gizmo (Gremlins).

Do you ever show up in a photo as well? To cut to the chase…is that YOU in the inflatable T-Rex costume in the Jurassic Park parody? Please say yes. 

In the beginning I did – before we started kiddifying the scenes. I’m in the original Good Will Hunting photo. There have been a few failed recreations – I played James Cann in Misery with Matilda mimicking smashing my ankles. No, I have no memory how I described that scene to her. It’s not me in that T-Rex costume! It’s Sam Neil.

Do you have a favorite photo, and why?

They are all like my children…forget that Reservoir Dogs. It’s the most fun to take some unsettling scene and completely deflate it will silly kid toys and props. Also that background crowd in Forrest Gump is a gallery of iconic toys – Poppy mixed with Boo from Monsters Inc. That cast totally justifies the multiple copy right infringement lawsuits it will likely cause.

What movie is still proving to be elusive to your creative vision?

The Ghost pottery scene flipped out with some play doh. It’s my white whale.

Does the stuffed fox co-starring in many of the images have a name and a story of his/her own?

You know he is a fox! His name is Blue Ears White Dora. I don’t know where that name came from. He was a gift from a brother in law. I remember watching him lug that thing up our front steps and immediately cursing him. It was massive and I knew it would never be played with. For months it took up 1/2 of whatever room he was…he sat neglected but we started slipping him into photos and we realized how talented he was. Now he’s like my third child.

Is there anything Matilda would like to add to this interview?

How much are they paying us for this interview?


Images courtesy of Alex Zane

Pop’s Top 20: Literary Halloween Costumes

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From Tikkido

The big spooky weekend is almost here, and Katie has been haunting the web to find her top 20 book-inspired DIY Halloween costumes. Our only rule was that we had to be able to trace the costume back to its original source, in the hopes that you could learn a little more about the creator, or get a chance to make it yourself! Can you guess what the above one is? Scroll to the very bottom of the post to find out!


#1 MADELINE, MISS CLAVEL & AND FRIENDS
From The Holland Family

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#2 WILD THINGS
From The Kimball Herd

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#3 CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS
From The Quilted Turtle

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#4 HANSEL AND GRETEL
From The Wright Family

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#5 LUNA LOVEGOOD
From BalthierFlare

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#6 GREG HEFFLEY
From Costume Works

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#7 STREGA NONA
From Seeker of Happiness

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#8 THING 1 & THING 2
From Loving Life

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#9 SUPERMAN
From Costume Works

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#10 LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD & THE BIG BAD WOLF
From Valley & Co. Lifestyle

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#11 HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON
From Generation T

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#12 HOBBITS
From Sweet Little Ones

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#13 WHERE’S WALDO
From Make It & Love It

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#14 WILLY WONKA
From Beautiful Things

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#15 EFFIE TRINKET
From Coolest Homemade Costumes

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#16 PIPPI LONGSTOCKING
From Design Mom

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#17 THE PIGEON
From Simply Radiant

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#18 ALICE IN WONDERLAND
From Misha Lulu Blog

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#19 HICCUP AND TOOTHLESS
From Magic Wheelchair

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#20 PETER PAN’S SHADOW
From Tikkido

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Victorian Tea

joani pours her victorian teaYou had a sneak peek here. Now, it’s time for tea! In honor of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, we hosted a Victorian tea with all the trimmings. It was an ambitious, fun, and fully immersive historical program. Definitely one of my top five most favorite programs of all time. The tea was hosted at, and catered by, Palmer House, Princeton University’s bed & breakfast.

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Photo courtesy of Palmer House

Palmer House was built circa 1823-24, and was bequeathed to the University in 1968. It was absolutely beautiful. A big shout out to Innkeeper Jodi Pianka for allowing us to take over the entire downstairs the day of the program. She even let us use Palmer House’s historic front entrance!

front entranceUpon arrival, the kids were greeted by our “maidservant” (otherwise known as Anna, a sophomore at Princeton). Anna stayed in character the entire time. Let me tell you, she does an extremely authentic curtsy and fantastically demure “Yes ma’am.” She shares about her experience here.

The kids were shown to the library, where they awaited the arrival of the matriarch of the house (that was me). While they waited, Marissa and Joani, (who played my “daughters”) helped them settle in and personalize a tent card for the tea table. We used images of Victorian calling cards to create the tent cards (thank you, Google image search).

table cardsWhen everyone had arrived, I was officially announced by Anna. I sashayed into the room, greeted everyone, and proceeded to do a 15 minute PowerPoint presentation on the history of tea in England.

power point presentationThe historical content and connections for this program were quite extensive, and this post is already going to be rather long. So I’m going to describe the historical content in very broad brushstrokes. At the program, kids learned how tea was initially an expensive import available only to the upper class. It was also heavily taxed (sometimes over 100%). This resulted in a roaring trade in smuggled and adulterated tea. However, as tea became more affordable, it was enjoyed by all the citizens of England.

We talked about the advent of Victorian afternoon tea, the progression of the tea set from handle-less cups and bowl-like saucers to super fancy family heirlooms, and how “High Tea” was originally associated with the lower class. The presentation was full of historic photos, paintings, humor, and interesting facts.

Then it was time for tea. I escorted the kids through the gorgeous grand parlor…

grand parlorTo the dining room where our splendid tea table was laid out!

tea tableWaiting at each chair was a unique teacup and saucer. The kids got to take home these cups and saucers as mementos. They were so excited.

tea cup 3The take-home teacup was something I really, really wanted to do when I first conceptualized this program. So I sent a request through our library’s recycling program. The response was amazing. I couldn’t believe the incredible teacups my co-workers donated! Here’s one of my favorites. Look at the little feet!

teacup 2I also stopped by Nearly New, a local thrift store/consignment shop. They completely hooked me up with some delightful cups and saucers.

Once everyone was seated, and before we started serving the goodies, there was a little more history. I decided not to use PowerPoint for this portion of the presentation, opting instead for props and photos reprinted on 8.5 x 11 card stock. This is because while we were at the tea table, I wanted things to feel very natural and low tech.

One of the things I demonstrated was how tea was traditionally brewed (i.e. loose leaves steeped in a pot). I had some more modern tea infusers, as well as loose leaf green and black tea on display.

tea instructionI couldn’t resist demonstrating tea pods as well. Have you seen these things? They are dried herbal pods you drop into hot water, and they “bloom” as they steep in the hot water. I first spotted one in Sophia Coppola’s movie Marie Antoinette. As luck would have it, Infini-T, our local tea shop, had them!

tea pod demo

Finally, tea. We served Twinings English black tea (decaf of course) in teabags. To avoid  scalding hazards, kids brought their cups and saucers over to a silver tea urn.

tea urnI was stationed next to the urn, offering milk and sugar. I can’t resist sharing this little history fact…way back when, sugar came in big cones you had to break apart with a special tool called sugar nippers. This resulted in irregular lumps of sugar. Hence the question “one lump or two?”

When everyone had settled with their cups, The maid and my daughters circled the room, bearing trays filled with mini-cupcakes, mini-scones, mini-croissants, and cookies. Jam and butter were also available. Mmmmm.

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tea table 1anna servestea table 3tea table 6tea table 4tea table 7Having coached the kids on Victorian etiquette earlier in the program, I am happy to report that our young ladies and gentleman did very well indeed. Napkins were on laps, voices were not raised. We conversed very genially about their activities, interests, holiday doings, and travel adventures.

After tea, we retired to the grand parlor. I explained that after family teas or parties, Victorians like to play parlor games. And we tried a few period games!

To play “The Laughing Game,” stand in a circle facing each other. The first person says “Ha.” The next person says “Ha Ha.” The third person says “Ha Ha Ha” and so on. This must be done with a completely straight face. The first person who smiles or laughs must pay a forfeit. We never made it past the fourth person.

the laughing gameTo play “Hunt the Thimble,” have everyone leave the room except for one person. That person must hide a thimble somewhere in the room (however, it must be in plain view and not hidden behind anything). The players reenter the room and silently begin searching. If you spot the thimble, you immediately sit on the floor. The last person standing must pay a forfeit.

hunt the thimbleAnd now, for the crowning glory of the program. Joani, who is in Glee Club, agreed to research and perform some popular period music pieces. She sang two, including “How Doth the Little Crocodile.” The song is, of course, the poem from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland set to music. It’s from a rare 1872 Alice in Wonderland songbook from our special collections.


After that, the merry tea drinkers departed, carrying their cups and saucers home in white paper bags. We managed to snap some photos of our guests. On the invitation to the tea, kids were encouraged to dress up. Look at these two lovely ladies!

lovely ladiesWe asked these kids to sit and look “proper.”

looking proper in the parlorAnd check out the breeches on the young gentleman! I do believe those are modified baseball pants. That, my friends, is innovation.

photoBut this “dress up” took the Wonderland cake. Behold the queen of hearts!

queen of heartsSo how did the Victorian tea program go over? Amazingly well. Astonishingly well. We had a jolly good time I tell you! And while I loved the setting, the teacups, the costumes, and the cupcakes, the best part for me was how much history was packed in with the fun. Honestly, I don’t think any of them will ever look at a cup of tea in the same way again.

However, I think it was Anna who received the most authentic Victorian experience that day. We ran two sessions, a 10am and a 1pm. Anna was dashing around as the maid for hours. The poor girl was completely wiped out at the end! Thus, this portrait of a very tired maid.

anna is way tired


Thank you again to Palmer House for hosting the tea, McCarter Theater for the costume loans, and for everyone who donated teacups and saucers. You helped make the program truly amazing. Thank you!