Thelma and Louise definitely look older and wiser.
The whole experience with an extraterrestrial most definitely aged 10-year-old Elliott.
Maria — from “The Sound of Music” — is more great-grandma than the perky, just- kicked-out-of-the-convent governess.
And, that’s the point.
The iconic film posters in the Casa Classics 2017 Calendar feature 20 senior citizens — ages 69 to 97 — duded up in costumes to recreate oldies like 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz” to more modern movies such as “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
The $15 calendar is a fundraiser for the Green Valley Senior Lunch Program at the Casa Community Center at La Posada. While the program is federally funded — it’s available to area residents over 60 with a suggested $3 donation — the Casa program is supplemented with parties, day trips and other activities.
“Socialization is every bit as important,” said Casa Community Center Director Ellen March, who added that the program serves 35-45 seniors a day, most of whom live alone and enjoy the chance to get out and visit.
In previous years, Casa held ice cream socials and even a mystery tea party to cover the costs of the extras. But when March heard about a similar calendar done in Europe, she loved the idea. She reached out to Sahuarita film and TV instructor Derek Marshall. It was an easy sell.
Marshall’s students already collaborate with Casa Community Services on a program called Story Keeping at Casa that has students filming seniors sharing stories about their lives. His teaching assistant, Victoria Felix, now a freshman at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, provided the photo-editing expertise and handled the bulk of the photo shoots, which mostly took place over the summer.
“Doing the whole pictures and editing them and hearing the backstories brought me joy,” Felix, 18, said in a phone interview. “They loved doing it. ... It was great.”
When the initial call went out for models, no one volunteered, March said. But after learning a little more about the project, people decided they were ready for their closeups.
“Once we put wigs on them, it was amazing,” said Casa Community Services development specialist Regina Ford, also an actress and director who styled the models. She dipped into her own extensive costume collection for the photos. “They really got into it.”
Of course, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. A minor wardrobe malfunction plagued July.
“Keeping the coconut shells on was tough,” Ford said of John Platz’s “South Pacific” ensemble that included a too-small bra along with a grass skirt and plastic flower leis.
And 77-year-old Siony Villanueva, who played Mary Poppins, was mighty disappointed the penguins dancing along with her were to be edited in later.
Freddie Freeman’s exaggerated scream in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” ranked as Marshall’s favorite, and Freeman reported that her family — seven kids and “about 70 great-grandchildren” — thought the photo was hilarious, even though she is not such a fan of the flick.
“I didn’t like the movie,” Freeman, 87, said.
Not the case for the series that Joe Leon, 85, represented. Mr. April likes every one of the Indiana Jones movies, and along with slapping on a fedora and wearing a touch of makeup, he did a little extra prep for his shoot.
“I usually take a bath once a month,” cracked Leon, as he waited for lunch one day at the community center. “I took a shower for this.”
