The performance artist and personal trainer chats about making out with the most famous woman in the world.
By Noah Michelson
Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” video is nothing short of epic. Nearly 10 minutes long, it picks up where her “Paparazzi” video ended — with the pop star headed to jail for murder. Once inside, Gaga does what any woman in her situation would do — she finds herself a hot girlfriend. Canadian performance artist and personal trainer Heather Cassils was handpicked by Gaga to play the role of her prison yard girlfriend. We chatted with Cassils to find out how she ended up in the “Telephone” video, her feelings about depictions of queer women in mainstream media, and what it’s like to make out with the most famous woman in the world.
Out: Were you familiar with Gaga’s work before you were cast for the shoot?
Heather Cassils: I was not a totally massive fan per se, but my background and training is as an artist, and I did notice she was bringing a lot of elements of performance art into her pop cultural practice. And she has referenced people like Leigh Bowery and feminist performances, so I was aware of that, and that’s what caught my eye about her more than anything else — as well as the fact that she was doing something different and presenting herself differently from other pop stars who have been around in the last little while.
How did you get cast in the video?
I got cast because I work as a personal trainer. I run my own independent contracting business, and I run it out of a gay gym in Silver Lake. There’s a woman at my gym named Dallas, and she’s also kind of an aspiring actress of sorts, and she had been called in to play one of the guards. She called me up from the casting and said they were desperate for bodybuilders, and she told them, “There’s this person at my gym who’s not a pro bodybuilder, but she has a really cut physique,” and she suggested I’d be perfect for it. So I went down and auditioned — but I’m not hormones or anything like that — so they ended up casting me as an inmate in the prison scene. They were blocking the scene, and the woman who was blocking for Gaga disappeared, and Gaga came out, and she just kind of instantly called me over, and it just happened like that. She called me over and asked me to portray her girlfriend and said, “OK, you’re going to be my prison girlfriend, and you’re going to come to me, and I’d like you to touch me inappropriately.” [Laughs] We just kind of went from there.
-Source: OUT Magazine
-Post By: Vincent
