She broke her back for “Men in Black.”
Brooklyn model Danika Gerner, 23, donned a 30-pound sheet-metal dress and 6-inch heels to play an alien from the planet Glamoura during filming of “MIB 3” in Manhattan last year.
Gerner claims the intergalactic get-up caused her to suffer a herniated disc and nerve damage, halting a promising career that she hoped would include Victoria’s Secret and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.
“I had to give up everything,” the 6-foot-2 beauty said.
Gerner graced Allure and Glamour magazines, modeled for products like Olay , and had bit parts in “Ugly Betty” and “Sex and the City 2” before taking the nonspeaking role in the Will Smith flick.
For the scenes, filmed in a SoHo loft, she was outfitted with a giant suit of armor. Underneath, she wore only two metal bands fastened with Velcro. She balanced on spiked heels under hot lights.
In a 12-hour shift, she wore the costume all but three hours, five days in a row. She had to sashay on a runway or remain motionless, along with two shorter models in lighter costumes.
“I complained about my back hurting and asked the wardrobe people if I could take the costume off” between takes, she said. “They kept saying, ‘No, not yet, because you’re in the background of every shot.’ ”
Afterward, she felt so sore she could not accept new gigs assigned by Wilhelmina Models, which had booked her “MIB 3” job. Within a month, the agency dropped her.
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TXT 24
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