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BAR BELLES With these five actresses playing sexy barmaids in the hot summer flick Coyote Ugly, happy hour just took on a whole new meaning. By Stephen Rebello What would you expect to find inside a dive bar named the Coyote Ugly Saloon? Not these lookers, for sure. But that real-life hole in the wall in New York City’s funky East Village features not only tequila as the house drink, George Jones on the jukebox, and customers’ bras dangling from the ceiling but also a pack of feisty female bartenders who pour the shots, strut their stuff on top of the bar, and scissor the necktie off any uptight Wall Streeter stupid enough to order a spritzer. Even if such a saloon didn’t exist, Hollywood would’ve had to invent it. So it’s not surprising that movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer, justly famous for such babe and boom! fare as Flashdance, The Rock, and Armageddon (not to mention this summer’s Gone in 60 Seconds), has co-opted the concept, lacquered on a coat of high gloss, and gathered up five femme fatales to play the ballsy barmaids of Coyote Ugly. After a cross-country search that reportedly included Jewel and Jessica Biehl, New Jersey native Piper Perabo was picked to play the lead role of a shy, aspiring songwriter who makes the rent by slinging drinks at the saloon. Surrounding her are such sister coyotes and fellow screen newcomers as sexily confrontational Bridget Moynahan, who plays the bar’s hellcat, and innocently sensual Izabella Miko, its resident Lolita. Best known in the cast are former ER star Maria Bello as the been-there-drank-that bar owner and supermodel Tyra Banks as a luscious law student. So before the movie has the whole planet trying to buy these gals a drink, we thought we’d round up the coyote pack for a group howl. TAPPING THE SOURCE MARIA: The Coyote Ugly bar of the movie is lots tamer than the real thing. There’s a real power trip going on with the girl bartenders in these types of saloons, which is, “Now we’re behind the bar, and we have what you want.” At one of the places in New York, I did what these girls did: I jumped on the bar, danced, and grabbed a beer bottle from this big football player kind of guy and poured it down his throat. Of course it spilled all over him. I mean, here was this strapping guy letting a woman pour beer over his head, and he still thought it was cute! TYRA: I checked out one of these bars, Hogs & Heifers, with my hairdresser. It was really insane, a lot rougher than the bar in our movie. I just wanted to observe from the back, but the babes behind the bar started yelling, “Girl, you’d better come on up here!” So I climbed up on top of the bar and danced. They wanted to hang my bra from the ceiling with all the others, but I managed to get out of there with my underwear intact. PIPER: The real Coyote Ugly Saloon was smaller than I imagined but, otherwise, just about what I expected-dim, dark wood, an old jukebox playing lots of country-rock from the ’80s. It was…interesting. I like hole-in-the-wall bars much better than chic places. There are a lot of bars where you have to be dressed a certain way, be good-looking, and pay a $100 door charge to get in and be treated like crap. At Coyote Ugly, the attitude is, “We’ll treat you like crap for the price of a drink.” When I told the bartender I was going to be in the movie, she told me all about what it was like to work there, then said, “Let’s do some shots together. What do you want?” I said, “Uh, well, I’ll do shots of whatever you do.” She yells, “All right! Johnnie Black!” We did them until I was, like, “Whoa!” That woman didn’t mess around. BRIDGET: Yeah, there’s a lot of playfulness and flirtation going on in those places, but the women are, like, “I’ll give you what I want to give you, and you’ll be satisfied with that. And hey, if you don’t like it, get the fuck out, because it’s my place.” House rules, you know. IZABELLA: The big thing in our movie is that the guy customers can’t touch the girls. You can cheer, you can sing, you can clap-you cannot touch the girls. It’s very much about desire and guys wanting to do something so bad, looking at the girls and building up this…you know. For the girls, you feel like you’re in power, and you are. Women over the years have gone through so much, and now we accept our secret powers of how to make you men melt down. Today a woman can have control of her man totally. We can make you men work for us, do whatever we want you to do. PIPER: The movie makes a funny statement about what it means to be a strong woman. The fact that these women not only run the bar, but own it, is pretty interesting. That said, they still have a guy bouncer at the door. STARS IN BARS BRIDGET: I was in this crazy bar years ago with a bunch of friends, and for some reason, I wound up on the table, dancing. I slipped right off the table and landed on my back, which was not a good thing. But I stood up, and I was riding a motorcycle that night, so I yanked on my helmet, walked out, jumped on my bike, and roared off. My friend sent me a magnum of champagne for making such an exit. MARIA: I remember being 22, living in Greenwich Village, and going with some guys who were friends of mine to check out an S&M club. I walk through the door and the first thing I see is a paunchy 60-year-old man wearing an orange G-string in a cage, getting whipped by a woman dressed like Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie, only with no panties. I had a few drinks, and after a while a guy came up to me and said, “May I lick your feet?” I was, like, “Ewwww, no!” That was probably the least erotic place I’ve ever been in. My image of an erotic bar is a smoky Southern joint with sawdust on the floor and sweaty people dancing really close to blues and drinking Budweiser from a can. TYRA: I’m so not a bar girl now. This whole movie was total acting for me. But when I was 15 or 16 in Los Angeles, I had a fake ID and was hitting Roxbury and places like that serious for two years. The bouncers would be, like, “This looks fake,” and I’d be, “No, I swear, it’s not.” I even did weird accents, like “I haf lost ze passport and I do not know where eet eez.” I was really skinny and wore cutoffs and thigh-high boots. I liked college guys, but none of them ever liked me. They could tell I was just a skinny little girl. PIPER: When I first moved to New York, I worked as a cocktail waitress, and I was terrible at it. Just terrible. You have to carry a lot of drinks on a tray, of course, and I don’t have a great sense of balance. Take one drink off the tray on the wrong side and the whole thing falls. I did a lot of that. At first the manager said, “Oh, that’s OK, don’t worry about it.” But once you start dropping three or four trays a night, they start taking it out of your tips. And unlike at Coyote Ugly, I had to keep my mouth shut and smile no matter how the customers were behaving. Telling people off also doesn’t get you big tips, although I did it anyway. I wasn’t a good cocktail waitress, so luckily I got my first acting job about a month later. IZABELLA: Well, first of all, I’m only 19 years old, so I haven’t been in a lot of bars. I didn’t even know the difference between this alcohol and that alcohol. For me, it was all the same. So for the movie, I had to learn, Oh, this is whiskey, this is tequila. THE FLASHDANCE FACTOR PIPER: After I got the role, everybody started telling me, “Oh, my God, they’re making a Flashdance for 2000,” and though I saw it a long time ago, I didn’t watch it again because I was afraid of just copying the women in that movie. Really, I’m not as much a film buff as I should be. I don’t even own a TV. MARIA: Flashdance is one of my all-time favorite movies. I was the small-town gal who could never possibly dream she would become an actress. I copied the whole look from that movie. I tore up old T-shirts and tied them in my hair for headbands. TYRA: I saw Flashdance when I was, like, 10, so all I remember is a cutoff sweatshirt, welding, some dancing feet, and a nasty, sexy scene where Jennifer Beals was doing stuff to a guy under the table with her feet. WOLVES IN SEXY CLOTHING MARIA: The hardest thing about making this movie was the amount of time spent on hair, makeup, and clothes. On ER, hair and makeup was, like, 20 minutes-pull your hair in a ponytail, there ya go, bye. This was like a two-hour process every day, which I kind of abhor. It’s hard for me to sit still. I had to take breaks every 20 minutes. Our Coyote outfits all have a similar vibe, but each girl has her own take on it. Mine is skimpy leather and jeans and little T-shirts, kind of like a tomboy. IZABELLA: My character loves attention, and that shows in her clothes. Her outfits are really colorful and everything matches. That’s why she gets up on the bar. She wants guys to look at her. TYRA: It’s not like anybody was dowdy. Even Piper, who’s supposed to be the sweet one, was looking fine with her tight, sexy stuff on. But I’ve never been shy. I love to show off. Basically, I’m a drag queen. PICK-ME-UPS TYRA: A guy walked up to me in a mall and was talking, trying to flirt, and he finally says, “Hey baby, I’m a doctor. If you ever need me, here’s my card.” I looked at the card after he walked away, and it said he was a gynecologist. I never called to find out if it was just a prank or not. PIPER: I’m a bookworm, so you’re going to find me in a library, not a bar. Even in college, though, I’d go to places surrounded by a bunch of friends. It would take a guy with a lot of guts to single out a girl who’s surrounded by people. I always traveled in packs. Like a coyote. [Laughs] BRIDGET: It blows me away, some of the lines people use. I was in a restaurant-bar in Venice, and I felt this guy coming toward me-almost like radar. But he had the strangest strategy I’ve ever seen: He came up and nudged me on purpose, as if I was going to turn around and start a conversation. He had no idea I’d seen him maneuver the whole thing, so I spun around and said, “Don’t ever push me again,” and he was, like, “What?” I don’t think he was ready for that response, and he called me some ridiculous name. I said, “Well, that’s a good comeback.” Bizarre. Needless to say, it didn’t go well for him that night. TYRA: Oh, now I remember another guy. I’ve said before in interviews that I want a normal guy boyfriend, not a celebrity. So this one guy came up to me and said, “Tyra, I’m normal. I ain’t got a job, my car’s in the shop, and I live with my mama.” You know, that’s a little too normal for me. BARHOPPING MARIA: Dance on top of a bar? Little ol’ me? Yeah, I have. I used to work at a karaoke club called Sing Sing. Maybe 20 people would show up a night, mostly Japanese businessmen who would sing the same songs, night after night, until I thought I’d go crazy. Sometimes, just to break things up, I’d jump on the bar and run around singing “I Will Survive.” TYRA: My character, Zoe, is a law student, which you probably wouldn’t guess from all the tight leather she wears. There’s a great scene where I body-surf through the bar crowd, and at the same time, I’m passing out my card, which says “Future Lawyer.” That wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as my audition. I had to dance to that Prince song “Kiss.” I thought it would be for about 45 seconds, just to show that I could move, but it was the whole song. I never realized how long that song was, but then I just started having fun, smacking my lips and making air kisses. And here I am. Even so, I think this is the role where people will go, “Hey, Tyra can act.” I’m usually the girl in movies who just goes, “Hi,” but this character is more fun. I can show people that I have a crazy side and that I’m not just a sex kitten. PIPER: I danced on top of a bar for three months while making the movie. And if I ever had that urge in my system, that definitely took care of it. It takes a lot of guts to get on top of a bar and dance. It seems really, really high when you’re actually up there, and once the bar is covered with beer, it gets really slippery. IZABELLA: Probably the craziest thing we do in the movie is the water dance. We dance on the bar with pitchers of water and splash it on each other. And I mean pitchers of water, not just little drops, so we get totally wet. And everybody in the bar gets soaked, too. It’s wet…but it’s hot. BRIDGET: My character is a bit of a pyromaniac. I have a scene where I pour alcohol on the bar and light it on fire, then pull myself up on a rafter and crawl above the flames. It looks so hot on-screen, there ought to be a warning that flashes Don’t try this at home without a fire marshal. And in other scene, I get the crowd worked up by spitting fire. Once the pyro expert on set assured me I wouldn’t catch my hair on fire, I wanted to blow the fire out of my mouth. Then he warned me about a woman who had recently burned her face off. So we rigged it with a flame-thrower next to my face instead. WHY YOU'LL PAY THE COVER CHARGE MARIA: This is the kind of movie where, even if I wasn’t in it and I saw the trailer with one of my girlfriends, we’d say, “Oh, my God, we’ve got to see that.” The world is a lot more open now to women being expressive in terms of their sexuality. I don’t mean screwing everyone in sight, but now it’s perfectly acceptable to dress sexy and know that sexuality is a wonderful, powerful thing to have without worrying about being called a slut. PIPER: Guys will probably like the movie after one good look at Izabella and Bridget. Girls will like that it’s the story of a girl who goes after what she really wants. It was a fun movie to make, and it’ll be a fun movie to see. I mean, this is not exactly Anna Karenina, you know? BRIDGET: I think both men and women will be attracted to it, but I’m not sure that men won’t like it just because it has a pack of hot girls dancing on a bar. And I bet a lot of older men are going to see it, even though the movie is only rated PG-13. TYRA: I think men will look at the movie just as men would: Ooh, those women are sexy, and I’m going to see it, and tell my friends about, and maybe then see it again. Women are going to see it and say, I’m going to use some of that power tonight on my man and show him who’s boss. IZABELLA: I see the movie as a lot like the girl I play in it: sexy, happy, a lot of dancing, everything colorful and beautiful. And really hot. THE GIRLS PIPER PERABO "THE DREAMER" VITAL STATS: Born in 1977 in Toms River, New Jersey (also famous for its Little League World Series champion baseball team). “The first time I read the script, I was amazed because there were so many similarities between Violet [her Coyote character] and me. I grew up in New Jersey and moved to New York and worked in a bar before I got my first acting job.” BEFORE SHE GOT UGLY: Appeared in the recent hip-hop-in-the-heartland satire Whiteboys, and as FBI agent Karen Sympathy in this summer’s The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. SHOW TIME: Piper took a crash course of voice, guitar, piano, dance, and bartending lessons before hopping on the movie-set bar. “At first I was really scared. But after a few takes, I felt better about it. I mean, the crew and the extras are all told to cheer no matter what you do.” LAST CALL: “I’m really kind of a lightweight when it comes to drinking. But I’m not one of those pink- or blue-Hawaiian-tropical-drink girls. A cold can of Schaefer is fine for me.” MARIA BELLO "THE BOSS" VITAL STATS: Born in 1967 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Attended Villanova University and planned to become a lawyer until she took an acting class for fun during her senior year and got bitten by the performing bug. BEFORE SHE GOT UGLY: Quit her role as headstrong Dr. Anna Del Amico on top-rated ER to pursue a film career. Has since starred as a recovering junkie in Permanent Midnight with Ben Stiller and a tough-as-nails ex-hooker in Payback with Mel Gibson. But it was her role on the short-lived spy series Mr. and Mrs. Smith that led her to learn Moi Thai, a Taiwanese form of street-fighting. SUFFERING FOR HER ART: “I’ve been filming a movie called The Lady and the Panda in remote China for five weeks. My bathroom is literally nothing but two holes in the ground. And on the ceiling are all these cobwebs, and any minute 500 spiders can drop on your head. It’s so disgusting. I went to the bathroom at 3 a.m. a few nights ago and just started crying and laughing at the same time, like, Oh, my God, I want to go back to Hollywood.” LAST CALL: “I like a fine scotch. That’s where I am in my life right now-no tutti-frutti anything. Just a fine single-single malt scotch. In fact, I’d like one right now.” TYRA BANKS "THE LAW" VITAL STATS: Born in 1973 in Los Angeles. At 17 she was signed by the Elite modeling agency, and has since appeared on more than 20 magazine covers and made the Victoria’s Secret catalog required reading. BEFORE SHE GOT UGLY: The supermodel made her Hollywood debut on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Has since appeared in Higher Learning, Love & Basketball, and male fantasies worldwide: “Oh, I definitely want to be a movie star: Most actresses right now have been models, but they weren’t famous, so people don’t know that.” CROWED PLEASER: “Sometimes it’s a mob and sometimes it’s 10 people asking for an autograph. And if I’m wearing a baseball cap, people are, like, ‘You look like Tyra Banks, but she’s cuter than you.’ And I say, ‘She sure is.’” LAST CALL: “It’s funny that I got this role, because I don’t drink. When I go out with friends, they’re happy if somebody sends over free drinks, but I could care less. 7Up with grenadine and a cherry doesn’t cost that much. Sweet, pure, with just a little touch of badness going on with that innocence.” IZABELLA MIKO "THE HEARTBREAKER" VITAL STATS: Born in 1981 in Poland, where she studied dance, voice, and piano at the Chopin Music School (sort of like the art school in Fame, only full of Polish kids) before being recruited by a choreographer to move to the United States and join the School of American Ballet. BEFORE SHE GOT UGLY: When a back injury put an end to her professional dancing days, Izabella briefly moved back to her homeland and appeared in numerous Polish films, including the zany laughfest Lithuania, You’re My Motherland. MIXOLOGY: “Men in Poland are a little more mature than men here. I don’t know why. Here it’s better to date a guy who is older. I love it when guys look you straight in the eye. I like that connection. A guy has to be confident-everyone notices his presence and energy-but not egotistical. Energy is so important. Nice cheekbones and teeth don’t hurt, either.” LAST CALL: “My favorite drink is a Malibu. It’s a total girl drink-coconut liqueur mixed with milk and ice. Basically it’s just a milkshake with a little alcohol. I discovered it in Poland when I was about 12 years old and we’d have parties. I wanted to try a drink, but I hate the taste of alcohol, so someone mixed me a Malibu.” BRIDGET MOYNAHAN "THE FLAME" VITAL STATS: Born in 1972 in Binghamton, New York, and raised in Long Meadow, Massachusetts, Bridget chose to join the high school soccer team over the drama club. “I was an athlete, and I grew up with brothers and male cousins. So like in the movie, I’m used to fighting for my place in a traditionally male environment.” BEFORE SHE GOT UGLY: Appeared in indie flicks Whipped and In the Weeds, and has a recurring role as Natasha, the fiancée of Mr. Big, on HBO’s Sex and the City. Her next movie project is Serendipity, with John Cusack. COTOTE MATING SEASON: “I feel optimistic about getting into a very good, positive relationship. I don’t have any question about that. It’s going to happen when the timing is right. But I can’t say that I’m the right flavored coffee for everybody.” LAST CALL: “Vodka straight up, nothing in it, just right to the point. I don’t even know what a lot of those fancy drinks are.” |
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