13 Beautiful Boys & Girls

Interview, Oct, 2000 by Julia Chaplin

1. MATT CIRULNICK

By the tender age of twenty-four, this wunderkind screenwriter from Brooklyn has already finished several feature scripts, including Total Recall 2 and a TV show for Miramax called 101, which he describes as "Miami Vice in college." The Dartmouth College graduate's future screenwriting plans include anything but romantic comedy. "Everything else is fair game," he says. His success mantra: "If you want to be a writer, don't go out every night and talk about writing. Sit down in front of your computer and just do it."

Interview extends our gratitude to Polaroid for donating all of the film for "13 Beautiful Boys & Girls." special thanks also go to Pier 59 Studios for their hospitality, and to Lens & Repro for use of their equipment. Additional thanks to U.S. Color Lab.

2. RACHEL AYALA

A budding fashion expert who spots trends for corporations and pens a style column for the handheld wireless device "Modo," Rachel attended New York's Fame arts high school. "Every day was like a very competitive fashion show," says the Bronx native, who sews all her own clothes--including sexy tops made of surgical tape. Ploy for fast cash: "In college, I danced in a cage wearing Daisy Dukes while selling Jell-O shots." Fabulous NYC moment: "I introduced myself to Madonna at Puffy's restaurant, Justin's. She told me I was bold."

3. CODY FRANCHETTI

When he was fourteen, Cody developed the habit of visiting the tailor at least once a week. "It's like going to the shrink," says the twenty-five-year-old nephew of artist Cy Twombly, who came to New York from Rome five years ago to study classical music. "Ill go to the Gap and buy a five-dollar T-shirt, then spend twice that to get it fixed. I just like clothes that fit well." Two weeks after his friend Lauren Hutton suggested he take up modeling, he was being shot by photographers Bruce Weber and Max Vadukul for major fashion glossies. "I like to stay home and read," says Cody. "I don't like people that much, so all of this attention is very strange."

4. CATHERINE "CAT" WEI

This recent Columbia Architecture School graduate dreams of being famous for exploring the more sensory realms of architecture. In the meantime she's having fun as a freelance architectural designer, modeling (yes, that's her sporting the boxers on that Jockey underwear billboard), and earning extra cash as a "quality control" door girl at fortresslike nightclubs. Great discovery: Red Bull and vodka. "It enables you to get home after playing all night." Style obsession: Wearing tropical flowers in her hair. Fabulous NYC moment: "I had to slap Oliver Stone across the face one night at Joe's Pub. Too bad he liked it."

5. CAZWELL

This talented twenty-five-year-old gay hip-hop artist moved from Boston to Manhattan last fall to become wildly famous. Since then his laugh-laden rap duo Morplay (as in "Play our record more!") has become a hit on the local club circuit. The duo dresses up with themes like the Boy Scouts and rhymes original songs such as "Bong Hits and Grits." Ploy for fast cash: "I give private foot massages which I advertise in Next Magazine, and I work as a cocktail waiter at the Chelsea bar Barracuda." Success nightmare: "Being famous, but everyone disrespecting me like Vanilla Ice." Best physical asset: "My tongue."

6. ALICK CROSSLEY

Alick was an international runway model before self-imposed retirement at the age of eighteen. Now the Connecticut native, who moved to New York City three years ago, prefers to slave away as a photo assistant so he can learn the shutterbug ropes. "I want to publish books of documentary-style photography," says Alick, whose older brother is artist Damian Loeb. "But I don't want to shoot celebrities, 'cause I see them so much." Fabulous NYC moment: At Donatella Versace's house after the Metropolitan Museum's annual ball. Best physical asset: "Girls seem to like my lips and earlobes. But you'll have to ask them why."

7. BAY GARNETT

Sick of being bossed around by fashion magazines, this London hottie, who moved to New York three years ago, recently cofounded Cheep Date, an irreverent 'zine intended as a "poke in the eye" to serious style mores. They've cooked up such subversive articles as "Shop Dropping," where, as Bay explains, "You go into Helmut Lang, put an obese polyester dress on the rack, and sneak out." Latest style obsession: "Sailor-style macrame for my wrist." Fabulous NYC moment: "Last Thanksgiving I had dinner with Jerry Hall and a bunch of people, and then we all jumped in a stretch limo and went to Atlantic City."

8. PJ RANSONE

PJ, twenty-one, left his home in Baltimore three years ago to study filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. After dropping out a year later, he was at a party for David LaChapelle where he met celeb photographer Patrick McMullan, who immediately hired him as an assistant. Luck followed. Larry Clark cast PJ in his next film, and he scored a role in the upcoming indie flick American Astronaut. His charm hasn't failed yet: "I was singing a karaoke version of 'Sweet Child O' Mine' at Moomba," he boasts, "and Yasmine Bleeth grabbed my crotch."