GagaDaily Interviews.... Hilly Hindi of the HILLYWOOD Show for Gagaween 2014!
by Katharine Styles-Burroughs, for GagaDaily.com
One day in 2011... a video was released by some fans of Gaga that would become synonymous in the Gaga fanbase with this time of year and Halloween itself...
That video was the incomparable "Gagaween", by Hilly and Hannah Hindi. These two sisters make their own professional videos and parodies for a living, and are very successful and established stars on YouTube.
Hannah and Hilly Hindi
Good morning, Hilly!
Thanks for taking time to be interviewed today!
Thank you, I'm delighted!
We love you on the fan forums. I was going back, looking at some of the posts from 2011 and 2012, back when you guys were dropping some of these Gaga videos, and the fanbase just ate it up. They loved it.
Awwww!
Looking at your videos, these are really some crazy professional productions by you two, down to the nitty-gritty nuts and bolts of each film. And, just as a casual YouTube watcher, myself, I was blown away by all the attention to detail that you put into it. Was this something where you both started out as saying, "Hey, let's make some videos, and put them on YouTube for the heck of it!", or was there always a plan to make this a career?
Well, I've always been into filmmaking since I was 9. We would just do sketches at my house. And when my friends would come over, it wouldn't be like, "Oh hey, let's just have a playdate with Hilly", it would be, "Hey, Hilly, let's make a movie!" That's just what my house consisted of. It was just filming, making sketches, all about filming. I was just doing that since I was 9 years old. Then, in 2006, AoL (America OnLine) had a contest for teenagers asking them to send in their own idea for a webshow. So you had to audition, with an audition tape, and then AoL users had to vote for you for their favorite.
We came in 3rd place with that, and that was kind of the start of the HillyWood show, where we actually started dressing up and impersonating characters and stuff. So we came in 3rd, and I was like, "Well, that was fun, oh yeah, that was nice." I was only 16 at the time. Then we got emails from some of the viewers who voted for me and they said, "If you continue the show or if you put in on YouTube, I'd like to watch it." and "I was really inspired by the first one, and I'd like to see you make more episodes".
That's when I asked my sister, Hannah, "Hey, do you wanna help me film it, because, obviously, I can't film myself..." [Laughs] So then she agreed, and then after she agreed, I started asking her to be IN it, because I needed the sidekick, I need the extra person. So that's how she got really involved. And since then, we've been making videos, but it wasn't until 2009, when we made the "Twilight" parody, was when we kind of realized, "Oh, we kind of made a viral video..., Oh, is this what we are being led to do?", as far as music and parodies. Because before, it was always sketches, but in 2009 for Twilight, I had the vision to make a kind of musical parody, and that's when it kinda took off, and it was like a sign from God to say, "You can't stop now."
That's amazing. When I was watching, just preparing for this interview, I was watching a lot of the videos on your channel, and they are just so, GOOD. I have to say that, not just the Gaga ones, but all of them. I was cracking up!
So let's talk a little bit about "Gagaween"... That one ended up being tweeted by Gaga herself. Tell me, where did the idea for Gagaween come from?
I started getting comments on my videos when I wasn't even dressed up like her, and people were saying, "You resemble her, you really look like her." And I knew of Gaga, for, like, forever, since her first single, but I wasn't totally invested in her look. Like, I would look and go, "Well, I don't know, do I look like her? I'm not really sure." But I just got so many requests, I decided, well, maybe I should just try this and kind of see what happens. I talked to my sister about it, and we both kind of agreed that we didn't want to parody her, to make fun of her, because we really liked Gaga. We really liked her music, we liked her looks, we never -- well, we weren't the ones who would go, "Oh my God, she's so totally crazy with her looks!", we actually LIKED her looks! [Laughs]
I felt weird trying to think of a parody. I knew Halloween was approaching, and I'm a huge fan of Nightmare Before Christmas, and in the car, I just started humming, "Halloween" and trying to get Gagaween in there! For some reason! [Starts laughing] And I looked at my sister and just went, "Hey, what about this?" and went "This is Gagaween, this is Gagaween!" And I started seeing it. And she's like, "Yeah, that's nice, but it's going to be way too hard to do." And I was like, "No, we could totally do it! It would be so amazing, we could showcase her costumes, we could pay tribute to her, all of the looks that she does! I wanna do it! I wanna do it!"
So finally, we kind of did. She really helped me organize it. I'm always too crazy with my concepts, I have too many concepts, she helped me bring it down to earth and organize it and from there it was when we started making up all of the lyrics and thinking about all of her different looks, from you know, Jo [Calderone], to Paparazzi, to everything that she's done. We wanted to incorporate it to celebrate it. Honestly, it was just made for fans. I didn't make it for her to see it, because I knew that was totally not going to happen. At least in my mind. I made it pretty much for the fans. And for me to enjoy and kind of dress up like her. And that's kind of it! But we had no idea that it was going to have the response that it did. I just don't know how it got there! [Laughs in amazement]
I think it filled a necessary niche. We needed someone to celebrate Gaga. And Gaga dresses pretty much like every day is Halloween. From the beginning of her fame, she had an immediate connection to Halloween for so many people. And now we have our own Gaga theme song that you guys wrote, and our own video that is just so much fun to watch. You guys filled a niche for the fans.
Oh, well, thank you! It was just so fun scripting that one specifically, because like I said, there are so many different looks that she's done, that we were able to do so many [of them]. It wasn't like we were saying, "Oh, we can only do this parody, we can only do this costume from "Born This Way", it was like, "No, we have so many that we can choose from." We just wanted to go for it. We just wanted to have fun -- and not make fun of her. The parodies I had seen of Gaga before were just really stupid, making fun of her, bringing her down and making her look stupid. And I wasn't into that. I really had respect for Lady Gaga, I think she's one of a kind. She was the first to step out of the box, to change a LOT of what we do in the industry, how she's influenced other artists, she took that step. So that was what we wanted to do, have fun with it, but not disrespect her. Because as I said, we really look up to her.
You both did a great job. There are so many sight gags in Gagaween. You have the decapitated Kermits, the boys covered up in mummy wrappings, and the Mermaid tail skateboard costume...! Comic genius! Who thought those up?
Some of the sight gags in Gagaween:
I thought of the Kermit one. I knew people had, I read the article, and I knew people were like, "That's kind of morbid..." and blah, blah, blah... and I was just like, "Well, you want to see morbid, I'll give you morbid!!" [Big laugh] We just had fun. That was one of the most hilarious shoots because the puppets looks so... terrible. [Cracks up] It was like a childhood nightmare, to see the Kermits bloodied! I was laughing so hard when we put the little strings to make the puppets move, like they were still alive...! And that was soooo fun! I liked her costume for the Kermit thing. I thought, well, if you guys think it was exaggerated, with what she did, well, I'll give you exaggerated!
I watched "The Making of Gagaween" and saw the little Kermit bodies and you two cracking up. Hysterical.
It was wayyyy too funny. And the mermaid thing! I loooove, love, love Yuyi. I knew I wanted to do the mermaid. We didn't know how to drag it along the sidewalk, because the mermaid tail that we were lent for that shoot wasn't ours, we had to send it back [to the owners.] And then they said, "Well, where are you going to have it?" And I told them, "It's for a project, I'm probably just going to have it on the pavement," and they said, "Well don't drag that thing, you're going to ruin it," and blah blah blah. So I was all, I guess we'll use a skateboard!" and my sister was like, "That'll be fine, I can't see it!" So that's why they stuck a skateboard underneath me, to look like I was dragging it.
Hilly as Yuyi The Mermaid
The hilarious "Making of Gagaween":
That's so funny! I was reading some of the Youtube comments, and they were looking at that costume and going, "It looks JUST like her! It's so SCARY!" And the makeup! You guys must have done hours of makeup.I think this was the first parody besides the Twilight ones, [where] my sister has always done my makeup. From Edward Scissorhands to Beetlejuice to the really really old looks that we have done. And for Twilight I did my own little Bella makeup, you know, super easy, mascara and lips! But for Gaga, my sister just looked at some of the pictures and was like, "Uhhh, I'm not gonna do that. That's too complicated." Especially with the Skeleton makeup. And I really wanted to do that look. And I said, "Well, could you try, could you help?" and she was like, "Nope. I can't draw for the life of me, I can't. I can't. You're gonna have to do it by yourself."
So it was the day of the actual shoot. I had never practiced it. She just said, "Go for it!" And it took me 3 hours!
When I came out, she got SO upset! Because "...all these years of me doing your makeup, and all your looks, and look how GOOD you are!" It took me forever though! But then she was like, "It's so good." And since then, she just allows me to do my own makeup. Because I think I kinda learned from her, honestly, from how many years she'd put it on me. For Gagaween, I did my own makeup. The longest look was the Skeleton, for sure. Took three hours the first day, and I think it was two the next day, 'cuz I kind of knew what I was doing!
In the making of Gagaween, there's a time lapse showing you putting all of that on. Did you have a photo of a skull in front of you to help you out?
Hilly as SkeletonGa
No, I just had her images from the music video. That's what I do, I always just look back and forth in the mirror to help me out. I just looked at the shading. It's a lot of just kind of painting, trying to make your face look 3D when you don't have the prosthetic forms. I didn't have those horns she wore on her forehead. So I just used shadows, to kind of give it a look. It's not perfect, but I tried my best.
It looks darn good.
Thanks!
Oh, you're welcome! It's really well-deserved praise.
I noticed you both have a really good sisterly chemistry onscreen, you play off of each other, especially in the Making Of films, it's really funny!
She's my best friend. Honestly. She's always been there for me. We were homeschooled, from the time she was in 5th Grade and I was in 3rd Grade. It's almost like, you grow up with your best friend. Yes, we have our differences, and yes, we sometimes have little catfights here and there, but I just know that she always has my back. She's like my shadow. Honestly, I can't -- I couldn't -- do the Hillywood Show without her. Yeah, ok, I know it was my idea from the beginning, but I would have gone nowhere without her helping me. So that's why I can't take total credit for the show. She's like my second half.
So cool that you have that connection. And homeschooled? That's awesome. I was, too, as a matter of fact!
So, I saw on Radio ARTPOP that you weren't too keen on the Christmas Gaga film, even though that film was hilarious. Would you ever consider remaking that film?
Hilly and friends, as a Christmas Gaga...
I don't think I would remake it. I think I cringe, because [at that time] I had seen her looks and I had heard her music but I was never the type to watch really her interviews or really understand her, like, "out of character", I want to say. So that's why I cringe. I [feel] like I kinda did it wrong on some parts! That was just fun. That was shot in a day. That was easy peasy pumpkin sneezy. It was just for fun. We put it online, like a tinier skit. But like I say, I cringe because I feel like I didn't know her enough, to do it. Because that was like, gosh, when? 2009?
I think it shows December of 2010, on the upload date, but you may have done it earlier.
Maybe I did it in December, and it came out January... something like that. I don't remember. Maybe it was 2010. It was just so long ago!
It was a long time ago. I can remember that Gaga from the old days, and now I see her in the new days... it's a totally different person sometimes, it seems! Sometimes it's hard to keep track.
Yeah! And I think, you know, a couple of years back, she was not as open as she is now. Now we really, really understand what she's trying to portray, who she really is. Because back then, it was more of us going like, "Oh yeah, she's a pop singer, and blah blah blah." We weren't really paying attention to just how big she was going to get, or the movement she was going to make. So that's why I feel like "I wish I would have known". She's far more open now, you see a lot of more of her personality, and I wish I could have done more of that. But it's whatever now, it's in the past...
But you know what's funny? We were talking about the looks in the [Gagaween] video... and I don't think it was originally planned that I was going to do Jo. But, I remember, before we were talking about actually going with Gagaween, I started getting a whole bunch of tweets. Around the time of the MTV Awards (where she dressed as Jo). I wasn't watching that night, I was at work. Or I was at dance, one or the other! But people [were tweeting] "Oh my gosh, Hilly, you need to tune in!", or "Oh my god, Gaga looks so much like Hilly today!" or "Hilly looks SO much like Gaga!" And I was SO excited, I ran home. And I looked at my recording and I was like, "Where is she?"... I was fast forwarding it... And then....!
[Hilly cracks up, trails off...]
Gaga was in character as Jo the whole night....!
[Laughs] So people were saying I looked like A GUY! [more laughs] It was SO funny! Because it was so unsuspected by me. I was thinking, "Oh my God, that's crazy." I understand now, because once I had the makeup on, well, yeah, I guess so! But it was one of those moments where I was thinking, "She's gonna be in diamonds, or..." and then when I saw it, it was like, "Wait... you think I look like a boy, guys?" [Laughs]
Hilly.... and Gaga as Jo:
[I start to laugh, too] Well, you DID do really well as Dr. Who!Thank you so much!
I loved that video. I must have spent an hour watching the film and the Making Of and the little mini documentaries that go with it. I have to be honest with you, Hilly, I've never seen an episode of Dr. Who, but this has got me interested in the series. I might experiment with that fandom. Hillywood made it look really appealing.
Hilly as Dr. Who:
Dr. Who was fun! It's just a lot of people are taken aback by how bizarre it is on some episodes. It's just a very bizarre show. But when you learn to love the characters, and the bizarreness, it wears off and you are just in for the ride. And you learn to totally understand the world of it. The thing is, with Dr. Who, you can go anywhere. You can do anything. You can BE anything. Because it's space time dimension --- because it's limitless! So that's what it pretty much is all about. It's like, wow. This is so diverse. It takes you out of your socks, I'll tell you that! It's kind of a shock at first, you don't want to believe any of it. But then, if you stick with it, and you give it a chance, you will learn to love it.I believe it was the Rocky Horror Picture Show that you guys took the song from?
Yes, m'aam!
Love how the lyrics were tweaked just a little bit to fit Dr. Who!
[Laughs]
You both strike an interesting balance online and in your films -- between being one with your religious faith, and yet still being comfortable enough within that faith to be fans of Lady Gaga. Sometimes within our fanbase, those can be mutually exclusive. It's refreshing to see you representing both concepts so well and openly.
I understand what you are saying, it makes sense. [I have] a cute story:
This mom we met, a while back at a convention, she came up to us and said, "Just so you know, my daughter thinks Hilly's videos are Gaga's videos. Because she's very very young."
[The girl] was about 5 or 6.
"And I'm worried, letting her see the actual video."
I don't know which one it was, maybe it was Alejandro or something like that.
"I'm afraid to show her the video. But she loves the song. So I show her YOUR videos, and she talks to her friends, and tells them, "I watch Lady Gaga videos!"
[Hilly laughs]
And I just thought that was really cute! Because, I guess, for our show, we really like to keep it at PG-13, so something like True Blood or even parodying another rated R type [movie] or extreme PG-14 or something, [can get to the point] where we like it, our whole audience can watch, because I know some girls write to us and say, "You know, my Mom thinks Twilight is too sexual, but she'll let me watch your parodies, and it's really awesome because I feel like I understand the movies." Things like that. Some are more extreme than others. It's just really encouraging. We just want to make our show comfortable enough, for, not for like little little kids, but just up to where young girls who might have commitments to not watching really over sexual stuff, or too much cursing, or things like that [feel comfortable].
We just make it over-all. We take a show that maybe they don't watch, and we make it become watchable. Does that make sense?
That does make sense!
When I was watching the Warm Bodies parody, I noticed you used "Monster", by Gaga, in there. If you look at the lyrics, those are pretty overtly sexual lyrics! [I start laughing]
[Hilly laughs along, too]
You took those lyrics and you translated them into this warm playfulness. At one point, you are in bed with the guy, playing around, and there wasn't anything overly sexual about it, yeah, there were some hints here and there, but it was just mostly pretty innocent and fun. That was a cute moment in the film!
[Sings] "There was a monster in my bed!"
The zombie is gnawing on your arm at one point. Awwww...
But it's kinda the same thing with "Show Me Your Teeth" when we did the vampire thing. We were able to take something and make it completely not what it's meant to reflect. But when we make it, we are like, "Oh, that's really about vampires, and their fangs!"
I will say though, and I do respect... some scenes are a little intense, but I do still like Gaga in more of the classy sexy way. Compared to maybe, Anaconda, for example, or Miley Cyrus. That's a bit distasteful. I think sex is a beautiful thing. I appreciate more classiness, rather than the more overly... kinda almost being p*orn...! Like, [I would go] "That's not even pretty! That's not really elegant!" You know? I feel like Gaga does a very good job at making it classy, and tasteful. Yes, it is a bit much sometimes, but I appreciate that. She's a woman that can flex that. And you can go like, "Wow, she's a beautiful woman." Not like, [adds a tone of disgust to her voice] "Oh my GOD.... what have I just seen!"
Well said, Hilly, very well said.
Hilly and her "Monster" in Warm Bodies.
You do a great job of separating the wheat from the chaff. You know if you are playing Gaga, you are gonna show the best about her, and you aren't gonna pander to the worst. You pick the best to showcase to the public what you know to be true about the subject.Yes. And even if we did, let's just say, in the future, "Let's do Miley, or let's do Nicki" we would take another direction, so it wouldn't be just seeing [their works] over again. I can't say that we would never do it, but I think it's wrong to make something that is rude to the artist. In end, Miley and Nicki Minaj are people. And it hurts either way, when you see someone make such fun of you.
You are coming at it from the heart.
Just being truthful!
What was it about Gaga that made you a fan? What was it that made you say, "I really like her!" ?
Like I said, I've always been a HUGE fan of her music. It's so different. Compared to what's been released. In 2010, you really started to hear the tones of her music, and feeling it a bit more. But what really, head over heels, made me a fan... I went totally into another direction of thinking about her when she tweeted out our parody. Because, like I said before, it wasn't meant for her to see. When Gagaween came out... let me see... I think it was...
[Pauses]
Was it 2011....? When did Gagaween come out?
It came out October 18th, 2011.
Okay, 2011. I don't even know if LittleMonsters.com was really around then.
I don't think it existed yet.
Gaga wasn't really tweeting things about fans at all. Like fan creations or something. It was very rare that she'd tweet about something that had nothing to do with promotion or the official things. She wasn't tweeting out fan stuff. And so when she did it, I just really realized "Oh my God. She is a completely down to earth girl who is just sitting in bed with the Haus of Gaga and just watching videos and laughing." And having enough love for what the video was to even post it. Because she could've just enjoyed it, and been like, "Oh my God, that's so funny!" and never even cared to show it. But the fact that she went out of her way to do so...
I mean, I started crying when I saw the tweet.
Because it was so humbling. I realized what an awesome and sweethearted woman she was. Honestly, some artists just take a look and go "That's funny." They pass it up.
Such a sweet story. And you're right, she had to have been just lounging around in bed and watching it and cracking up....with her team!
Actually that's what the tweet said. "Peeing in bed laughing with the Haus of Gaga"!
Apparently it was just one of her down times. I'm not sure how she got wind of the video. I really think there must have been fans that sent it to her. I don't think I sent it to her. I think maybe I may have sent it to her (on Twitter) like, once. I'm always too shy to send [the videos] to the actual artist! Some of my fans were sending it to her. Good thing for them!
Because I'm too shy! [Laughs]
The TWEET:
We had a thread about Gagaween made back on the 20th of October, 2011... I'm reading from it now in our archives, and people on the forum were saying, "She HAS to see this, she has to see this!" It looks like they did tweet her the film.Can you tell us a bit about your plans for future parodies? Will there ever be Gagaween 2.0? Or President Hilly and R. Kelly? What's in store for all the little HillyMonsters?
[Hilly laughs]
I'm not really sure! Of course, I would put on Gaga every day. Because I just LOVE doing anything Gaga! But right now, we just aren't sure, because there are so many new movies and T.V. shows coming out. And also, trying to figure out the right concepts. I never want to force concepts. I want to be inspired. I had one for ARTPOP, but I feel like that's kind of come and gone, when it was going to be her touring. And also, we didn't have the funds to create it at the time. So it's one of those things where you just have to find the right moment, and feel out parodies. Saying, "You know what, this is the right moment, lets do it, we are having fun, let's go." Hopefully... I would LOVE to do Gaga again. That's why I did President Gaga! [Laughs] Because I wanted to do another parody!
In the future, we could use another one of her songs, or we could just dedicate another thing exactly to her. *I* would like to. Like I said, I love, love, LOVE playing Lady Gaga.
You slay doing it.
Are you all excited about Cheek To Cheek?
YES! I love that old jazz...oh my gosh. Like, can you get the album, like, on a record?? I have a record player, and I abuse that thing so much, because I love the sound of records. Do you know if it's out on record?
You know what, I know it's going to be soon... I'll drop you an email.
I love Tony Bennett. He and Gaga just make magic together. Because she has, that old, dusky, -- I call it dusky because it sounds vintage -- but she has that old dusky feel when she sings that jazz. It doesn't sound like some modern-age girl. She lives in the time, and the essence of it, and she captures the heart of it. I love it.
You played Jo Calderone... would you play Tony Bennett?
[Laughs]
I don't think so! [laughs playfully] I would do Cheek to Cheek but I don't want to be Tony! I want to be Gaga!
Thank you for doing this interview with us, it's been fun learning about your work and the Hillywood universe!
Thank you so much. I appreciate this... and I really really REALLY love GagaDaily, I'm a huge fan! I loved being on Radio ARTPOP, too.. It was so fun.
Well, whatever you and Hillywood have in store for us, we are looking forward to it. Is there anything you can say about your newest project?
The next parody we are doing is "The Walking Dead." That'll be a lot of fun, but it's also going to be a huge challenge! We are leaving town and actually filming... someplace else. It's a big project. So hopefully it comes out pretty good. You know, I'm never 100% confident when I go into these things. I don't want to ever feel confident. Because anything that can go wrong, WILL go wrong! You never know. [Things happen] ... but we get the shot.
It's hard work, but it's what I love to do.
That really says it all, doesn't it? Get out there and do what you love.
Thanks for reading, and HAPPY GAGAWEEN, everybody!
You can say hello to Hilly on her Twitter, here: https://twitter.com/hillyhindi
You can see the latest updates, casting opportunities, and new pictures on Hilly and Hannah's official Facebook page:
https://www.facebook...heHillywoodShow
Big thanks to Hilly's publicist and all the folks at Hillywood productions.
See you next time with the next interview!
-- Katharine Styles-Burroughs
aka ChicaSkas
for GagaDaily.com, OperationGaga.com, and RadioARTPOP.com
