Olive Parker

Model and cinephile Olive Parker has gone from working with Gucci to helping champion exciting new filmmakers in LA. She talks to us about what kickstarted her love of cinema, taking style inspiration from what she sees on screen and the thing she enjoys most about modelling.

When did you get into film, and when did you know it was what you wanted to work in?

I think I actually first got into film because I wanted to impress a boy, and I thought the way to impress him was to have seen a lot of movies! It didn’t really work, but I found something more important - from then I just wanted to kind of see everything. Then I decided I wanted to study it at university, as it was the only thing I could think of that I could do with my life!

Were there any particular films that really grabbed you and made you realise it was something you were getting genuinely invested in?

Yeah, I always had a penchant for fantasy - I saw some of Powell and Pressburger’s stuff like The Red Shoes and A Matter Of Life And Death pretty early on, and Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders, Orpheus, etc, sort of shaped what I enjoyed watching. I think I still look to that kind of weird, escapist, surrealist fantasy now. Poor Things is one of my favourite films of recent times - I thought the world that Yorgos created was really impressive. Recently I also liked The Sweet East by Sean Price Williams, which has an Alice In Wonderland vibe that I really appreciated. I enjoy anything that feels like someone is escaping their reality and going into some sort of weird world.

How did you find work in film coming out of uni?

I was modelling full-time basically, when I finished uni, and then Covid hit and that put a stop to modelling being my main thing. I did an internship during lockdown, for a company called 141 Entertainment, and I was just doing development and stuff like that - reading scripts and sourcing talent for a production they were working on. Then I met my ex-boyfriend Eugene Kotlyarenko, who was working for a company in LA, Spacemaker, and I became involved with them, reading scripts and doing similar things. I still work with them, and they’re amazing - all the projects they work on have a very specific feel, that everyone involved really cares about and knows “This is our kind of movie”. It’s all about the directors really - people that are cool and have original voices. I really like unpredictability in movies - when you have no idea where it’s gonna go, when it’ll surprise you in some way. It’s hard these days though - I go to see so many films at the cinema and I know what’s gonna happen from the first act! I like to be surprised, I like to laugh, I like to get a bit more than just enjoyment out of a movie.

How did you get into modelling?

I think I was 16 or 17, I was at a festival in Cornwall where I grew up, and I met the designer Molly Goddard, who invited to me London to model in her SS16 show. I moved to London the next year for university, and was scouted then by my mother agent Troy Fearn. I did have to juggle it with uni a lot - I did Gucci under Alessandro Michele for a year, which was my ultimate dream as a model! I was very, very lucky to spend a year going to Italy every month and working with them - it was a dream come true, honestly. That was almost up until Covid - I was there doing Milan Fashion Week just before Covid in 2020.

How did you balance studying and modelling?

I managed it, but I think I was very stressed a lot of the time. I did good at uni though, so it all worked out in the end. I do kind of wish my modelling could’ve waited until after uni. I still model, occasionally, whenever anyone wants me. I enjoy it, it’s fun - I get inspired, I like to work with creative people. It’s escaping into fantasy again - I very much enjoy being this random character for a day, being someone I would never be, and with modelling you can do that, and get paid!

Has your own personal style changed through your work modelling?

Yeah, definitely. I used to get a lot of inspiration from films I was watching - I dressed very 70s, as I was watching loads of 70s films. I was very inspired when I was working at Gucci - I was working with the design team which was really interesting, as you get to wear something and then it might end up on the catwalk.

There are quite a few models who’ve gone into acting - have you ever worked in front of the camera?

No - I’m actually very self-conscious! I can’t really imagine myself acting, I don’t think I’d be very good at it. I’m much happier working in production.

What have you been watching lately? Has there been anything you’ve particularly enjoyed?

There was a Catherine Breillat film called Last Summer, which is about a woman who has an affair with her husband’s son - I don’t think it’s had much of a release in the UK. I had a horrible cinema experience, as I was sat next to a girl who was tapping her leg so violently my chair was shaking, but I still thought it was a great film! I wasn’t really into many of the big Oscar films this year, but I did like The Holdovers, that was my favourite. I loved Saltburn, I felt that did a good job of making British cinema fun again, and the Radu Jude film Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World, which is really niche but feels very new, it’s very funny. I generally find something to like in everything I watch - I don’t like to come out feeling like I hated a film.

Words: Scott Bates

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