Ricki Lake became an executive producer on the new documentary Big Rock Burning to spread the word about the pain of losing your home to fire — something she’s had the great misfortune to experience twice.
The host of the Ricki Lake daytime talk show, documentarian and veteran of four John Waters classics spoke at the Santa Fe International Film Festival to raise awareness of David Goldblum’s documentary, which is playing at the festival.
Lake and her husband, Ross Burningham, said she moved to New York City after the fires in January destroyed the dream home where they were married in 2022. She said she is torn about whether to return.
Among the things she lost in the fire, she said, was the script for the film in which she made her acting debut, Waters’ 1988 Hairspray.
“I left books behind that we could have gotten out… my Hairspray script signed by every actor when I was 18, and my dress and all my photo albums, my grandparents’ photo albums, my yearbooks, my clothing, all my amazing clothes I collected for years,” she said. “It’s things — I know it’s things — but I’m always on the verge of tears when I say it out loud.”
Still, she’s grateful to have the means to relocate to New York, and repeatedly expressed gratitude for all that she still has, despite losing the home.
“We’re lucky,” she said. “We had insurance. We didn’t have children in the house that are school age. … We are the lucky ones. But it’s still a real loss.”
Lake previously lost a Malibu rental home to fire.
“I rented a house in Malibu in 2010 and I accidentally started the fire, ” she said. “it was like a decorative candle thing… it was not my fault, but I lit what ended up catching on fire.”
That fire was bad — “my two boys, who were little, we ran out of the house with the clothes on our back, and it was really scary,” she noted.
But the January fire was worse. Lake had spent more than seven years navigating the permitting and building process to create what she thought would be her and her new husband’s long-term home.
“We moved in on Valentine’s Day of 2021, we almost had four years there, got married there, got engaged there,” she recalled.
The intimate talk at the charming Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse turned into a sharing session during the audience Q&A, when many in attendance shared their own stories of fleeing the Los Angeles fires, or helping friends and relatives who had.
The Palisades Fire that raged through the Santa Monica Mountains killed 12 people, and destroyed nearly 7,000 structures. It was one of several major fires that raged simultaneously in Southern California in January, including the Eaton Fire that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,000 buildings as it tore through communities including Altadena.
Ricki Lake on Signing on to Big Rock Burning
Ricki Lake’s home was one canyon over from Big Rock, the neighborhood that is the subject of Big Rock Burning, directed by David Goldblum. He lost his own home in the fire, and interviewed his neighbors about their losses.
One goal of the film, Goldblum told MovieMaker, is to figure out what went wrong in January, to prevent the next major wildfire. In addition to playing at Santa Fe, it is available on Vimeo.
Lake said she joined the documentary as an executive producer thanks to Big Rock Burning producer James Costa, who thought she could help raise the documentary’s profile.
“This project was really near and dear to my heart. And it’s a beautiful film. It’s a powerful film. And, you know, we in Malibu, we knew we were vulnerable, but we never thought this level of devastation would happen and if it happened to us it could happen anywhere. So I’m thrilled to offer my name and my story to
this project.”
Big Rock Burning played Thursday at the Santa Fe International Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can read more of our festival coverage here.
Main image: Ricki Lake at the Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse as part of the Santa Fe International Film Festival. MovieMaker.