MY LA: Miles Fisher
Current Gig: Actor and musician Miles Fisher, 28, has a lot going for him. He's worked with Clint Eastwood, shot in 3D and nailed one of the best Tom Cruise impersonations of all time. But trust us, he's not just a pretty face. Fisher graduated from Harvard University, sang with the acappella group the Krokodiloes and was even selected as their speaker at graduation. He is the son of Richard W. Fisher, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and his mother Nancy Fisher serves on the national board of the American Film Institute. He isn't from LA but he might as well be -- he is the perfect combination of class, drive and charm.
Neighborhood: The border of Santa Monica and Venice, just off of Ocean Ave.
LA Transplant or Native Angeleno? I'm a transplant having grown up in Dallas, Texas, and Washington, D.C.
What is your favorite dish at an LA restaurant? At Giorgio Baldi, off of PCH, they serve an agnolotti (small raviolis with sweet corn and white truffle oil inside) that's so good, your brains will fall out.
One of our favorite things about you is your "American Psycho"-themed music video for the Talking Heads' song "This Must Be The Place." How did the video come to be? I recorded the cover and wanted to do a "cover video" -- something cinematic where the lyrics would mirror the actions from iconic film scenes. "American Psycho" just worked. The best part about it was rolling up my sleeves without knowing how on earth we were going to pull it off.
Favorite '80s movie and movie character, since you're clearly a fan? Erwin F. Fletcher, "Fletch."
You are an accomplished musician. Where is the best place to see live music in Los Angeles? The Troubadour is always a good bet, as you can always get close to the stage without it having to be a big production.
Favorite LA dive bar? I wouldn't call it a dive bar ... but Tom Bergins on Fairfax has more character, surliness and "we've been here before you were born" authenticity than most. Great for pints of Guinness.
Best place for late-night food? My kitchen.
Biggest misconception about LA? It's all liberals.
Best warning about LA? Los Angeles attracts those who dream big. There's no one right way to "make it" here. That said, there's only thing in common that all successful people have here: not one of them gave up.
If not acting or making music, where might one find you? Observing from the sidelines. I always thought that if I wasn't performing creatively, I'd be in advertising. I never grew up watching much TV, but I've always watched a lot of ads. I'm fascinated by them -- how to attach "cool" to products and brands through mixed media. So you might find me on Madison Ave.
Freeways or side streets? I'm an equal opportunity player. Whatever gets me there fastest.
Most boring part of appearing on "Mad Men"? Getting feedback from other auditions that my reading for the part was "too 'Mad Men.'" Huh? You mean, I'm too much like the character I played, or just too 1960s in general, or that my haircut is too clean? What does that mean?
Do you have a song that reminds you of LA? When I first moved out here, Passion Pit, Phoenix, MGMT were in heavy rotation, so those tracks always remind me of the exuberant anxiety of this new chapter in my life. Now, it's anything that RAC has recently remixed.
You worked with an all-star cast on "J. Edgar" -- namely Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts and Judi Dench. But what was the biggest surprise to come out of being directed by Clint Eastwood? Eastwood, whom everyone calls "boss," would seldom do more than two takes. It was like an entirely different sport of filmmaking. Very laid back, very gentle.
Have you ever been starstruck? Nope. I grew up in a political family where we were constantly entertaining guests. From an external perspective, these were people of prominence in various international fields, but I wouldn't have known it at such a young age. If anything, I've learned that it’s the non-famous who are the most interesting.
We've heard that you delivered the Harvard Oration speech at your commencement. Is there anything, looking back now, you wish you had said? I wish I had put an emphasis on implementing your ideas. The type of person Harvard sets free on the world is hardly short of ideas. Currency and change comes from implementing those ideas. My first years in LA taught me quickly that talk is cheap. Everyone has good ideas, cool ideas, funny ideas, etc. My videos on YouTube were an effort to put my money where my mouth was -- act on it.
What is the craziest thing you've seen in LA? The varying degrees of what's "tasteful" in LA cracks me up. Remember Angelyne billboards? That flaunt-it ethos is still alive and well. Los Angeles never fails to punch modesty right in the face.
Why do you love Los Angeles? More than anything, it's the city where I first set out on my own in my life, planted a flag, and resolved to "make it". It'' where I met many of my favorite people in life. What it lacks in seasons, it gains in diversity of imagination.
The title of your new blog is SaveImageAs - where does it come from? SaveImageAs is a phrase that exists on every computer in the world. It's what happens when you move your cursor over a photo and "right-click" to save an image to your hardrive. I've always been a hyper-visual person. Growing up, I would tear pages out of magazines that inspired me, filing them away for later reference. When I left home for college, I no longer got my visual inspiration from magazines, but rather from the computer screen. I became entranced and wanted to be a part of this new visual communication.
Visual blogging became a constant mood board, a way to perfectly articulate my taste without having to say a word. The motto is "The aim was not to be everyone's 10th favorite blog, but rather 10 people's favorite blog." Themes ranging from interior design, to color schemes, to experimental lighting, to clothing, to lifestyle aesthetics and ethos, to...women.
How do you define beauty? Some mixture of sophistication, nuance, sincerity, curiosity, style, energy, and grace.
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