last
Hanna Pallot
PULLED BY THE MOON

In conversation with CORY MICHAEL SMITH

PULLED BY THE MOON
last
Martin Onufrowicz
SOUL VIBRATIONS
last
Hanna Pallot
HOPEFUL ESCAPISM
last
Martin Onufrowicz
MAN IN THE MIRROR
last
Martin Onufrowicz
A LESSON IN EMPATHY

last

IMAGINARY WORLDS

WITH AN OTHERWORLDLY AND MESMERISING LEAD TURN AS DANNY IN C4’S SOMEWHERE BOY, ALONGSIDE HIS TAKE ON COMPLEX TEENS IN THE TV DRAMAS DEADWATER FELL, SHETLAND AND GENERATION Z – ACCLAIMED YOUNG SCOTTISH ACTOR LEWIS GRIBBEN HAS HAD EVERYONE TALKING FOR A WHILE NOW.

AHEAD OF UPCOMING ROLES IN BLADE RUNNER 2099 (A TV SPIN-OFF OF THE ICONIC SCI-FI FILM), AND THE NEXT SEASON OF CULT ANTHOLOGY SERIES, BLACK MIRROR, WE CAUGHT UP WITH THE GLASGOW-NATIVE TO TALK IMAGINARY WORLDS, DREAMS OF PLAYING A BADDIE AND WHY HE’LL ALWAYS STAY GROUNDED.

Left Full look Miu Miu

Right Full look Fendi

Hi Lewis, you’re in Glasgow, is that still home for you? Aside from family and friends, what do you love most about it?

I love the prices, it’s cheaper than London! I like the culture; I think we’ve got a good art culture. I think the people are very grounded, and you need that. I think sometimes when you’re an ‘artist’ you can get carried away in your own grandiosity. In Glasgow, obviously we appreciate art, but we don’t keep going on and on about it like we don’t want to be too big for our boots, kind of thing. It’s a very nice place, with lovely hills, walks, castles. And yeah, we’ve just got a good sense of culture and art, and we’re quite funny!


Well, I read that when you were younger growing up there, you used to enjoy playing fantasy games and being in your own imaginary worlds, like all of us! Did you like storytelling, and do you think that’s where your love of acting began?

Yes, I really like storytelling, the idea of the infinite possibilities of all these worlds of video games, or stories or movies I read, watched, or played and I got enveloped in all of that. I think there’s a part of me that wanted to be a part of those imaginative worlds that are created through all forms of media. I think I had a sort of desperation to be a part of something that’s not the ordinary, which I think influenced my direction towards acting. I loved stories and how detailed and rich they could be, and I felt that I would love somehow to be a part of that, and acting was the way to do that.

Left Full look Paul Smith

Right Full look Prada

Were there performances on screen or in theatre you remember growing up that really moved you?

I’d say a performance that really moved me was ‘Boo’ in Monsters, Inc. She was such a sweet, innocent little child, and she evoked such a great emotional reaction out of me when I watched it at 7 or 8. I had never seen such vulnerability played so effectively like that in a film before, and it evoked a kind of longing for that friendship she had with ‘Sully’, and I felt really connected to that desire and longing for a friendship.

I also remember watching The Pianist at about 15, and how Adrien Brody’s character went through such devastation and loss, and the persecution of the holocaust and how he transforms throughout the course of the film. I found it so moving, and it's always stuck with me, and each time I think of a ‘memorable performance’ I think of that. Everything he did in that film really encapsulated for me what it is to be an actor.

 

So, how did you then get into theatre and drama, was there a teacher or parent who encouraged you; and once you began, what was it like being able to connect and relate to other kids like yourself who enjoyed playing pretend?

As I kid, I was very animated and active in the imaginary world, speaking in difference voices, and acting out different characters, but I wouldn’t really interact with other children in primary school. My Mum saw in me that I was imaginative but quite shy with other kids. So, she just decided that “well he likes to pretend so I’ll put him into theatre classes!”. I joined the youth theatre programme at the Citizen’s Theatre in Glasgow, and I just fell in love with it from there. My Mum thought it would be a good outlet for my shyness and to help me grow in confidence and connect with other kids who also had active imaginations, and it worked!

What I loved about connecting with the other kids, was that it was a gateway to opening up friendships for me and realising there were others who were also into the idea of pretend. Imagining these worlds, the idea of devising scenes and making our own stories and organising them into scripts with our teachers. I felt like I found a tribe I could belong to.

Left Full look Paul Smith

Right Full look MM6

Your breakout role as Danny in Somewhere Boy, was also the point we learned how that character helped you identify and bring authenticity to the part of someone feeling like they’re an outsider – you were diagnosed with Autism and Asperger’s and have spoken of how it can make you feel on the periphery. How have you navigated your diagnosis in terms of your life and career?

The thing with having Autism and Aspergers, is obviously sometimes it's tricky to fully identify something that’s foreign to you, or that you don’t fully understand in a character or in a world. When you are trying to give your own interpretations of these worlds, sometimes it’s a bit more difficult to get a full insight into how to play something you have never been before. But it does allow me to see the human elements of someone who is different or unusual. I think for most people, including myself, who have Autism and Aspergers, it gives you a uniqueness to something, it adds a sense of charm, or otherworldliness in ‘Danny’s’ case, and it can help make that feel grounded in our world. More abstract and ‘weirder’ characters don’t feel as difficult for me to gain an insight into, in how to play them or how they will be. I think it’s the characters who are more charming and rogue-ish, that take a lot more work for me to capture. What it does help me realise is that I can add that twist and give it more authenticity, and it adds an emotional clarity for roles that works quite well.


How was it moving onto Masters of the Air, after filming Somewhere Boy, playing a World War Two bomber pilot – going from something mentally so immersive into this historic drama with lots of imaginary blue screen on a giant soundstage?

It was a very weird transition, because I finished Somewhere Boy in October 2021 and I had spent 4.5 months doing that show, and prepping, keeping in the accent, and allowing myself to blend all the emotional vulnerabilities of my own life and lending them to the character. So, it was a bit of a draining process, and I didn’t really know who I was for a while after that part, and being a kind of weird mix of me and ‘Danny’ for a while.

Going into Masters of the Air, even though it was a small part, was fun and weird with this giant Apple show with an all-star cast! It was a part of the industry I hadn’t had the chance to see before and gave me a great insight into how those bigger sets are run. It was a great exercise in imagination, because I’m firing a German airplane that doesn’t exist, and it’s only on this big projected screen. The two projects couldn’t have been further apart but in a way, it took me out of the mourning I felt from Somewhere Boy and gave me something fun to do.

Full look Prada

Well, you’ve now done horror, comedy, drama, history and next up is fantasy, with the epic Blade Runner 2099! What are you allowed to tell us about your character and what we can expect from the series?

Very little but being a part of Blade Runner is something I never expected to happen. It’s a mad, unreal, and very otherworldly experience that I think will be very entertaining for fans!


You’re also in the long-awaited next season of Black Mirror. Any teasers?

I can’t say too much, but getting to be a part of the series was incredible as I’ve been such a huge fan since the beginning and really wanted to be a part of it!

Jina Jay, the casting director had seen me originally for the first revival season, and then again in 2022 for season 6. I was gutted not to get the roles, so when the opportunity came around again in 2023, I was thrilled to get another chance to be a part of it. My character is quite like me, so I felt like I really understood him right away.

Full look Loewe

How did you feel on set for Black Mirror, and is it always different, again in the way you transform through the preparation and process?

Initially I was nervous as I am such a big fan of the show, and I didn’t want to mess it up and be crucified online, but I had to let that go and be the best version of myself I could give to the team I was working with. With my character, it's about exposing vulnerabilities, finding something that he cares for that he wants to keep at all costs. There are a lot of similarities to past characters, so it wasn’t very hard to draw from those and my own experiences.


In terms of your process with acting, is it instinctual, you’re finding your own flow, it’s not rigid?  Do you make playlists, look for the scent of a person, read and research?

I try and keep it as instinctual as possible as I don’t want it to feel bogged down in research or too rigid. I want it to be as free flowing and, in the moment, as possible. I try to keep it as playful and authentic as humanly possible, within a scene, like when I was still a child, play acting. Sometimes I do write down objectives for a scene so as not to stray off course but mostly I try to give my own interpretation of the character.

Full look Emporio Armani

What about next roles – what drives you when it comes to choosing parts?

I think for the next stage of my career; I would like to try and do things I haven’t done before. I am trying to actively look for parts that have a sense of danger to them, I’d like to play someone who is not a very nice person if I could. But at the same time, it comes down to the story and the script, and if the script is very interesting and grabs me, then I will want to do it. I’m trying to push myself to do roles that, even if I want to run away from them, I try to go for them to challenge myself. Ultimately, I would love to play someone who is just evil, and a bit shitty, something I haven’t seen me do yet.


Well, it’s a new year, 2025, there’s a lot of new energy. Do you feel that way? Who are you in this moment right now as opposed to one year ago today?

I am a spaceman going through the unknown realms of possibility. I’m having my weird artist moment of two crossroads and trying to pick the right one. I think there's an energy of having done nice bigger scale jobs in Blade Runner and Black Mirror, and I feel a bit more confident about hopefully doing it again one day. I’m not about trying to big myself up into getting the next big part, the next big thing that will make me more famous or make me more money. I think for me; it’s about picking something that artistically speaks to me regardless of role or size. A year ago, I never would’ve believed this could happen, my hope is that it will happen again, but I’m not going to put any time pressure on it. My process is to be an artist and grab what I get, be it ‘Soldier One’ or the face on the poster.

Left Sweater and shorts N°21

Right Full look David Koma

Interview by Kate Lawson

Photography by Oliver Webb

Fashion by Steven Huang

Casting by Imagemachine cs

Grooming by Bari Khalique at The Wall Group

Stylist’s assistant Dominik Radomski

POWER RISING

As the third season of the hit HBO anthology show The White Lotus comes to a sure-to-be dramatic end, the events in Mike White’s sun-soaked, morally tangled universe have moved to Thailand. Among the resort guest is Kate Bohr, played by Leslie Bibb, who takes a seemingly innocent girls’ trip abroad to reconnect with her childhood best friends, before true colours are revealed. With such an immersive storyline, it was an experience for Bibb that defied all her expectations — she tells us all about it in the latest BTB Digital story!

Full look Marc Jacobs, necklace Boucheron

How did acting come about, did it find you while you were modelling, or did you find it?

 I suppose I found acting because of a commercial I booked for Lee Jeans. The whole commercial was improvised, and the concept was “Lee Jeans will make you look like a model but not think like one.” Oh god, that is so mean. Jesus, but anyway, that was the concept. I was a model, living in NYC, as I had taken a year’s sabbatical from UVA, the university I had just started, and I got the commercial 5 months into my year off.

After it aired, I started getting calls for auditions for movies and television, and I had also started to hang out with young actors in New York and I suddenly felt like “Oh, this is where I belong!” I knew I wanted to explore acting and knew I had some natural ability, but wanted to study and have a foundation, a craft. So, I applied and got into William Esper’s 2-year programme. I studied with Maggie Flanigan, and it changed my life, so, thanks Lee Jeans!

Dress Tod’s, shoes Diesel

 Oprah helped to launch your modelling career too.

 Well, I won a modelling contest on the Oprah Winfrey show, and it blew the doors off my life and opened my eyes to a whole new world of art, theatre, food, and possibility — NYC has that effect. I was only a model for a few years. I liken it to my bartending or waitressing job to pay for acting school. It was wonderful in that sense and gave me a great work ethic. It taught me how to be responsible and professional so that when I was making my living as a full-time actor, which I was so very fortunate to have happened very quickly, I knew how to show up on a set, on time and ready.

 

You say it blew the doors off your life. Did it all change overnight?

 No, my life didn’t change overnight exactly, but it changed the trajectory of my life. The scope of my life expanded exponentially I believe the moment I went to NYC. I will never forget the taxi ride from LaGuardia into Manhattan and coming across the bridge and driving down Houston St and seeing the buildings and I remember thinking; my life will be forever changed. I just knew what I thought was possible for my future was going to be different and to fasten my seatbelt. So, not overnight, but profoundly changed long term.

Left Full look Christian Dior

Right Full look Acne Studios

 So, from commercials and magazine covers to film and TV, most notably now The White Lotus – it’s one of the most revered shows. What was your first thought when you found out you got this role?

 My real debut in Popular (the teen comedy-drama series), was a big deal for me as an actor, and Talladega Nights, Iron Man and Palm Royale were all important stepping-stones to The White Lotus. I feel like they were major avenues of expansion for me, but, honestly, every job makes you grow artistically. My first thought when I got The White Lotus … I was in Savannah shooting a Clint Eastwood movie, and I was in bed in my hotel room (I think I had worked late because I was still in bed, as I’m usually an early riser), and my agents called, and I screamed. I threw the covers over my head and screamed with joy!

 

You play Kate, on a girlie holiday to reconnect with old childhood friends. Did Mike White give you a character description right off, or did he let you figure out who your character is?

 Mike and I had a Zoom where we talked about Kate. We talked about her perfectionism.  We talked about a lot of things, but I really remember that part of the conversation, and it ignited something in me as I began to build Kate. I think that was the cornerstone of creating her for me. It’s a process and it’s a never-ending journey. You never know everything. It’s a constant exploration. You’ve got to stay curious and seeking when crafting a character. 

Full look Balenciaga, Necklace Boucheron

 Were you able to read the script before joining?

 Once you get cast and you sign on, you get to read all the episodes for the season, which is a guarded 8 episodes. You join the cast before you read all 8. Those scripts are protected, and no one can just access them, so you sign onto the season without that full knowledge of your character’s arc. But it’s a no-brainer with this show and with Mike White, because he does extraordinary things with this show, so I knew I wanted to be a part of it in any capacity. When I read all 8 episodes, I remember thinking, “Wow, this season is swinging for the fences in a bigger, deeper way than past seasons.” Mike is a fucking genius. I hate it when people use that word because I think it’s overly used, but he really is. It’s an appropriate use of the word when it comes to him. I loved the story of these three women and their friendship.

 

Yes, the girls' trip is such an interesting storyline, with their evolving dynamics, and that interplay of how they’ve all been conditioned to compare themselves to each other and judge themselves. It’s a story played out amongst women every day in real life, and one we’re all trying to change.

 The storyline of the women feels universal. This competition, this comparative nature of “my life vs your life”. I feel like both men and women can understand the pressure of keeping up. I wonder what would have happened if all three of these women had just come in and been honest about where they were in their lives. If they risked being vulnerable about their feelings, views, or just what is happening in their lives at that moment. I think it’s part of the human condition, to compare. Especially in this world of Instagram and Facebook and this “look at my glossy life”, this filtered life. We aren’t seeing the edges, the cracks. Mike White loves those edges and fissures and leans into those and blows them up.

Full look Celine by Hedi Slimane, shoes Maison Margiela

 Did you take anything away from being part of the storyline, did anything resonate with you personally?

 I think this storyline has stayed with me and reminded me that it’s okay to feel like maybe I don’t have it all under control. It’s quite freeing to admit when I am feeling overwhelmed or insecure and lean into my friends. And, anyway, do we ever have anything “under control?” It feels like a false sense of security. Like a little lie we tell ourselves as a protection to the truth that maybe it can’t all fit neatly into this box and in fact, we are all just doing our best, day by day. I think that is part of Kate’s perfectionism. It’s about control, which makes her feel important and gives her a deeper sense of worth. 

 

How did you and your co-stars lean into each other, in how you play these women, finding their dynamic?

 Michelle and Carrie and I began a text thread as soon as we all signed on and sent childhood photos of ourselves and, so we were all on the same page. We decided when we met, what age, where we were from, but, honestly, we were shot out of a canon. Our villa scenes were the first to be shot, and we were doing all those scenes for all 8 episodes the very first week of shooting. We met, as a trio, four days before we started filming. I don’t know why we had chemistry, and it worked, but it did. I go back to Mike White and his ability to cast so well. I also think all three of us have a similar work ethic and are hard workers. We all just trusted that we would show up for one another, and we did. 

Full look Maison Margiela, bracelet & ring Boucheron

 Was it difficult stepping into something that’s in its third season, that you haven’t been a part of, but you know that the audience is hungry for? Did you feel that pressure because you know everyone is going to watch it?

 Yes, I think we all felt that pressure. There is a love of this show I have never quite experienced before, so you don’t want to drop the ball. However, that pressure isn’t conducive to good work. You are thinking about results, and you can’t do that with acting. It takes you out of the moment. I guess that’s why I said “we were shot out of a canon” because we shot those villa scenes first and were the first in Thailand. But I also feel like it allowed me time to shake out any expectations for the first two seasons. It was out of my control, just do the work, be relaxed and give Kate the grace she deserves to live her truth, and the rest will be what it will be. It was freeing. I think, though, I always feel pressure to make sure the work is good, that I have done enough, explored or mined deep enough for the characters I play. I really love what I do, and I fall in love with my characters, so I get obsessive about the work. 

 

You’re working across the world and staying in a hotel that you’re also filming the show in. What was that experience like, all of you being together, with no distance between your personal life and your work life?

 Art imitating life. You start to feel like you are literally in The White Lotus. It’s a singular experience and one I may never have again. It’s odd at first and then kind of amazing and sometimes claustrophobic and then fucking amazing. It’s like adult camp and I do think it helps the work, in a way. You are living the experience you’re portraying on screen, in a way. What looks like 6 days at a resort was 6 months for us. I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Left Full look Balenciaga, Necklace Boucheron

Right Full look Christian Dior

 Did you have time to experience life outside of The White Lotus. What ended up being your favourite spot in Thailand?

 I had been to Thailand before, so I knew how amazing the people were, and had explored a lot of the temples in a previous trip. But this go-a-round, I think the experience I had at an elephant sanctuary, which is truly an elephant rescue, was my favourite. I went twice.  Also, I had this incredible boat trip with my girlfriend who came to visit. It was just bananas fun and an experience we will both never forget—and I also took her to the elephant sanctuary.   

 

I’m so in awe of those rescue sanctuaries, and how elephants are considered sacred animals in Thailand, spiritually symbolic in Buddhism. Speaking of which, the theme of spirituality and karmic consequences features in this third season quite heavily. Are you a spiritual person?

 I think I am a spiritual person. I know that I am in constant pursuit of looking inwardly, to be a better person, to let go of past trauma, of past narratives I have for myself, to expand versus retract, and to stay curious. Some days I really am good at that path and others I fail miserably and let my ego win, or doubt drive the bus, but I always find my way back to the path of growth and the search of whatever “personal enlightenment” means for me. I guess it also changes, too, that definition or what that looks like. I just want to stay in flow versus getting stagnate. Stagnation scares me. It feels fearful and I don’t mind being frightened of things, but I don’t want it to stop me from moving forward. Fear can lead to some awesome growth. 

Left Full look Balenciaga, Necklace Boucheron

Right Dress Tod’s, shoes Diesel

Interview by Kate Lawson

Fashion by Michael Andrew Rosenberg

Photography by Jamie Ellington At Faster Faster

Casting by Imagemachine CS

Make-Up by Shayna Goldberg At The Wall Group Using Chantecaille

Hair by Ben Skervin At Walter Schupfer Management Using Rōz

Photographers’assistants Pablo Espinoza & Jose Hernandez

Stylist’s assistants Loulou Shafran & Daniel Martinez

A PERFECT MARIAGE

RED SOLES AND TABIS—TWO OF THE MOST POTENT FOOTWEAR SIGNATURES IN FASHION—ARE NOT, AT FIRST GLANCE, THE MOST OBVIOUS OF PAIRINGS. ONE, FOR DECADES, HAS BEEN THE ULTIMATE METONYM FOR HIGH-OCTANE, HIGH-GLOSS GLAMOUR. THE OTHER, A CULTISH EMBLEM OF FASHION’S AVANT-GARDE, ITS SPLIT-TOED SILHOUETTE A SILENT SYMBOL OF THOSE IN THE KNOW. AND YET, THOUGH THEY SIT AT SEEMINGLY OPPOSITE ENDS, THEY EXIST WITHIN THE SAME SPECTRUM: DESIGN CODES SO DISTINCT THAT THEY TRANSCEND THE NEED FOR BRANDING ENTIRELY.  AND AS THEIR MUTUAL IYKYK STATUS REACHES A FEVER PITCH—DUPES FOR BOTH CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN’S SO KATES AND MAISON MARGIELA’S TABI FLATS ARE TOO MANY TO COUNT, AN UNFORTUNATE YET UNDENIABLE MARKER OF SUCCESS—THEIR COLLABORATION FEELS LIKE AN UNEXPECTED INEVITABILITY. TWO TOTEMS OF FOOTWEAR HISTORY, FINALLY CONVERGING.

À PROPOS OF JOHN GALLIANO’S FINAL ARTISANAL COLLECTION FOR MAISON MARGIELA, THE DESIGNER ENLISTED CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN TO AMPLIFY HIS VISION. “THIS IS A MARRIAGE, NOT A NEGOTIATION,” LOUBOUTIN RECALLS, SPEAKING OF THEIR COLLABORATION. AND INDEED, WHAT FOLLOWED WAS NOT ONE BUT TWO COLLECTIONS: ONE WHERE LOUBOUTIN REIMAGINES THE TABIS, CARVING THEIR CLEFT DEEPER, DRESSING THEM IN THE LANGUAGE OF HIS OWN FEMININITY, AND ANOTHER WHERE MARGIELA SUBVERTS THE SLEEK, HYPERSEXUAL POISE OF A LOUBOUTIN HEEL, REFRAMING IT THROUGH THE MAISON’S DECONSTRUCTIVIST LENS. IN BOTH INSTANCES, THE RESULT IS EXACTLY AS LOUBOUTIN DESCRIBES: A PERFECT MARRIAGE. PERHAPS IMPROBABLE, BUT, IN RETROSPECT, INEVITABLE.

BELOW, THE LEGENDARY FRENCH SHOEWEAR DESIGNER WALKS US THROUGH THE PROCESS OF CREATING THE HISTORIC COLLABORATION.

You and John Galliano have known each other since the beginning of your careers. What sparked this collaboration now?

John and I have known each other for years. From the moment he arrived in Paris as a fashion student, instantly at ease with the city, to the incredible designer he is today. Our collaboration was sparked quite naturally. We were having lunch with Alexis [Roche] one day, and John asked, “Would you consider doing something with me?” Without hesitation, I said yes. It wasn’t a calculated decision or a matter of checking schedules. It was an instinctive, genuine response. From that moment, ideas started flowing. It was clear this was more than just a collaboration; it was a continuation of an unspoken creative dialogue we’ve shared for years.

The last Margiela Artisanal Show was an undeniable historic moment in fashion. Could you sense the impact it would have on the industry, on culture?

We worked almost a year ahead of the show, and while I expected something extraordinary, because that’s what John does, the level of emotion it evoked was overwhelming. The construction of the clothes was astonishingly complex, layered, and precise, like nothing I’d seen before. Even knowing how impactful it would be, I wasn’t prepared for just how moving the final show would feel. The atmosphere, the rain falling softly like tears, the raw beauty of the presentation – it all created an emotional intensity that was impossible to predict. It wasn’t just a fashion moment; it was a deeply human one.

Maison Margiela and Christian Louboutin, to me, seem to sit on opposite sides of the same spectrum. Did you feel the need to compromise, or did you revel in the contrast?

We didn’t aim for compromise; that wasn’t the point. Instead, we embraced the contrast, using it as a creative spark. Margiela’s DNA, rooted in deconstruction and minimalist creativity, meeting my vision of femininity. It was like a game of creative ping-pong, with each identity pushing the other further. The goal was to let these two worlds collide and blend, not to dilute them. Finally, it looks like a collection that is a true marriage, not a negotiation.

That said, the red sole and the tabi toes share a common ground. What is your personal relationship with the role of Maison Margiela’s impact on fashion?

Maison Margiela is a brand that I have loved to wear for a long time now. Their approach to fashion is cerebral and emotional, there is a true exploration of shapes and materials. Both Tabi and the Red Sole are subtle but also very bold in terms of style, and this is the kind of statement that I like.

Maison Margiela has such an extensive archive. For this collaboration, was there a particular moment that you wanted to interpret?

The tabi shoe was an obvious touchstone, but it wasn’t about simply re-creating it. It was about distilling its essence. We took the iconic tabi split and pushed it, deepening the cut, almost erasing the excess to leave behind the purest form of the idea. It was about refining the signature until it became something new. The same went for my own elements, the Red Sole on the Martoubi, which was continued with the hand-painted red brush.

The project is also split in such an interesting way—your interpretation of Margiela and the Maison’s interpretation of your work. How much communication was there between the two teams when designing?

There was a lot of communication, but what stood out most was how instinctive it all felt. Seeing Margiela reinterpret the classic Louboutin codes, like the red sole, through their lens of minimalism and rawness was very interesting. It wasn’t about one Maison overpowering the other. It was about finding an unexpected harmony.

Again, as you said, this wasn’t a compromise, but so often, fashion collaborations can feel like one. Was there a moment in the process when you realized everything clicked?

Yes, from the very beginning, really. When John asked me to collaborate, and I immediately said yes even without knowing what he had in mind because I didn’t care; I knew that I would want to do something with him, there was an unspoken understanding between us. When we started doing the sketch, it was very interesting because it wasn’t just a Margiela shoe or a Louboutin heel – it was something entirely new, yet deeply familiar and recognizable for both.

Interview by Pedro Vasconcelos

Photography and Fashion by Gregory Derkenne

Featuring Maxime at The Claw and Mirte at Elite Amsterdam

All shoes Christian Louboutin x Maison Margiela

TRANSFORMING STORIES

YOU KNOW HIS FACE. JASON ISAACS IS THE BRITISH ACTOR WHOSE CHAMELEONIC ABILITY TO DISAPPEAR INTO ONE COMPLEX CHARACTER AFTER ANOTHER HAS BROUGHT US LUCIUS MALFOY IN THE HARRY POTTER FILMS, RUTHLESS REDCOAT COLONEL WILLIAM TAVINGTON IN THE PATRIOT, OR HOLLYWOOD ICON, CARY GRANT, IN THE TV SERIES ARCHIE. FOR HIS NEXT TURN, ISAACS PLAYS TROUBLED HOLIDAYMAKER TIMOTHY RATLIFF IN THE THIRD SEASON OF THE WHITE LOTUS – PROVING HE’S NOT ONE TO BE PIGEONHOLED, TRANSFORMING STORIES WITH HIS UNDIMMED PLEASURE IN UNEXPLORED TERRITORY.

Left Jacket and pants Dior Men, cardigan Turnbull&Asser, shoes Fendi, brooch Boucheron

Right Full look Zegna

Hi Jason, how are you today?

Wondering how the hell to talk about something without talking about it.

No spoilers here, but will this third season of The White Lotus be more of the same madcap plots and messy, outrageous characters we’re used to?

Mike White’s too clever to serve up more of anything.

Well, as the next holidaymaker to check in, what can you tell us about your character Timothy Ratliff – or is he even a guest, perhaps a local…a villain…a love interest!?

All the above. Or maybe none. Here’s the dilemma: like all my friends and all the fans who are desperate for spoilers, you don’t actually want to know. What you really want – or ought to – is to let Mike reel you in like the storytelling maestro he is until the hook’s so deep inside you that you’re thrashing around in agony and ecstasy in his twisted grasp praying for, yet dreading, the end credits of the final episode. So that’s how much I’ll tell you. You’re welcome.

Left Jacket Emporio Armani, pants and shoes Prada, jewellery Cartier

Right Blazer, pants and shoes Paul Smith, coat Brioni, jewellery Cartier, watch Omega

Thank you. What was the most challenging thing about playing your character?

Tim’s going through some monstrous things that he can’t share with anyone, so there’s a lot of acting with no words for me as his world implodes and explodes. Massive drama, but all going on between my ears and behind the eyes and did I mention no words? I love words. That, and the fact that half of the time it was so hot my fillings were melting.

Who did you feel you had the most chemistry with on the set?

I loved doing scenes with my kids. I’m a dad to Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sam Nivola and Sarah Catherine Hook in the show. Quite simply and sickeningly, adoring them on-screen was easy as we felt like a family off-screen as well. As the months went by, I transitioned from a quasi-parental role to more of an idiot friend as it dawned on them that they were the grown-ups in the relationship.

Jacket and pants Dior Men, cardigan Turnbull&Asser, shoes Fendi, brooch Boucheron

You mentioned the heat during filming in Thailand – how was it being there for such an extended period and how much did you work?

There are six meaty storylines, I think, maybe more, so I worked about a sixth of the seven months that I was there. I’ve been on location for longer – Peter Pan was 14 months, for instance – but I’ve never had that much time off. At the risk of causing mass projectile vomiting from the readers, when I first got there, I was living the real White Lotus lifestyle in an absurdly opulent private villa with a private pool and an honest-to-God butler. It was not only lonely but vacuous and obscene – like eating only desserts and caviar every day. A gilded Groundhog Day. Once I’d ticked off all the clichés – massage, yoga and massive overeating - I was desperate to get out and see what real Thailand was like and what real Thai people who weren’t in uniform and trained for hospitality were like. Luckily, we were reeling from becoming new empty nesters, so my wife Emma came out after a while and stayed, which she’d never done before, and we used the free time to see all around the country and behind the tourist curtain. Some of it is really painful to witness – the heartbreaking sex and slave trade and the grinding poverty that’s hiding in plain sight – and some of it is beautiful and simple, particularly the gentleness of the Thai people which, surprisingly, wasn’t only to be found in the hotels, but everywhere, from the wilds of the jungle to the poorest of fishing villages.

Speaking of beautiful locations; you’re playing Moth Winn in the upcoming movie The Salt Path shot around the Southwest Coast path in the UK. What did you learn about endurance, love, and the human spirit playing this real-life person?

Moth’s quite literally the most positive and life-affirming human being I’ve ever met – he’s a Staffordshire Santa. After our first Zoom, I watched it back to try and break down his unusual accent. We were roaring with laughter the whole conversation, but, listening back in the quiet, I realised that as he’d been describing the horror of losing his mind and the catalogue of humiliations that his neuro-degenerative condition had created, he didn’t want me to feel uncomfortable, so he made fun of it all. “Oh, you’re gonna laugh at this, Jason,” he’d say, guffawing, “When I go to the bathroom, sometimes, I’ll have to…” I don’t know that I ever really learn from anything, but, like Rob Reiner’s mum in When Harry Met Sally, I’ll definitely have what he’s having.

Blazer and pants Paul Smith, coat Brioni, jewellery Cartier, watch Omega

Would you agree you’ve got to tap into the humanity of each character that you play, before anything else?

Talking about acting mostly seems pointless to me. Like dancing about pensions. There are technical things you can describe – hitting marks, learning to sword fight, lens sizes maybe – but becoming another person, with their thoughts, their needs, their inner rhythms… It’s all so intangible and messily arrived at. Plus, everyone comes at every part differently every time anyway. With Tim [ Isaacs’ character in The White Lotus], I wanted to get the accent right (Durham, North Carolina…I hope!) and wanted him to look and feel and move like a fat cat – literally a man bloated with status, money and certainty. With other characters, sometimes it’s an old injury or a phrase they repeat or a fear of their old stutter resurfacing. It could be anything. The whole process of finding those anchor points depends, firstly, obviously, on the script, and then whatever sticks from a whole load of inefficient splashing around with real people in the real world – in music, books, dreams, overheard conversations or half-remembered shadows on the subway. It’s a simple job, just sometimes hard to do, be another person in another situation. Who thinks, like everybody does, that they’re right. You just have to know why they think that.

I’m interested in the physicality that you bring to a role too, like for example, having to translate the physical as well as emotional exertions of Moth’s symptoms on screen – his limp, his tremors. Is physicality something that you always consider with a character?

Not always. It’s definitely nice to find something – a walk, or a way of standing – police and military, for instance, always stand with their legs straight, symmetrically, never resting on one hip – but, for me, that’s less about what an audience will see and more about me looking for something, anything, that’s a trigger for me to trick my imagination into feeling like someone else. Moth had huge problems with his body, sure, since, at the start of our film, it was all shut down for him and caused him such pain – he couldn’t raise one of his legs or use his left arm or fingers at all, but for him, it was losing his memory and focus and ability to take control or protect his children that crippled him more. The shame. Though it was impossible to forget about the physicality – some days we’d arrive at yet another breath-taking location and they’d point and go, “You’ll be climbing up and down that today,” and we’d be at the base of a steep boulder-covered slope that I couldn’t navigate even without a heavy backpack and using my two good legs. “Are you fucking kidding me? Moth could never have got up there,” I’d say, “It’s not gonna be believable!” “But this is the actual location,” they’d say. “He did.”

I’m just thinking about the fact that you were a pro skateboarder when you were younger. Balance, concentration, fitness, creativity – that was setting you up for acting really?

It was, absolutely, but not in a physical way. I was one of the original band of skaters at the South Bank, under the Royal Festival Hall. It was a rough crowd, and I didn’t want to stick out. Similarly, when I went to university, I was suddenly in a crowd of people who lived in Chelsea and sounded like nobody I’d ever met or even seen on TV. A week later, I sounded just like them too. Skateboarding was just one more episode of code-switching that prepared me for a life of walking in other people’s shoes.

Full look Maison Margiela

You’ve said in the past that you don’t like referring to acting as a “craft”. You can make progress and improve though, so what would you say has driven you over the years? Determination? Or maybe the thought with each role that there must be an answer somewhere, and you’ve got to find it.

No idea. Not being fired on day one and never working again, I suspect. Plus, I have no other skills. Fear of failure drives a lot of powerful creativity, so I enjoy it a little more now – the energising feeling that if I don’t pull something out of the bag, I’m going to be found out. But drive? Actors have no agency – we don’t create the work until we step behind the camera and write and produce, so drive isn’t a useful quality. The most important quality to have, by far, is luck. More important than skill or drive or anything. I’ve had a few unbelievably lucky breaks in my working life that could so easily not have happened. The other thing that’s lucky, I suppose, is that I still get just as passionate and bothered and exhilarated by all of it. Just as much doing a cameo in a no-budget indie as on a studio epic. Just as much in a voiceover. It’s almost embarrassing how much I can care and obsess, but at least I’m older than most of the directors nowadays, so they think it’s quaint as opposed to irritating. I hope.

I imagine you’re given lots of choices for roles. What’s your qualification for accepting a part? Does something really need to move you, get you in the gut, and feel like something you need to pay attention to?

I wish I had a consistent test for what to do. It’s the Malcolm Gladwell thing: a gut feeling, then a process of tortured rationalisations and endless discussions with agents. But I always know straight away. Not that things will be successful, but that I’ll enjoy myself and feel challenged. I turn a lot of work down that I think is fabulous, but just can’t see myself in. Sometimes I leap at parts I really fancy in things that are never going to be seen, and don’t even have the money to finish. I can live with it all, though. I’ve loved all of them, the failures often more than the successes.

Full look Zegna

You’ve worked with so many amazing directors too, whether it’s Ridley Scott, Chris Columbus, Paul Anderson or Roland Emmerich. Is there anything that you think good directors have in common? Do you think they’re all unique or is there a common factor, at least in the best experiences you’ve had?

They’re all so different and work differently, too, with each actor. The best ones are so secure in their storytelling smarts, that they’re open to collaboration and, specifically, to happy accidents and magic that happen on the day. The worst ones think they know what the scene should be before they arrive and are trying to fit the actors into some predetermined template, they worked out in the bath the night before. Two of my favourites, Zal Batmanglij and Rodrigo Garcia, who directed me in The OA and Nine Lives respectively, both gave me the same piece of wonderful, ballsy direction on day one: just before my first take on projects they had spent years writing, in answer to a question I’d just asked about the scene, they said, “I don’t know. You know this guy better than me. You decide.” That’s such generous, smart directing – giving ownership to the actors. I saw David Yates do that with the kids, too, on the Potters, empowering them. A lovely man.

What about stories you would like to produce/direct yourself, are you working on anything?

Yep. And superstitious too.

What about the next big Bond villain… you know you want to!

That’s what they should call it. A hark back to the great double-entendre-laden Roger Moore era: “You Know You Want To!”

…

Discover the full story in our upcoming SS25 Issue - release end March 25.

Interview by Kate Lawson

Photography by John Armour

Fashion by Steven Huang

Casting by Imagemachine cs

Grooming by Nohelia Reyes using Dr Loretta and Sam McKnight

Photographer’s assistant Myles Bailey

Stylist’s assistant Dominik Radomski

,

INNER STRENGTH

,

NICHOLAS PINNOCK is a man of many personas, phases, eras, iterations, He’s played everyone from Jesus Christ and a young Nelson Mandela to a wrongfully convicted inmate turned attorney and a boxer in racially segregated America. And then there’s Nicholas the poet, who sees all facets of his artistic expression as part of a larger world of influence in which he’s eager to get us thinking and talking about our mental health.

As the British theatre, TV and film actor turns complex cop in his latest role in the crime mystery, Long Bright River, we have a heart to heart with him about feeling the energy of an audience, playing the congas and finding light in the darkness.

Full look Loro Piana, watch Omega

So, let’s talk about your latest project, the series Long Bright River. You play an injured cop (Truman Dawes), who teams up with your old partner to unravel who is killing vulnerable women in a Philadelphia neighbourhood. The storyline deals with weighty material but unlike other crime dramas, there’s more of a focus on the humanity of the characters in a community dealing with substance use and mental health issues. How did you prepare for the role?

 Truman is your average good cop who genuinely cares about the neighbour he’s vowed to serve and protect. He turns out to be the only man that Mickey can rely on as the other men close to her have either abandoned her or abused her to some degree. Truman is the man she’s needed all her life. He’s consistent and true. It was important that we didn’t portray all cops with the same brush as the media. Where there are sinners, there are always saints. I held on to the goodness in community and the closeness of people that I have around me to find those aspects of him as a character in that world. 

The series is based on the book by Liz Moore. Had you read it beforehand? And did that help in finding the character, or was it more challenging knowing it’s a different medium and although you want to pay respect to the book, you’ve got to leave it behind, but still find that connection?

 I read the book once I was offered the project and fell in love with the whole atmosphere of this place that Liz had beautifully transported me to. Then I read the scripts, and it really did help, because she was involved in writing the series too, so you could feel the heart of the book in the adaptation. There’s the ease with which we follow and root for Mickey and the fact that she’s flawed. We see Truman through Mickey’s eyes in the book and in the series, we see him as his own entity. This very resilient community that I had very little knowledge of, was transported from book to set in a way that was beneficial in helping me find what I feel we needed for Truman. It was all in the page with very little for me to do but tell my part of the story. 

Does the series stay true to the twists and turns of its source material?

 The series is true to what it needs to be true to. It’s also unapologetic about the fact that’s it’s an adaptation and some things were changed to add to the broader and complimentary world that television can offer in a way a novel can’t. 

 

You’re a mental health advocate yourself and ambassador for the charity MIND. I read that you’ve struggled with depression, and wondered where your relationship with examining your mental health comes from?

 It was either spiral further into the darkness of my issues with ill mental health or examine them and figure out how I could find mental wellness. When you’re faced with suicide to be your only option, but you also don’t want to die and what you really want is peace, you look for all the ways to find it because if you don’t, that one option left will be the one you take. And I strongly believe that’s the same for most people in that situation. Even the ones that choose that final option. At the end, peace is the ultimate destination for the ones who find it through the exploration or the ones who find it having explored and still couldn’t see any other path heading there. Death isn’t the goal. Peace is. And I’m very grateful that I was able to acknowledge that, act and have the love and support around me to begin a journey of healing that has led me in that direction. I still have a way to go but I know I’ll get to a more manageable place than I’ve been in the past and where I am now. 

Full look Dior

So, have you found with acting, through becoming all these different people, that it’s enabled you to embrace all aspects and sides of yourself —the beauty and the ugly, the darkness—to see and live the moments of joy?

 Yes. And to see and live the moments of despair and turmoil also. These characters are a gift. I get to tap into areas of myself that I’m forced to delve into or there’s no truth to play, so it can get tricky at times when you’re on set and get utterly overwhelmed with the character and the two of you are fused for a moment. But it’s important to be aware of and understand that the character’s stuff isn’t my stuff, and that it’s beneficial to remove myself from whoever the “him” is that I’m playing so I don’t end up carrying shit that doesn’t belong to me but only feels like it does. I think a lot of actors go through this vicarious trauma and don’t realise it and that specific therapy is needed for them to deal with it in a way that general talking therapy can’t fully tackle. 

 

You also write poetry. That can be a form of self-therapy, does it help putting your feelings on paper, does it make articulating yourself easier do you think?

 Absolutely. Without a doubt! And so much so that I’d like to publish a book of poetry once I find the right agent and publisher. I had always written songs, poems and short stories at school, but it was through my severe struggles with ill mental health firstly in 2006, that I really started to write and write, and write… where I couldn’t stop at times, to relive some of the dark thoughts that come with CPTSD and depression.

Last year I was in a residential mental health facility for trauma and the writing therapy that they offered during my 6 weeks stay, was highly beneficial to a point where it ignited a new evolution in my writing of poetry that I couldn’t access before. There’s an instant separation and objective viewpoint that comes with expressing yourself on the page. Like centuries of thoughts, feelings and energy from the generations before you that gets released from your fingers allowing you to hold the world around you and feel the moment, for a moment – without being again encumbered by the boxing gloves that are wrapped around them, that you’ve had for longer than you can remember, in order to fight your way through another day that resembles a whole lifetime. 

Left Full look Giorgio Armani, watch Omega

Right Full look Loro Piana, watch Mont Blanc

Does music help to translate those feelings too, either through listening and connecting to specific songs, or writing / making music yourself – and how does it play out in your work too, such as preparing for a role?

 A lot of actors have playlists that are projects or character specific. I’m not one of them. I tend to listen to the ambient sounds around me to capture a feel for these things. The music and melodies find me in that way. Every now and then, especially if it’s a period piece, I’ll find music that is of the time and listen to it as a touchstone, if ever I need it.

In life, music is a must for me. I play percussion, mainly the conga’s and I sing. I love live music and go to concerts as often as I can.  The energy of the band. The atmosphere of the crowd. The euphoria that you’re left with after. It’s magic.  

 

One thing I’ve often heard musicians say when I interview them, is how that connection to their audience reminds them why they love what they do. Do you feel the same? Does having audiences connect and relate to your through your performances, help drive you in the next project?

 Yes. For sure. In the theatre, when you are on stage, you can feel the energy of the audience. You tap into what they bring into the theatre as a collective entity. They are almost the final character in the piece, so we tend to feed off them in many ways. I don’t believe in the fourth wall. I like to be reminded that my audience is there. Let’s face it, without them, we wouldn’t even be there. I like to see and hear them be engaged with their responses. It’s fuel for me. And when on set, the crew are my audience as well as my colleagues. Their responses are just as valuable to gage if you’re in the right area of emotion for any given scene. So, when they come up to you and tell you how moving or funny or shocking or how it made them cry or that last scene or take was for them, it keeps me going and wanting to explore all the ways of continuing to move the audience. I never take it for granted that it’s a given.  

Left Full look Loro Piana, sunglasses Mont Blanc

Right Full look Giorgio Armani, watch Omega

Full look Paul Smith, watch Omega

Out of all the characters you’ve stepped into, which one in terms of the atmosphere you’ve created to live in for a short while to really feel it, had the most impact on you, made you go to places you didn’t know you could go to – or is that one still to come?

 Not including what I call “my apprenticeship years”, where I was figuring out who I was as an actor and taking parts for credits and to get noticed – I’d say every role that I’ve consciously chosen to either audition for and landed or have said yes to when offered.

They’ve all offered me some area of growth and it would be hard to single out just one, but my first real lead in a play that’s had a major impact for several reasons – including having to transform physically – was the role of boxer Jay Jackson, in a play by Marco Ramirez called The Royale. Marco is a drummer and there were percussive elements that he introduced in the play that we had to incorporate in the form of claps, which forced us to be creative. I loved it and I grew as an actor on that stage, and I look forward to the opportunity of working with Marco again. 

 

With theatre, are you drawn to roles that give you, and perhaps the audience, a new perspective on a world that we think we know? 

 Theatre must challenge your perception of society. It must challenge your sense of morality. It must cause your thoughts and feelings on things that seem so fixed, to be shaken and disrupted so that even if it settles back to the same spot, it still can never be the same.

 

What’s more appealing to you, the role that you think you’re going to be good at or the role that scares you?

 The one that scares me every single time. If it doesn’t, I’m not interested in playing it. I’m not able to grow or be better than my previous efforts if I’m not challenged in some significant way. I also want the audience to be challenged by me and it’s not possible for me to do that if I keep delivering performances that they’ve seen time and time again. Sure, some characters or performances may be similar or resemble each other, but I try not to let that happen often, and to make tweaks so the experience is sufficiently different for the viewer as much as it is for me. I like to transform as much as I can. Sometimes it’s a lot. Sometimes not as much. But ultimately the pull for me is finding the challenge in the role. Hence why I say no to roles a lot. 

 

Left Full look Giorgio Armani

Right Shirt Eton Shirt, blazer, pants, & sweater Polo Ralph Lauren

This is a clichéd question, but if someone had said to you as a kid, “you’re going to be an actor,” would you have believed it?

 If someone had said that I would have replied, “Yeah, I know”! I knew from a very young age what my calling was. And it was just that. A calling. I knew I’d be a performer, just not in which discipline. So, when I started performing professionally at 12, I made sure I was more than competent in all areas, dancing, singing and acting. And I’ve done all three at various points throughout my almost 40 years of being in the industry.

 

Yes, and that leads perfectly into my next question, about your 40th anniversary! – does it take you by surprise when you start doing the maths of how long you’ve been doing this, what’s changed most for you, what’s been the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far?

 This September I’ll be 52, and in October will be the 40th anniversary. I don’t know where the time has gone. It often feels like yesterday that I had my first day as a lead on set in 1985. I’d say one of the things that has changed the most, is that there are more vehicles for young people to really shine and that’s wonderful. But another is less risks being taken by studios and producers, on new filmmakers, new actors, screen writers, so few indie projects, so few original scripts. There are so many blockbuster franchises and so many remakes. The last few decades, there’s been a decline of these wonderful ideas that producers were brave enough to back and support. Bring back raw, edgy not-sure-it’ll-make-any-money-but-I-love-it-and-I-believe-there’s-an-audience-out-there-that-will-too-so-fuck-it! type producers and creatives, with studios that can really make something special that will last not only a generation for their bold and unapologetic filmmaking, but will last a lifetime. 

 

Speaking of being passionate about change, what about the world we’re living in, with it being what it is right now, what’s the future for you? What are you optimistic about?

 The world is in flux and seems to be in a desperate place and this is where the escapism of art in all its forms will be vital. I’m producing now with the partners in my company (Silver Milk Productions), and I’m looking to move into directing also at some point but won’t give up acting. That’s still my first love. I have my sights on writing too. I’ve recently become a founding patron of The Liam Frances Dance Company and look on broadening my reach in other areas of the arts, including opening an art gallery and doing one last dance performance before my body decides it’s too old, to name but a few. 

My optimism is in the power of humanity, the necessity of kindness and the unending love and support that only community can offer and provide… whatever that community may be.  

Interview by Kate Lawson

Photography by Elliott Morgan

Fashion by Steven Huang

Grooming by Charlotte Yeomans using Tom Ford Beauty

Stylist’s assistant Harley Thompson

THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO’S ANDREW BURNAP PLAYING IN DISNEY’S LIVE-ACTION REMAKE OF SNOW WHITE? WELL, AT THE TIME OF WRITING, ALL WE KNOW IS THAT THE STAGE AND SCREEN ACTOR WILL TAKE ON A NEWLY-CREATED LEADING MAN CALLED JONATHAN, WHO IS NEITHER A HUNTSMAN NOR A PRINCE. WHAT WE CAN TELL YOU IS THE MULTI-HYPHENATE WILL ALSO RETURN TO HIS STAGE ROOTS, APPEARING AS CASSIO ON BROADWAY IN OTHELLO. WE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM TO TALK FIRST LOVES, STAGE DOOR STORIES AND HOW LIFE IMITATES ART.

Tank Top Tom Ford

Hello, let’s talk Snow White! What are you allowed to tell us so far, and how will this reimagining speak to modern audiences?

Well, hello there. I’ll say this – our film is an absolute love letter to the 1937 animated original. This is the Snow White that everyone knows and loves – but, like other live-action Disney films, it contains a few fun surprises!

So, what will the CGI and live-action treatment bring to such a much-loved story? How was that experience for you?

Fans of the 1937 animated film know how groundbreaking its animation was at the time. It kind of changed filmmaking. So, I think the creative team decided to pay homage to Walt Disney’s original vision by continuing to use artistic tools like CGI to bring these characters to life. We worked with some incredible physical performers on set that led to some very special moments on screen.

Full looks Thom Browne

You’re not playing a prince or a huntsman, all we know is you’re called Jonathan! So, what kind of leading man are you and will there be romance?

Jonathan would probably say “mind your own business,” but I’ll give you a bit more and say that when we meet him, he’s a man disillusioned with the world who is secretly yearning for something to hope and fight for. And I can assure you, the romance lives!

Well, that’s a teaser right there! So, was it easy or difficult to find this character as he’s not the classic male lead we expect with this story – he comes with a twist.

It was truly a joyful and fun-filled process finding this character – we share a sense of humour about the world and a similar sense of secret hope amidst its dangers.

Shirt Vowels

The iconic costume designer Sandy Powell is on board for this version. What can you tell us about your experience with her for your character, and did you have a lot of input?

Is there any greater legend than Sandy Powell? I remember coming straight off the plane and going into a fitting with Sandy and her team, and I felt that I had finally met the coolest person in the world. Her genius knows no bounds – she was game for anything and everything and helped me find great specificity in Jonathan’s attachments to the world around him.

Left Tank Top Tom Ford

Right Full look Golden Goose

Will the remake revitalise the beloved songs from the original Snow White too? Do you get to sing?

Anyone who loves the original and all its songs will not be disappointed – as for me, I suppose you’ll just have to see it!

This live-action just shows your extraordinary range, switching between stage and screen and genre. Is that something you’ve sought in your career, to tell as many stories as possible?

Extraordinary range, mom will love that! I suppose so far in my career I’ve tried to do as many things as possible that seem challenging. If you had told me a few years ago that I would be starring in a Disney live-action musical and a Broadway musical within a year of each other, I would have giggled and told you to please shut the door on your way out. But it’s fun to do things that scare me, even though I curse myself for doing it when I’m in the trenches of the challenge. Big risk, big reward, I guess. Public failure and humiliation are extremely hard - but at least you’re taking a swing. If I had my druthers, so to speak, I would do as many different things as possible – what a gift it is to be able to do this thing that I love for a living. And I owe it to myself and to those who have helped me get here to go as far and wide as I possibly can. Even if I’m temporarily wounded by the result. I don’t think you can get there without stepping outside of your comfort zone.

Left Jacket Golden Goose, Top Tank Tom Ford, pants Vowels Tokyo, boots Balenciaga

With being on screen, are character-driven projects the ones which grab your attention, especially if you can bring your own experiences to it, to shape a role?

I think character-driven narratives are an actor’s dream! Your own experience is certainly your gold mine, but your imagination and your sense of empathy are the most fruitful tools when you’re on set or on stage inside of a thing.


Is there one film that resonates with you, that you would’ve loved to play the lead in? Or a biopic of someone you would love to play?

I would love to play Chet Baker someday – I grew up playing the trumpet and have always been deeply fascinated with his life and legacy. That voice! That face! That sound! That would be a dream come true.

Top Harley Davidson, pants The Frankie Shop, Jewelry Sophia D

Let’s talk about being on stage, is theatre your first love, the one you always return to?

There is nothing like the live experience – everyone in that audience, and on stage for that matter, is experiencing something that will never ever happen the same way again. Theatre is, in my opinion, where one learns how to act – most especially technique and craft. There is no going back, no take two, nothing but the here and now – this present moment. You’re not feeling it? Too bad. You gotta do it. My favourite actors pretty much all started in the theatre, and I tell any young actor who wants to give it a go to start there.

Full looks Golden Goose

Speaking of which, you’re playing Cassio in Othello on Broadway. What are some of your favourite moments or scenes as your character, and why?

Cassio has such an attachment to how he is perceived by others, especially by those whom he has great respect for. And in today’s world, with social media and public perception being such a major aspect of our lives, I think we can all understand the consequences of one’s reputation. I’m excited to see how these words reach today’s audiences.

Left Tank Top Tom Ford

Right Full look Golden Goose

I’m always interested in the things fans tell you at the stage door. What’s your best story or experience?

Oh, man. The thing I love about NY is that people will tell you what they really think – whether you want to hear it or not! I’ve heard things kind and unkind, hilarious and insane, but the best stories are the ones from people who have never seen a play before. There is wonder, curiosity and amazement bursting from their eyes. If I’m ever having a rough day before a show, I try my best to think of that person who is sitting there for the first time. 

…

Discover the full story in our upcoming SS25 Issue - release end March 25.

Interview by Kate Lawson

Photography by Gabe Araujo

Fashion by Jordan Dorso

Casting by Imagemachine cs

Grooming by Jessica Ortiz

Stylist’s assistant Drew Mac

PIECES OF SELF

LIFE IS FULL OF UNKNOWNS, WHERE EVERY STEP INTO THE FUTURE IS AN ABSOLUTE MYSTERY. WE STEP INTO AN UNCERTAIN TOMORROW, NOT KNOWING WHAT LIES AHEAD. HOWEVER, BEYOND THE QUESTIONS THAT THE FUTURE WHISPERS TO US, THE GREATEST MYSTERY LIES WITHIN OURSELVES. IN THIS CONTEXT, ACTOR LUCAS LYNGGAARD TØNNESEN PRESENTS HIMSELF AS AN EXPLORER OF THESE INNER COMPLEXITIES. THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER, HE HAS PLAYED CHARACTERS THAT REFLECT INNER STRUGGLE, SELF-CONFLICT AND THE SEARCH FOR IDENTITY, THEMES THAT RESONATE DEEPLY WITH OUR OWN EXISTENCE. TODAY, HE GIVES A LOOK INTO NOT ONLY HIS CAREER AND ACHIEVEMENTS, BUT ALSO HOW HE ADDRESSES THESE MYSTERIES IN BOTH HIS WORK AND HIS PERSONAL LIFE.

Lucas, I'm really happy to talk to you. Something funny happened to me while preparing for this interview. One of your most well-known series is called The Rain, which in Spanish means La Lluvia, the title of the song I always sing at karaoke when I go with my friends. What’s your favourite song to sing at karaoke?

The pleasure is all mine! I'm really happy to be back with you guys. Fun question to start with! Well, among my friends, some have probably already witnessed my infamous performance of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, or really, any Michael Jackson song.

You’re from Copenhagen, a city I adore. If you had to recommend some of your favourite places in the Danish capital, what would they be? Why are they special to you?

Uff, I always find it hard to name specific spots in Copenhagen because there are so many that I really love. But if I had to pick a few, these would be the ones:

PALÆBAR – You go into the kitchen of the bar yourself, grab a plate, and choose your open-faced sandwich, Smørrebrød. Then you sit down, order a beer, and play some cards with your friends afterwards.

AUTOPOUL – Probably one of my favourite spring and summer outdoor bars in Copenhagen. There’s always room for everyone, plus good wine and music. I can’t wait for it to open again this spring.

FLERE FUGLE – Breakfast and brunch, Danish pastries at their best. It also has an urban vibe – sitting and working in the sun with a coffee by your side, reading a good book while cute dogs walk around, that kind of thing.

LA VECCHIA SIGNORA – I told you there were many places haha. This place makes the best Italian sandwiches I’ve ever tasted. It’s like a little grocery store in a basement. Go there!

Your first steps in the entertainment industry were quite significant. How would you describe that transition, and what challenges did you face at the beginning of your career?

I started acting when I was quite young, and at that time, I was in middle school at a singing school. They were pretty old-fashioned in how they viewed things, and I was nearly kicked out because I spent so much time acting. It’s always interesting how creative places like that can have double standards. They loved opera or kids doing ballet, but apparently, acting wasn’t as welcome.

You have a close relationship with the fashion industry. What role does clothing play in your day-to-day life? Are you someone who carefully chooses what to wear, or do you prefer something more spontaneous?

I never know what I’m going to wear in the morning; it’s always a mystery. I share my closet with my girlfriend, Laura, so sometimes it’s a bit hard to keep track of what’s what and where that specific shirt you know you have actually is. So, definitely more spontaneous when it comes to clothing. I do like starting with the pants and then going from there.

Regarding your work in film and television, do you get involved in creating the wardrobe for your characters? How do you bring your own vision to the process of defining a role's aesthetic?

Yeah, I think it’s important to have an idea of what the character you’re playing is going to wear. Though it’s often after the costume designer shows you their ideas for the character that the real collaboration begins between the director, costume designer, and yourself. It’s also often a "you know when you know" kind of thing.

I would like to know if, as an actor, you prepare your roles in a more individual way, or do you rely on other colleagues for advice or ask for their point of view?

Some things you have to work on by yourself, but I would say that most of the time, if it’s possible and the project is ensemble-focused, doing it collaboratively with the director and other actors is incredibly rewarding. Getting to know others often allows you to explore new sides of both yourself and the character you’re creating. We did this for a new Swedish and Danish movie we shot last October called The Art Patron. We had a lot of workshops together, which helped us discover something I don’t think we would have found otherwise.

In Salmon, your performance was exceptional, and you dove into the fascinating world of haute cuisine. What was your immersion into the culinary world like?

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! It was fun and intense shooting Salmon over four nights. I remember Mattis and Milan, the director and cinematographer, pitching the project to me a few months before shooting. They asked if I would be interested in doing it with them, and I remember saying something like, “Absolutely, but is there a script yet?” Mattis said it was on the way, but I already knew this project was going to be good. I feel like I’m pretty good in the kitchen, but on set, I realised what an everyday shift looks like for a chef. I watched a few movies that were a big inspiration for this film, and YouTube was really helpful too. I had previously visited the kitchen at The Alchemist here in Copenhagen to observe how it functions. Obviously, it’s not as intense as in our film, but the atmosphere definitely makes it clear that everyone wants to be there.

The creative stages in an artist's life vary, and what inspires you today may change tomorrow. I want to know: today, on a Friday in February, what inspires you?

This answer will probably vary from one day to another, but today, the weather definitely has a big influence on my inspiration. The sun is shining in Copenhagen right now, which is a wonder to the eye. Light, in general, can have a huge effect on my mood. A very specific kind of light can actually make me really emotional, though I don’t quite know how to explain it. The feeling of creating something, just starting, even if it’s just talking or fumbling with ideas – it doesn’t matter. Beginning a project gives me a lot of energy. For instance, this photoshoot in particular really inspired me. I’ve never done a shoot like this before. Arton Sefa, the photographer, has a way of working that I find truly inspiring. He directs you while taking photos, pushing you to explore something new, going one hundred percent into a feeling or expressing something you’ve never done before. That was quite unique. Can’t wait for the next shoot.

The way one takes risks is very important in an actor's career. Do you consider yourself to be an unbiased actor, willing to explore any idea that you find interesting? Would you say that it is important not to be afraid when one engages in art?

Going into a project with an open mind is very important, I would say. Not being locked into your own way of seeing things. I think I’ve reached a stage where I’m more willing to take risks than I was before. I’ve always loved trying out new things, but now, I can definitely feel that I’m more than ready to do it.

Interview by Juan Martí

Photography by Arton Sefa

THE COMPLEXITY WITHIN

JAMES NELSON-JOYCE HAS ONE OF THOSE FACES THAT INSTANTLY TELL A THOUSAND STORIES. WITH A SEEMINGLY HARD, NO-NONSENSE EXTERIOR, THE LIVERPOOL NATIVE HAS BEEN EXCELLING THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER IN ROLES OF BAD GUYS. BUT RATHER THAN BECOMING STRAIGHT-UP VILLAINS, HE INFUSES HIS CHARACTERS WITH AN INTRIGUING SENSE OF VULNERABILITY – MOST RECENTLY IN STEVEN KNIGHT’S DISNEY+ 1880S BOXING SERIES A THOUSAND BLOWS AND BBC’S UPCOMING MAFIA DRAMA, THIS CITY IS OURS. THOUGH A SELF-DESCRIBED SERIOUS OVERTHINKER AND CATASTROPHISER, NELSON-JOYCE HAS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY TO FEEL CONFIDENT ABOUT HIS SKILLS AS AN ACTOR. SEEING HIS TWO MOST RECENT PROJECTS, ONE CAN ONLY AGREE. HIS TAKE ON QUIET INTENSITY, BUBBLING ALL THE WAY TO THE SURFACE, IS A COMPELLING SHOWCASE OF DRAMATIC STRENGTH.

Left Full Look Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello

Right Full look Fendi

Hi James, congratulations on A Thousand Blows! The show is created by Steven Knight, who is a master of building compelling worlds. What attracted you the most to being a part of this story?

Well, first of all, I knew that the world of boxing of the 19th century was the backdrop of it, and I love boxing! Then, I started to learn more about these female organised crime groups from the 1880s who were robbing the rich, and I was like, “Wow, this is incredible!” Also, the story of Hezekiah coming over from Jamaica to be a lion tamer and ending up becoming this prolific boxer. And finally, the story of the Goodson brothers [of which I’m playing Treacle]. I just loved that the series was about real people from that time, and showed how wild London was back then. What Steven does so cleverly with his writing is showing these real people in real circumstances – he draws an audience into it straight away.

Full look Fendi

Do you train boxing in your day-to-day life? If so, how has that informed your prep for the role?

Whenever I’m home in Liverpool, I always go to this boxing gym called Rotunda ABC, which is attended by many world champions, former world champions and young prospects. Also, I would say that watching boxing is a big part of my life. But when you start doing research into boxing in the late 1800s, you realise how much the sport has evolved until now. So we had a trainer working with us on set who taught us how to move in the 1880s style. It was very stiff and very upright, and the punches were thrown a lot differently. It was really fun and I remember feeling like, “I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this.”

Left Full Look Hermès

Right Full Look Paul Smith

Your character is making quite a fashion statement with his sideburns. What’s your stance on them? Are you a fan?

I’m definitely not a fan. [Laughs]

Full Look Paul Smith

Okay, fair enough! Let’s talk about your other upcoming series, This City is Ours. Watching the first episode, I was struck by the complex depiction of the inner conflict your character, Michael, is going through when it comes to being a part of the mafia. Is that what drew you to this role?

As soon as I read the script of the first episode, I knew that I had to play Michael. I was like a dog with a bone. I was auditioning for this role for months. I love the conflict within the character of [working in the mafia] being something that he’s always known, and then through maturity, coming to understand the dangers of it and the morality [aspect] of it. Also, his relationship with Diana and wanting to become a partner that his Mrs is proud of, and hopefully becoming a father one day. I just loved all of the complexities that came with Michael. He is definitely a thinker, maybe even an overthinker. And there was a real beauty that came with that. 

Full Look Dior Men

Would you consider yourself an overthinker as well?

Yeah, massively. I’m a catastrophiser and an overthinker, that is me. 

Full Look MM6

That’s me as well! What do you find helpful in overcoming these feelings?

Letting go as much steam in the gym as I can. Mental health is the biggest killer in men under the age of 40, and it’s heartbreaking. Men still seem to have this sense of pride and not being able to communicate with one another, and it shouldn’t be that way. Even going back to A Thousand Blows and the relationship between my character and his brother, the reason why it all blows up is because they’re unable to communicate. I think that’s the problem with men – we don’t get things off our chest. 

Full look Hermès

How does that overthinking affect your path as an actor? Do you feel like acting is what you’re meant to be doing?

I do, but I have to pinch myself. That said, on the flip side – and I know this might sound arrogant or whatnot – I have become more confident in knowing that I am good at what I do. And there’s no shame in saying that. Art is specific and everyone can have a different opinion [on it], but I must have done something right to get to where I am, and I do have to praise myself on that. But it’s a really hard industry so I do count my lucky stars because there are actors out there who are ten times better than me, so you just have to work hard. I have a very thick skin – with the amount of rejection you face in this industry, you have to develop it really fast.

Left Full Look Paul Smith

Right Full Look MM6

You have become known for your complex depictions of darker characters. What are the challenges that you are looking for as an actor now?

I would love to show my softer side and my vulnerability. Because I play all these complex, troubled, some would say violent characters, I would love the opportunity to show the other side of the coin. I want to play someone very kind, caring and loving, and maybe do a biographical piece. But to be really honest, [I’m just really grateful] to be acting – I’m very fortunate and I know how lucky I am. 

‘This City Is Ours’ launches on BBC One & BBC iPlayer on Sunday 23rd March

Interview by Martin Onufrowicz

Photography by Lee Malone

Fashion by Steven Huang

Make-Up by Richard Wynn Ellis

Photographer’s assistant Jake Milsom

Stylist’s assistant Dominik Radomski

Location Thanks to Hotel Café Royal London

BORN TO PERFORM

AS WE ZOOM WITH LOUIS HEALY, HE’S SITTING IN A ROOM AT HIS BROTHER’S HOUSE, TRYING TO FIND HIS LIGHT – OR TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY, FIND A WELL-LIT POSITION INSIDE HIS FAMOUS OLDER SIBLING’S ARCHITECTURALLY DESIGNED CONCRETE CAVE, WHERE HE’S CURRENTLY LIVING. NO STRANGER TO THE SPOTLIGHT HIMSELF, THE 23-YEAR-OLD ACTOR IS CURRENTLY STARRING AS BOYISH-LOOKING MONSTER HENRY CREEL IN THE WEST END PLAY, STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW. WE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM TO TALK ABOUT WHIRLWIND WEST END FUN AND THE FAMILY COLLABORATION WE ALL WANT TO SEE.

Top Ludovic de Saint Sernin, gloves Paula Rowan

I read that as a child growing up, you had quite a wild imagination and loved having adventures and exploring, so this stage show was made for you!

It’s perfect for me; it’s a whirlwind of fun! It’s such a chaotic show and it takes you in so many directions, you never have time to think about what you’ve just seen. The audiences are on the edge of their seat from the very beginning, and it’s so exhilarating and exciting to be a part of it all, and the character that drives it. I think the TV series translates into this stage play in such an immersive and incredibly exciting way.

Screen-to-stage shows really tap into our need for immersive experiences and an opportunity for communal fandom.  With this show, you get to be part of a cultural phenomenon and bring a new origin story to it – how did it feel when you landed the lead role as Henry Creel? Were you nervous? Excited?

Both! So many emotions and tears, as this is the biggest thing I’ve done workwise. I was nervous to step into such a huge franchise with such a dedicated fanbase and wanted to honour Jamie’s [Campbell Bower] work playing Henry on screen in the series. It helped that I had already seen the show twice before joining the cast, so I knew what to expect.

Full look Maison Margiela

Louis McCartney previously played your role. Were you given the freedom to play Henry your way?

It was a journey to get to that point, working on my own version of the character. Watching Louis, he was so incredible and dynamic in his movement, and there is a blueprint in the role that must remain – but once I got into the rehearsal room, I was given the freedom to figure it out for myself and explore my version of Henry. I was apprehensive at first to try anything out of the box, but the directors encouraged me to go in my own direction.

How did you find your version of him then, as he’s battling the monster of Vecna within, and we find out how his powers came to be?

Act One and Act Two of the show for Henry are so vastly different, so there was freedom in the sense of nobody having seen this character on screen before, in his origin story. He’s villainised and a baddie on screen, but I didn’t want to portray him that way in this show. I wanted to make this younger version a troubled, but endearing and ultimately shy little kid, who is fighting off this ‘thing’ he can’t control. He’s lost and just wants to be normal but obviously goes off the rails and becomes this evil person we know. I wanted the fans to find a way to love this character and have empathy for who he was before the Henry we know now. 

Jacket, shirt, shorts and shoes Celine Homme, hat Harvy Santos

Is there a particular moment of the show you’re excited to share with audiences each night?

There is a scene at the end of the show which is a direct reference to a scene in the series, in terms of the costume and music, called ‘Creel Family Dinner’. I won’t give too much away for those who haven’t seen either the play or series; but in the scene, Henry is able to drop into The Void and see or listen to things in the past. Visually, it’s such a fun scene to play, and often you can hear all of the big Stranger Things fans in the audience saying, “Oh my god, I know what’s coming, I love this”, or, “I know what that song means!”.

Are there a lot of stage door stories from fans after the show when you meet them, and has it brought you a whole new fanbase?

100 percent! There are people who have told me they’ve seen the show five times over, and then there are those who are complete newcomers to theatre and the show. It’s such a rewarding experience to be a part of this franchise and for the fans to acknowledge that I’m doing it justice!

Coat and shirt Yohji Yamamoto, hat Harvy Santos

If you could have someone you really admire and want to work with, an idol or icon you look up to, see this show, who would it be?

I would love Jamie [Campbell Bower] to come and see me in it, he’s already been, but I would love to get his feedback after watching me perform! I’m also a huge fan of the writer Jesse Armstrong, so if he by chance wanted to come and watch me in the show, that would be fantastic! He’s one of my favourite writers and creators.

So, now you’re a big West End star, do you have a dressing room rider, no brown M&M’s?

Haha! Not quite yet, maybe on the next job… we’ll see!

Left Top Ludovic de Saint Sernin, gloves Paula Rowan

Right Jacket, shirt, shorts and shoes Celine Homme, hat Harvy Santos

You’re obviously a passionate creative and love storytelling, so is there a specific genre you would love to try?

I’ve always had a fascination with Westerns since I was young. My dad used to watch all the old Western films, and I would watch them in the background and then run into the garden and play at being a cowboy! [Laughs] I love horror movies too. Robert Eggers and Ari Aster are directors that I admire, and I would love to be in one of their movies. I used to like writing stories when I was a kid too and made little film spoofs when I was at college. Growing up in such a creative household, if I wasn’t reciting a scene from Billy Elliott to my dad, I would be going into my brother’s rehearsal room and ask him what the buttons on different equipment did!

Were you that little brother who gate-crashed the band’s practice sessions?

Totally! It feels like less of an age gap between my brother and me, as now we’re mates. But when I was 6 and he was 18, as they were becoming The 1975, I would also wait outside the rehearsal room, and as soon as they came out, they would get a football thrown right in their face – I loved football obviously! 

Left Shirt Prada, necklace and brooch stylist’s own

Right Full look Marni

You mentioned growing up in a creative family; have they ever given you any words of advice?

Well, my dad specifically didn’t want me to go into the industry, having seen how child actors can burn out or get bored. He came from a very working-class background, where being an actor wasn’t really something you would choose as a career. He was a welder, then in the paratroopers and then in his 20s, he was a stand-up comedian in working men’s clubs. So, he’s done well for himself, but has a totally different perspective on the industry, and he’s always told me to revel in the moment and never take anything for granted. When you come from a famous family like mine, you’re never truly able to escape the “nepo baby” narrative, but that wasn’t my experience. It’s always been my dream to perform, and with my parents being in the industry, they inspired me. As I’ve got older, I realise how fortunate I’ve been.

Even with having a mum on the run as we speak [in the TV show Celebrity Hunted]! Is she hiding in your brother’s house?

Haha! I’ve not found her yet. [Laughs]

Left Jacket, shirt, shorts and shoes Celine Homme, hat Harvy Santos

Right Full look Marni

So, when you’re not working, what’s Louis doing – aside from trying to find your mum?

Sometimes on my days off from the show, I feel so exhausted that I just want to listen to my body and rot on the sofa watching TV! [Laughs] I love music too, and play guitar and piano. I also have quite a few beat-making machines around the house and all my brother’s equipment to mess around on!

And break, like his favourite guitar?

Exactly! He’s always Face Timing me saying, “Don’t touch that, you can play the other one, but not that!” [Laughs]

Any upcoming collaborations with you and your brother you want to tell us about?

Well, if we do, it wouldn’t be a musical one. He’s a great writer and director, having created all the concepts for his own videos and directed some of them. We’ve spoken before about ideas he’s got for films down the line. 

Sweater Dior Men, hat Stephen Jones

So, a lead role written for you then?

Exactly, I would be annoyed if he didn’t write it for me! Or maybe he’ll compose the soundtrack for a movie I’m in one day!

Well, either way, we’ll be seeing lots more of you, which is great for all your fans, and all the fashion houses looking for a new ambassador! Any labels you love you want to shout out to?

To be perfectly honest, I’ve been getting hand-me-downs from my brother for about eight years! [Laughs] But I do love Margiela and Celine, Dior, you know… All the posh ones!

Top and pants Courrèges, gloves Paula Rowan

…

Discover the full story in our upcoming SS25 Issue - release end March 25.

Interview by Kate Lawson

Photography by John Armour

Fashion by Steven Huang

Casting by Imagemachine cs

Grooming by Sven Bayerbach at Carol Hayes Management using Daimon Barber

Stylist’s assistant Dominik Radomski

FRONT AND CENTER

JUST LIKE HIS CHARACTER JAIME REYES IN THE MOVIE BLUE BEETLE, ACTOR XOLO MARIDUEÑA WAS BESTOWED WITH AN INCREDIBLE SUIT OF ARMOUR THAT'S CAPABLE OF EXTRAORDINARY AND UNPREDICTABLE POWERS – TO ESCAPE THE FAMILIAR BOXES HOLLYWOOD PLACES YOU IN – BEING CAST AS THE FIRST LATINO SUPERHERO IN A DC FILM. PRIOR TO BREAKING THE MOULD, HE WAS BEST KNOWN FOR HIS TURNS AS MIGUEL DIAZ ON COBRA KAI AND VICTOR GRAHAM ON PARENTHOOD.  AT 23, HIS WORK HAS BEEN TRANSFORMATIVE NOT JUST FOR HIS CHARACTERS, BUT FOR HIMSELF, AS HE CONTINUES TO PAVE THE WAY FOR GREATER DIVERSITY AND REPRESENTATION IN THE INDUSTRY.

Left Full look Dior Men

Right Coat Dior Men, jacket Emporio Armani, pants Ami, boots Dsquared2

The final season of Cobra Kai is like a three-course meal, temptingly delivered in its parts, and there will be a hearty ending, I’m sure! Is this going to be the best season yet?

I’ve never been good at choosing what's “best” but I can certainly say this is the season we worked the hardest on. It was so important to send off Johnny and Daniel the right way, and I can confidently say that we did!

What were your favourite scenes to shoot and was there a lot of emotion between you all on set?

The joy of filming a show with twenty characters is the moments spent as a whole. I was so glad this last season pulled all of us together, so much of what I will remember about this show are the moments laughing in between takes with my best friends. 

Left Full look Dolce&Gabbana

Right Coat and pants Emporio Armani, shirt and tank top Ami, boots Dsquared2

You’re old enough to have a drink now which you weren’t when you started filming this show! Did you make a toast to all the cast and crew you grew up on set with?

Absolutelyyyy not!! My best pals Jacob and Peyton helped me make our cast and crew a yearbook with everyone's photos and memories documented over the years. I got to hand deliver our little toast to everyone; I’m not a fan of talking to large groups like that.


You mention a yearbook, and it’s been 7 years of your life, so I imagine it’s been transformative not only for your character but also for yourself. How has playing Miguel shaped you in terms of finding character-building moments for other projects like Blue Beetle, as both roles are action-based, but there’s a lot of heart to them?

Cobra Kai gave me the confidence to come into my own on Blue Beetle. Getting to explore in such great depth helped me learn to dig deep in all sorts of scenarios, and watching Ralph Macchio and William Zabka taught me what it meant to lead as an actor – they carry themselves as true gentleman and leaders. 

Shirt and pants Ami, boots Dsquared2, watch Omega

Speaking of leaders; being cast as the superhero lead in Blue Beetle was a milestone for Latino representation in major franchises, and you’re a role model for Latino kids to look up to! How did that feel, being able to represent and honour your culture?

I will forever be indebted to the folks at Warner Brothers for getting the group together that made Blue Beetle. They truly understood the assignment and I pray every day that another movie like this will get made one day.

It ushered in a new era of diverse storytelling in the genre, and now you’re set to reprise the role in an animated series from DC Studios. What can you tell us about that?

As someone who has never grown out of watching animation, it’s so exciting to be contributing to this new chapter of DC! We are going to be able to tell the type of stories that live-action can’t, and the team is working hard to get it out at the right time.

Aside from acting, you’re also a musician, having released your debut single On My Way last year. It was heavily rap-based – is that the kind of stuff you were listening to growing up?

Hip-hop was a huge part of my upbringing, A Tribe Called Quest, Kendrick Lamar, and Outkast were all in rotation. 

Jacket Dsquared2, tank top Calvin Klein

What’s on your playlist right now?

Well, my Top 3 songs of the last year were Megan’s Piano, Hypotheticals and Life We Live, in that order.

How have you managed to stay sane during your rise to fame, as there’s no doubt it’s been life-altering?

My friends and family without a doubt – they always remind me that I’m bad at Mario Kart and the dishes! [Laughs]

I imagine that fame has helped though in building the audience for your podcast Lone Lobos – it’s so popular. Who would be your ultimate guest?

Steve-O, he matches my partner in crime’s freak!

Jacket, vest, shorts and ring Dior Men, boots Dsquared2

Interview by Kate Lawson

Photography by Gabe Araujo

Fashion by Nicholas Mackinnon

Casting by IMAGEMACHINE cs

Hair by Tory Wells

Make-Up by Anluis

Production assistant Anthony D’alessandro

WINNING FORMULA

GROWING UP WITH A BURGEONING CURIOSITY FOR FASHION, FEW COVERS HAD AN IMPRESSION ON ME AS SEISMIC AS THE ONE FROM JARROD SCOTT’S SPRING/SUMMER 2013 STORY FOR THE SADLY SHUT-DOWN VOGUE HOMMES INTERNATIONAL. SEEING HIS ADONIS-LIKE PHYSIQUE ACROSS THE PAGES IN A BLACK LEATHER TRENCH COAT, FITTED SUITS AND VARIOUS STATES OF UNDRESS NOT ONLY MADE ME ALL KINDS OF HOT AND BOTHERED BUT ALSO DREW ME TO FURTHER EXPLORE THE REALM OF MEN’S FASHION I HAVE COME TO LOVE EVER SINCE.

TWELVE YEARS LATER, SCOTT IS STILL ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNISABLE FACES (AND BODIES) IN MALE MODELLING – A SPHERE OF THE INDUSTRY NOT TRADITIONALLY ASSOCIATED WITH LONGEVITY. DESPITE HIS ULTRA-MASCULINE AND STATUESQUE APPEARANCE, THE AUSTRALIAN MODEL IS A LOW-KEY KIND OF GUY WHOSE LIFE CENTRES AROUND HIS NEW BABY DAUGHTER, DIVING, AND CONCEPTUALISING RECIPES FOR COCKTAILS (HE’S AN AWARD-WINNING MIXOLOGIST, AFTER ALL). IN OUR CONVERSATION, HE TALKS ABOUT HIS BIG BREAK IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY, PRESERVING CORAL REEFS, AND HIS UPCOMING BOOZY VENTURE. 

T-shirt The Ace Club

I remember first seeing you in that epic cover story for Vogue Hommes International back in 2013. Would you say that was your ultimate moment of breaking into the industry? Or is there another milestone that you consider more important for the trajectory of your career? 

Most definitely, it was one of the biggest milestones of my career to date, but initially, I had actually shot that same cover in the previous year. I was shooting with David Sims for the cover and a hair story. At the end of the shoot, David wasn’t feeling the look with the facial hair, so we decided I should shave for the cover. But again, David wasn’t truly happy with how he imagined I should look. So the cover was reshot with Sean O’Pry the following week as I was away traveling. In the end, I was thankful for that because from that moment on, I motivated myself to be in the best shape I possibly could. And it paid off; the cover story I shot with Solve Sundsbo a year later cemented me in the fashion world. 

Short Sebline, underwear Calvin Klein, necklace Daphine, ring Gemmyo

Was modelling something that you always wanted to do? What drew you to it initially, and what still excites you about it today?

When I was a teenager, I would walk into the department stores and see all of the campaigns. One always suck in my mind, it was CK Jeans with Eva Mendes and Jamie Dornan. At that point, I had no idea about the world. I grew up in a fairly poor family in the countryside. I’d never been on a plane, and I didn’t even have a passport. I was playing Australian football at a very high level, hoping to be drafted into a pro team. But when I’d see fashion campaigns, I’d always imagine myself in the pictures, telling myself I could do that. I really enjoy working with amazing photographers, stylists, hair stylists and makeup artists. There are so many talents in the industry. Being on these incredible sets for luxury brands shooting campaigns and editorials – the spontaneity of the industry always keeps things visually fresh. You wake up and never know if you’ll get an email saying you’re flying to Paris or a remote island.

Left Glasses Persol, sweater Drôle de Monsieur, necklace Daphine, ring Gemmyo

Right Pants C.P Compagny, necklace Daphine, ring Gemmyo

Which of the shoots or campaigns that you have done stick out the most in your memory as experiences that you still can’t believe you got to be a part of? 

I’m one of the lucky few, as a man in the modeling world, who has been able to be a part of many luxury brand campaigns. I was thrown into the fashion elite while I was young and oblivious to the level of jobs I was doing. Social media wasn’t around when I was growing up, so no one had exposure to the fashion world, especially me. My first jobs were Givenchy, Stefanel, and Vogue Hommes. Over the course of that first year, I had time to learn a bit about the industry, and I was lucky enough to be confirmed for Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male campaign, one of the most iconic fragrances. JPG completely changed my life and gave me the financial freedom to get my own place and set a new direction in life. I remember the day I found out I was offered a contract with a semi-pro football team in Australia and had to quickly go to Paris for a week to walk for Givenchy. While I was there, I did the casting for the perfume and caught the train over to London to shoot the Vogue cover story with Solve. I headed back to Australia and continued my pre-season training until a few days later, when I found out I booked the perfume. It was a tears-of-joy phone call. Realising I was at a real crossroads, should I really pursue my childhood dream of becoming a footballer or drop everything and decide to model full-time. Having never traveled growing up, the lustre of seeing the rest of the world and meeting thousands of new people appealed to me. I also knew that opening doors into the fashion world would help me later in life when I wanted to pursue other business opportunities. The experience, knowledge and insight I’ve gained from being able to work with the best creative teams around the world is something I’m truly grateful for.

Left T-shirt The Ace Club, Short Sebline

Right Pants Loewe

Is fashion something that you follow in your day-to-day life? What do you feel most like yourself in? Do you have a uniform?

I definitely keep up with the new collections, however, I don’t really have the urge to go out and buy. I already have enough clothes. I keep it simple, wearing mainly white or navy and a lot of linen every day as I feel the heat! I keep key staples like a pea coat and a few cool statement designer jackets and always make sure I have at least one black tie look with me in case of last-minute events while traveling. 

Sweater Aigle by Etude Studio, Shorts Sebline

You seem to have a great relationship with your body and with nurturing your physicality. Why is it important for you to maintain this confident and active approach?   

Being in the best shape I can be is at the core of who I am. I’m constantly trying to push my body and see how fast or far I can go. I took up athletics recently. I set some goals for the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m, aiming to be the fastest 35-40-year-old in Australia. I was set back with a torn Achilles and at the same time learned I had a bone growth deformity in both of my ankles, which causes me to have tendonopathy. After 18 months of rehab, I’ve just had a big few months of training and managed to run a time of 11.9 in the 100m. It’s given me a great insight into training, the way my body is ageing, and how I need to adapt to that. 

Left Jogging vest Sandro, T-shirt American Vintage, pants Ami

Right Sweater Notshy, pants Ssheena

I learned today that you’re also an award-winning mixologist! What’s your favourite cocktail to make these days? And which one do you like to drink the most?

I started a luxury cocktail company with my partner Brioney. We will be launching it later this year.  I created all the recipes, playing with Australian and French botanicals and developed them in Grasse alongside a perfume scientist. A favourite of mine is an original creation that won a gold medal at the Global Spirit Masters in London and was voted best vodka cocktail. My thought behind this cocktail is walking through a field of flowers, combining rose, lavender, jasmine, strawberry eucalyptus, coconut water and vodka. The smell is floral, fruity and tart. It tastes nice and light like a fresh bouquet of flowers, with hints throughout the drink of each distinct flower. 

Left Jogging Loro Piana, necklace Daphine, ring Gemmyo

Right Jumpsuit Louis Vuitton, t-shirt American Vintage

You’re an ocean ambassador for Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef. What does that environment mean to you? 

The ocean is a place most people don’t even think about, as we don’t see it in our day-to-day lives. We live in tiny bubbles, unaware of what is happening beneath the surface. When you start spending a lot of time diving, you learn quickly how delicate the ecosystems are. I’m a coral nerd and spend as much time as I can up on the Great Barrier Reef. I’m an ambassador for the Sapphire Project, a charitable initiative supporting the health of our oceans and also for the organisation Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef as an ambassador for their main project, the Great Reef Census. I was able to pilot the methodology for the census a few years ago. The census consists of diving and taking photos of reefs on GoPros, loading them to our server, and analysing them. When we started, only 50% of the Great Barrier Reef had been explored. It takes a lot of logistics and planning to visit remote parts of the reef. The analysis has two sides. One where we focus on school kids sorting through the photos, identifying what marine life can be seen in the pictures. This then teaches our AI analyser created by our partner, DELL Computers, which now analyses hundreds of pictures with 99% accuracy within seconds. Fast forward to 2025, our census has now surveyed 820 reefs and analysed over 172,500 images. Our goal is to identify key source reefs for the biggest coral spawns that are responsible for regenerating the GBR. This will help us to better maintain the GBR by knowing where to put all the effort into its protection. With this project being so successful, we’ve been approached by other countries around the world to start on their reefs as well. 

Tank top Dolce& Gabanna, pants Zadig&Voltaire, necklace Daphine, ring Gemmyo, signet ring Messika

What’s something new that you would like to try out this year? 

The last two years, I’ve had to step back from a lot of my hobbies and interests like car racing, spear fishing & cycling to focus on being a dad and being the creative director of our company. I’m enjoying learning from my girlfriend, Brioney, who previously worked for Dior. She’s slowly teaching me how to run and build a business. Having a baby, traveling around the world with my family and starting a company is more than enough to manage!

Left Shorts Sebline

Right Pants 8ON8, necklace Daphine, ring Gemmyo

Left Full look The Frankie Shop

Right Necklace Daphine, ring Gemmyo

Interview by Martin Onufrowicz

Photography by Emmanuel Giraud

Fashion by Thomas Turian

Grooming by Charlotte Dubreuil

Jarrod Scott at IMG

DADDY COOL

CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY HAS DELIVERED ONE CHARMING PERFORMANCE AFTER ANOTHER, BOTH IN FILM AND TV, FOR OVER TWO DECADES. MORPHING SEAMLESSLY INTO LOVE INTERESTS TRISTIN DUGRAY IN GILMORE GIRLS, CHARLIE TODD IN DAWSON’S CREEK, LUCAS SCOTT IN ONE TREE HILL, AND AUSTIN AMES IN A CINDERELLA STORY – HE’S UNDENIABLY CLAIMED A PERMANENT SPOT IN HEARTTHROB HISTORY. AS 2025 SEES THE 43-YEAR-OLD REPRISE HIS ROLE AS JAKE IN DISNEY’S FREAKIER FRIDAY SEQUEL, WE CHAT WITH THE ACTOR ABOUT LIFE BACK IN THE 2000S, AND WHY HE’S MORE ZEN THESE DAYS.

Left Shirt Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello, pants Emporio Armani

Right Tank top Dior Men

Hey Chad, how’s things, where are you right now – I’m assuming it’s cold, as you’re wearing a hat and gloves indoors.

Haha! I’m in Buffalo, and I’ve been out shovelling the driveway as we had a really big storm here last night. I love it though. Love, love, love being here!

I know you’re only 43 years old, but we can officially call you an industry veteran now! You’ve never really stopped acting, but having had a family, how have things changed for you?

Everything is about timing right now. My kids are in school, but we home-schooled [them] for the first 8 years, travelling everywhere as “the pack”, and we always keep the pack together, never apart for more than a day. They’ve been privately schooled in Nova Scotia where I film Sullivan’s Crossing and here in Buffalo, so really, it’s about what’s coming when and where it is, and how that plays out for the family. A lot of the projects I’ve been choosing lately are lighter. I like being in that mental space as a dad, not having to dust off a lot of mental darkness.

Left Full look Emporio Armani

Right Jacket, top, pants and boots Dolce&Gabbana, belt Rebecca Turbow

With age comes wisdom – so the saying goes. What have you learned about the journey you’ve been on up to now?

It all stems from faith in family, that’s where my happiness comes from. The victories with film and TV mean so much to me because of the bonds and relationships I’ve made with the fanbases. I love that. But at the same time, I’ve learned that it’s a marathon, not a sprint, your career can be made over the course of 50 years, it doesn’t need to be about making it in one year. Sometimes there’s that project out of the blue that catapults off to an astronomical direction and never touches back, but I don’t want the stress that goes along with it. I have three kids under 10, that’s enough responsibility, and I want to give them the time, love and patience they deserve. It’s about choosing things that keep me calm and in a good place and don’t eat into my dad time. As they get older, we’ll adapt and then it will be time to perhaps make different choices. Right now, I’m very content with where we are.

Tank top Fendi, coat and shorts Dior Men

So, you’re after all the dad roles then!

Well, I’ve got to grab that project where my kids can look at me and say, ‘Good job dad,’ because all the rest of the stuff they could care less, they’re like, ‘Whatever.’ So, I need something like Sonic the Hedgehog!

They must be excited about Freakier Friday though.

I don’t think they see what I do as real yet, because it’s just something, “Dad went to work on last year.” As it’s promoted, or their friends start mentioning it at school, maybe it will become more real to them. We sat down and watched the first movie together, so I could do some homework on my character Jake, and what he was like 23 years ago, to help build where he’s at now. They loved the film, and it’s a cool thing to share with them!

Polo Fendi, pants Lacoste

Were you excited when you were approached about the sequel?

I was excited to hear from the producers and everyone involved, and when we were back on set, it felt like a high school reunion. Seeing Jamie [Lee Curtis] and Lindsay [Lohan] and sitting down to do the table read 23 years later, it was so bizarre!

Was it emotional for you at all? As all your lives have changed, you’ve been on different journeys and evolved in that time – that’s a whole other story.

There was so much pride and joy for each other. It feels like a family, with everyone going on to have different journeys and successes, and you’re so excited to hear about what they’re doing, where they’re going, and everything about their partners and kids. There’s a lot of love there and that’s what I took away from it.

Full look Emporio Armani

Was being on set again just as fun this time around?

It was a wild ride with a great team! Everyone had input and was given the chance to elevate in whichever way they found worked for them. The story takes it up another level, with lots of mayhem, and it was confusing at times, working out who’s who and I just had to pause to gather my footings and work it out. It was fun!

Full look Emporio Armani

Any ideas to write or produce your own projects?

Yes, but now it all comes down to time. When I’m filming Sullivan’s Crossing in Nova Scotia, I’m a husband, dad, football coach, actor and I also like to work out and train to keep myself upright. So, when I find something that piques my interest, like when an idea comes to me as I’m lying down at night, I put it into notes and send it out to a little vault I have. Then when the kids are older, I can scroll through this vault of concepts and ideas and dive in. I have two screenplays I’ve finished that I love, and I want to make them and get them out to the world, and I promise you, they’ll be fantastic!

Any teasers as to what they’re about?

One is a comedy that reminds me of my childhood and my relationship with my brothers and our sense of humour growing up as a family. The other is a homage to films that inspired me growing up and turned me towards this industry. Ultimately, we all become actors because we probably saw something that inspired us to want to be an artist, a storyteller – we had that ‘I know what I want to be’ moment.

Full look Emporio Armani

Such as?

Taxi Driver with Robert De Niro was my ‘I know’ moment. It floored me, and it’s a movie that probably couldn’t be made today. It’s a funky indie that would get all kinds of positive and negative reviews and people would probably make a mountain out of a molehill about it. I love everything about it though; it feels very voyeuristic and intimate watching Travis Bickle. Also, Halloween with Jamie, we would go to Blockbuster Video and rent that every year!

You’re in a happy, zen place, and I feel like the projects you’ve been choosing are perfect for this moment in time.

Well, I’ve been spending the last 25 years of my life studying and learning about my world, and what it requires. When you do something like The Merry Gentleman – something you’ve never done before – there is so much that goes into the whole process, from the singing to the choreography.  I love it and it feels great to get the opportunity to do those things. I’m blessed because I have a great support group in my family and the team behind me. I’m having a great time, and I might fall flat on my face, but I’m going to have fun doing it! [Laughs]

Tank top Fendi, coat, shorts, socks and boots Dior Men

And how are you handling the new generation of fans?

What I’ve learned is that I love the relationships with the fans, and I love the bond with the audience that’s created with storytelling – that bond can shape someone’s day; their month, their life, or alter someone as a person. A movie can speak to someone or a generation, and if as an actor, you’re fortunate to be in something that hits home like that – all I can do is show up on the day, do my best, and bring the light and love.

How blessed am I to have a job where I can spread happiness and joy with the simplest gesture of just having a photo taken with someone, or signing an autograph and make someone’s day better? I just want to keep the pack together, travel, go to work, meet people, high-five, hug it out and continue on!

Full look Dior Men

…

Discover the full story in our upcoming SS25 Issue - release end March 25.

Interview by Kate Lawson

Photography by Hadar Pitchon

Fashion by Michael Andrew Rosenberg

Casting by Imagemachine cs

Grooming by Laura Costa at Exclusive Artists using Skin Gym

Stylist’s assistant Clove Pulido

STUDYING AMBIGUITY

HAZEL DOUPE IS ATTRACTED TO PROJECTS THAT EXPLORE THE GREY AREAS OF HUMANITY. WITH HER MOST RECENT PARTS, THE IRISH ACTRESS TOOK ON TWO CHARACTERS RICH IN COMPLEXITY – AND RECEIVED TWO NOMINATIONS, AND A WIN FOR ONE OF THEM AT THIS WEEK’S IFTA AWARDS! REPRISING A ROLE SHE PLAYED IN A 2020 SHORT FILM, DOUPE EMPATHETICALLY EMBODIES THE PROTAGONIST OF THE FEATURE KATHLEEN IS HERE – A TROUBLED YOUNG WOMAN LEAVING THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM, WHO RETURNS TO HER HOMETOWN AFTER HER MOTHER’S DEATH. LAST AUTUMN, DOUPE ALSO INTRIGUED AUDIENCES WITH HER QUIETLY INTENSE PORTRAIT OF MARIAN PRICE – A BELFAST-BORN ACTIVIST AND MEMBER OF THE IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY – IN SAY NOTHING, FX’S GRIPPING SERIES EXPLORING THE NORTHERN IRISH CONFLICT KNOWN AS THE TROUBLES. AS FOR WHAT’S NEXT? STEPPING OUTSIDE REALITY AND DIVING INTO THE FANTASY REALM LEADS THE WAY ON HER ACTING WISHLIST.

Left Bodysuit and belt N°21, gloves Paula Rowan, necklace 886 by The Royal Mint

Right Top Marni, skirt Rabanne

Hi Hazel! I have been watching your show Say Nothing this weekend and found it very eye-opening. I didn’t know much about the day-to-day reality of The Troubles. The series presents a complex take on these events, showing the cost of the war and all of its grey areas. Which aspects of this project spoke most to you?

When I first read the script, I found myself rooting for the leading characters we follow on the show. And then all of a sudden, I would not be rooting for them and wonder why that was and why they were exploring it in that way. I found it a very exciting and refreshing take on a conflict, it was like the writers had accepted that it was never a black-and-white struggle, there was no perfect victim, no ideal hero or villain – it was all just messy. And that’s why I wanted to do the project. I thought it was a very level-headed depiction of the war without romanticising it, showing how someone can get swept into the romance of rebellion that turns ugly.

Full look N°21

What was the research that you found most helpful in learning about the history of the conflict?

Lola Petticrew and Anthony Boyle [Doupe’s co-stars] are both from West Belfast and getting to work with them on set every day was an education in itself. It was so eye-opening to hear the stories they would tell me or even their sense of humour. Generally, as Irish people, we have the craic and we don’t take ourselves too seriously, but in Belfast, they level that up a notch. There’s so much research that happens while you’re working on set and absorbing things as they are happening. It’s not necessarily the direct research that’s the most valuable. I feel like the show couldn’t have been made without Lola and Anthony, the richness of their culture permeated from them.

When it comes to Marian, my character, it was very hard to find interviews with her – there were some written ones and one video interview – so I decided that I would go with what was on the page and try to bring that to life, as opposed to going off the very little resource that I had from the real-life Marian. Also, I did a lot of research into what the political climate was like back in the 1970s and 1980s and how people would become part of the IRA at such a young age.

Left Bodysuit and belt N°21, necklace 886 by The Royal Mint

Right Full look Louis Vuitton

The series doesn’t shy away from the brutality of The Troubles. Which of the scenes were the biggest challenge for you?

There were definitely scenes that were hard on the body, such as when Marian loses her motor skills and needs Dolours to undo her nightdress and help her along the way. Another scene was the strip search with the dog. The dog was trained, but it was a scary dog. [Laughs] And when you’re in your underwear in the scene, it’s really visceral – it feels very violent and like a strong attack on the body. So I think me and Lola were both on an adrenaline high in that moment, in a kind of petrified way. It was really revealing but also very important to show because that is what happened. And I’m sure I didn’t even feel a tenth of the fear and violation that Marian and Dolours did at the time.

Left Full look Miu Miu

Right Dress and belt N°21, gloves Paula Rowan

From one dark project to the next – let’s talk about Kathleen is Here, your new feature.

It is a dark story, but there’s so much light in it as well.

Left Dress and belt N°21, gloves Paula Rowan

Right Full look Tom Ford

It’s based on a short film you did a few years ago, right? How did you first encounter this story and character?

Yeah. Eva Birthistle, the director and writer of the film, wrote the script around nine years ago and I auditioned for it about six years ago. When I was exiting the audition room, I said that I just couldn’t leave without expressing to her how much this story spoke to me and how much I needed to play Kathleen. I was like, “Eva, if you choose me for this, I will do everything in my power to make Kathleen proud and care for her.” Then, after a while, she said that she definitely wanted me for the role but that things would go slow, as it’s really hard to get funding for the first feature. And although it was a real pity that it took that long, I think it was necessary for Kathleen and her spirit to imbue themselves into me. There was a period where she kind of laid dormant in me – I was going about my daily life and not thinking about her consciously, but in the subconscious, she was always there simmering in a lovely, vibrant way.

Left Full look Louis Vuitton

Right Jacket, top and shorts Fendi, tights stylist’s own, jewellery 886 by The Royal Mint

You said that you had a very strong reaction to Kathleen as a character. What elements of her did you connect with?

There was this one scene that really spoke to me, which I think is the saddest scene in the whole movie. It’s of Kathleen sitting in her living room, being on the phone with a woman doing a vlog-type thing. She wasn’t actually having a conversation with this woman, she just needed company. I think I related to it in a more juvenile way because it was what I would do as a kid if I were ever lonely. I’d just talk around the place, make up little stories or pretend I was the host of an Airbnb out of my shed. And that was the feeling that made me want to perform and act, I was constantly creating this make-believe of everything around me. My imagination was really big and expansive as a kid. And I really felt that from Kathleen – even though she had been through so many horrible, devastating things in her life, she still had this hope that she could make something out of it. Also, the way she would interact with people. She’s so blunt and direct, she’s hilarious because of it and doesn’t realise that she is. That’s something that I admire about her.

Left Top Marni, skirt Rabanne

Right Dress and belt N°21, gloves Paula Rowan

Did she have an impact on the way you are today?

Each character you take on leaves an imprint on you and lets you discover something about yourself that you didn’t know before or weren’t allowing yourself to play with before. That’s what I love about acting – you get to really play with who you are as a person and how that connects with the character you’re portraying. You take what you want, you don’t have to take it all.

Left Full look Tom Ford

Right Full look Miu Miu

What types of stories do you hope to tell as an actor next? What realms do you wish you could enter?

I read a lot of fantasy books, so I would love to do something in that genre. I’ve been in a show called Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale, a fantasy series based on a book, but it’s very grounded in our modern-day real world. I’d like to do something that takes fantasy to a whole new level, with mystical creatures and all. I also love the work of Ruben Östlund, I think there’s such an interesting study of the human experience [in his films]. It’s so grounded in reality, but it’s so absurd, it’s got all the little nuanced absurdities we all contain as humans. His films are so refreshing, and something like that would definitely be on my radar should it come my way. 

Interview by Martin Onufrowicz

Photography by Ho Hai Tran

Fashion by Steven Huang

Hair by Takumi Horiwaki

Make-Up by Yoi Wan

Photographer’s assistant Adam Roberts

Stylist’s assistant Eve Lam

TRANSFORMING IDENTITIES

OULAYA AMAMRA, WHO WON THE CÉSAR AWARD IN 2017 FOR HER BREAKOUT ROLE IN DIVINES, CONTINUES TO IMPRESS WITH HER TRANSFORMATIVE APPROACH TO ACTING. FOLLOWING THE RELEASE OF ANIMALE LAST NOVEMBER – HER THIRD COLLABORATION WITH DIRECTOR EMMA BENESTAN, WHERE SHE IMMERSED HERSELF IN THE WORLD OF BULLFIGHTING – AMAMRA IS NOW TAKING ON AN AMBITIOUS NEW PROJECT. IN TOUTES POUR UNE, ALONGSIDE HER BEST FRIEND AND FELLOW CÉSAR WINNER DÉBORAH LUKUMUENA, AMAMRA UNDERWENT A COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION TO PORTRAY A FEMALE D’ARTAGNAN. THIS INTENSE PREPARATION INCLUDED "DRAGGING UP" AS A MAN, WORKING WITH A VOICE COACH, LEARNING SPANISH, HORSEBACK RIDING, SWORD FIGHTING, AND EVEN MASTERING THE FLUTE. WE CAUGHT UP WITH AMAMRA TO DISCUSS THE CHALLENGES OF BRINGING HER CHARACTER’S IDENTITY TO LIFE, SEARCHING FOR GENEROUSNESS IN HER PERFORMANCES, AND SHINING A LIGHT ON WOMEN’S ISSUES WITH HER UPCOMING PROJECT.

Left Pants and top The Frankie Shop, shoes Acne Studios, ring Boucheron

Right Bra Proenza Schouler, pants Loewe, necklace around the waist Messika

Toutes pour une, your second film with your sister Houda Benyamina, is being released this month, bringing you together for a second time after the fantastic film Divines. The film is based on the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas, a story we're all very familiar with. How does this adaptation differ from its source?

It’s inspired by but it's completely revisited. It's new because we've never seen women musketeers before. In films from this period, women either serve or are lovers, but they're not really heroines. At least not in the films I like. And Houda has completely revisited that and I think that's what cinema allows, it allows us to say that yes, we can have women musketeers, we can and it's not a question of the fact that we're women of colour, it's not a question, it's a story. What it tells is above all a story of friendship, a bit like Divines. It's a story about sisterhood and she uses Dumas and everything we know only as a context.

Blazer The Frankie Shop, tank top Bottega Veneta

When you were younger, was working with your sister something you always wanted? 

Honestly, it just happened. She was a drama teacher and she started an organisation called Milles Visages. I was thirteen or fourteen and I had no idea that I wanted to act. I actually wanted to be a paediatrician. But she didn't have any students, so she took me and my brother and said, “Well, I need pupils so I can give lessons,” and we never left.

Was she a good teacher?

She was. I thought to myself, “No, I can't stop here, she passed her passion on to me”. But we never spoke about it.  For Divines, she didn't want me to audition, but I had to. On audition day, she was like, “‘What are you doing here?” I think she was afraid because it's a job that you have to be passionate about. It's so random because you depend on the desires of others, and it can be painful if you're not passionate.

Left Blazer The Frankie Shop , Pants Proenza Schouler, tank top Bottega Veneta, rings Gemmyo, shoes Mi/Mai

Right Suit Givenchy, earrings Messika

Which heroine did you draw inspiration from in preparing for this role?

Frankly, it was more from heroes because I had to cosplay as a man and there was some real physical work involved. I felt like I had to pick a man. I watched a lot of Brad Pitt, Pacino, De Niro.

Full look Lanvin

Your character Sara is a young Morisco woman, who unmasks the three musketeers protecting the Queen of France and decides to hang on to these powerful women and their brilliant ideals. How did you prepare to play her?

By researching, I learnt all about the history of the Moriscos, who were expelled because they were Muslims. I read and spoke a lot with Houda. I also put a lot of myself into it because I'm Oulaya in 2024, but I'm also an Arab in a complicated political context. So I didn't have to look too far. All these characters, you see it in Divines as well, they are the same, they are people who are excluded from society. People we don't look at, who feel alone and who, as a result, are looking for something, and Houda often does this through friendships, like looking for a family. And Sara, she's going to find her family and they happen to be these women.

Bra Proenza Schouler, pants Loewe, shoes Mi/Mai, necklace around the waist Messika

What does the motto of the film – “To transform in order to be free, to transform in order to be yourself”–  mean to you?

That's the question: Who are we really? A question that's too deep to answer. It's what life is about: identity. Sara is rooted in her Morisco background, which is what makes her who she is, her origins and her parents who were killed. And when she’s told that she’s not Spanish anymore, that she has to learn French, she’s denying a part of herself. That's something that follows us, our parents’ stories, and their parents’ stories. That's why I’m more affected by certain stories. For example, people who are hunted, people who suffer injustice, sometimes it touches a part of my flesh and I ask myself why. Because my father lived through the Algerian war and he too was chased out and colonised. It all stays with you. It's no small thing to be told to forget where you come from, to forget your language, to forget all that you know. 

Left Full look Givenchy

Right Tank top Bottega Veneta, necklace Messika

Emma Benestan, who you worked with on Animale describes your acting style as elegant and subtle. What were your inspirations when you were young?

Romy Schneider, Isabelle Adjani, Penélope Cruz, Frances McDormand, Viola Davis. Actresses who are generous. They are gritty, they show you what's bad in human beings, but at the same time what's beautiful, and they don't keep it to themselves, they give it all away. They're going to sweat, and I think I want to be like that, I don't think I can be otherwise.

La Maison des Femmes will be released in 2026, it’s a film that discusses women and abuse, can you tell us a bit more about the project?

We just finished filming. It's about a women's centre in Saint-Denis that was created in 2019, where women who have been beaten, raped, excised, and are victims of abuse can go. There, midwives and police officers can take complaints directly, and it's linked to a hospital. Recently there was a law in France that came into action where they require one of these centres in each town. Clearly these are places that need to exist, and it's good that there's a film about them.

Full look Loewe

What does your role entail?

I play a doctor who goes in and I've got a bit of a spectator's point of view because I'm doing my internship, so I go into this women's home and, through my eyes, you get a feel for how things are going. I'm more of an observer and then I go and operate on women who've had excisions.

And what do you want people to take away from this film?

First of all, I want them to realise the extent to which (abuse) can come from anywhere, that you have to be vigilant, and that when we have someone around us who is suffering from abuse, we should not hesitate to try to help them talk about it, to advise them to go to these shelters because they have services where they can feel safe. If it pushes people to do that, then we’ve already won something.

Left Coat Jacquemus

Right Suit Givenchy, earrings Messika

Interview by Gabrielle Valda Colas

Photography by Hanna Pallot

Fashion by Thomas Turian

Hair by Philippe Mensah

Make-Up by Chynara Kojoeva

Stylist’s assistant Ali Marashi

FINDING HIMSELF

ACTOR AND SINGER GAVIN LEATHERWOOD HAS CRAFTED HIS DUAL CAREER AROUND HIS OWN TRANSFORMATIVE TASTES, CREATING MUSIC YOU WANT TO GO ON ROAD TRIP ADVENTURES TO; AND TURNING OUT PERFORMANCES IN GENRE-BENDING TV SHOWS AND MOVIES FROM THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA TO THE SEX LIVES OF COLLEGE GIRLS AND THE RECENT HORROR-COMEDY IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE. PERFECTLY BALANCED BETWEEN SELF-EXPRESSION AND COMMERCIAL RECOGNITION, HERE THE 30-YEAR-OLD MULTI-HYPHENATE REFLECTS ON HIS JOURNEY TO EXPLORING AND HONING HIS CRAFT.

Full look Ferragamo

When we first meet your character in It’s What’s Inside, he’s defined as this ‘Trust fund baby-turned-rapper’. What did you think about Dennis when you first read the script?

When I read the script, Dennis struck me as this bold, layered character — a “trust fund baby-turned-rapper” isn’t just a label but speaks to both privilege and yearning for authenticity. That complexity intrigued me.

Full look Tom Ford

The movie’s theme is intriguing too, with all that body-swapping existential chaos. It must have been so challenging as you’re all playing each other at different points. How did you approach embodying Dennis in that evolving narrative, as you’re not only unpacking his layers, but others too?

The body-swapping narrative is wild! You’re constantly playing different personalities, which is both a challenge and a thrill, sometimes confusing, especially in unravelling Dennis while embodying others’ quirks. Playing Dennis in this layered story is a dive into identity. Embodying different minds in one body taught me a lot about perspective and empathy. 

You know how they say you never know someone until you walk a mile in their shoes? Well, this movie is a very spicy take on that metaphor.

Full look Tom Ford

What do you feel the movie says about society today with your generation? Is there a common theme in all the different character representations, like, everybody either knows or has met a Dennis?

The movie is a mirror to today’s social media-driven world — so much identity and performance. Everyone might know a “Dennis” type: someone who’s navigating their privilege or image.

What’s the meaning behind Dennis’ chest tattoo that reads, “Forgiven”? Do you have any tattoos yourself?

“Forgiven,” hints at his backstory and the idea of seeking redemption. I do have tattoos, and some are personal, others capture something close to me — they all symbolise some form of growth or self-reflection.

Full look Dior Men

Speaking of growth, in your acting credits so far, you’ve explored many different characters, and now genre-bending again in the thriller Fade to Black. Is there anything you can reveal about the role or the movie so far?

Fade to Black stretches into thriller territory, and another character so different from any other role I’ve taken on… so it’s an exciting challenge. My character has a large ego and makes a fun little splash. Can’t reveal too much yet, but it’s intense!

So, what kind of part would you really desire to play that you haven’t yet, or that you hope is coming down the line?

I’d love to tackle a light-hearted comedy or a crime drama, something deeply psychological. Maybe a character who faces profound transformation. 

Full looks Tom Ford

Transformation as an actor in and outside of a role, brings reflection, so what are the biggest confrontations you’ve had with yourself, when you’ve had the time to reflect and reevaluate? Do you have a motto or a proverb you live by?

Reflection brings up big questions of purpose. My motto? Maybe something like, “Stay curious, stay grounded, stay kind.”

What was your perspective of acting when you were growing up in California? Were you auditioning here and there? I want to know what you sunk your teeth into to keep developing yourself.

Growing up in California, acting always felt close by. There is no better feeling than playing pretend. Auditioning was a learning process, and I threw myself into every role, whether small or big, to hone my craft.

Full look Tom Ford

You’re also a musician. So, when you’re studying and preparing for a role, where do you find the connection and the mood and the rhythm that you get from music? Are you a playlist-maker too?

Music is part of my process. Each character has a rhythm, and music helps me connect. I do create playlists for some roles — it’s like capturing a character’s mood. It’s a powerful thing, music. 


Are you able to express yourself the same way between acting and music, or are they two separate worlds for you?

Acting and music are two sides of expression for me. They’re linked yet distinct; music feels more personal, while acting lets me explore outside of myself.

Top & pants Dior Men, boots Tom Ford

What are you working on now?

I’m diving into several things — some acting, some music-related, some art-related. Each project feels like another step in my journey. But I’m in no rush. I’m enjoying the process of honing each respective creative form. 


I’m curious to know, as you mentioned about staying grounded, what do you value most at this stage in your life, and what song would you use to describe yourself?

At 30, I value simplicity and self-awareness. I value peace more than I might have in my youth. Right now, the song that resonates would be something introspective, maybe Bon Iver’s, “Speyside”.

Full look Tom Ford

Discover the PART2 - Story in our upcoming SS25 Issue -End March 25 release

Interview by Kate Lawson

Photography by Doug Inglish

Fashion by Sharon Chitrit

EIC Michael Marson

Casting by Imagemachine CS

Grooming by Mira Chai Hyde

Digital by Max Hegedus

Production by Denise Solis

Stylist’s assistant Gabrielle Ram

FIRE WITHIN

IT’S NEW YEAR’S EVE, 1999, AND IT FEELS LIKE ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN, AND IN THE APOCALYPTIC COMEDY MOVIE Y2K, IT PROBABLY WILL. AS THE CHANGE IN MILLENNIUM IGNITES A Y2K BUG WHERE ELECTRICAL GADGETS GO BESERK, MURDEROUSLY TURNING ON HUMANS, THE FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL BEGINS.  AT THE HEART OF THE DISASTER, IS ELI, A NERDY LOSER CRUSHING HARD ON A GIRL, WHOSE LIFE REVOLVES AROUND HIS COMPUTER AND HIS BEST FRIEND, PLAYED BY ACTOR JAEDEN MARTELL.

THE 21-YEAR-OLD IS NO STRANGER TO TENSE, HORROR-FILLED AND APOCALYPTIC WORLDS, HAVING PLAYED A NERVY YOUNG BRAINIAC IN THE SURVIVAL THRILLER, ARCADIAN; THE YOUNG BILL DENBROUGH TERRORISED BY A KILLER CLOWN IN IT AND A TEEN ACCUSED OF MURDER IN THE APPLE TV+ MINISERIES DEFENDING JACOB. SINCE HIS BREAKOUT IN 2014 IN THE COMEDY DRAMA ST. VINCENT, WITH OTHER CREDITS INCLUDING THE WHODUNNIT MYSTERY KNIVES OUT, MARTELL HAS BEEN FLEXING HIS RANGE AS AN ACTOR, WITH A COMPELLING ON-SCREEN PRESENCE. HERE HE TALKS TO US ABOUT COMFORT ZONES, LIFE REALISATIONS AND LEARNING TO EMBRACE THE FIRE WITHIN.

Left Full look Sacai

Right Jacket Area, pants N°21, underwear Calvin Klein

Your character in the movie, Y2K, is a bit of a nerd and outsider and I imagine that’s fun to explore, figuring out who this character is, and being on set with your peers and bringing that vibe together?

What’s fun is every character comes from their own clique and has their own identity. Eli is a nerd because who knows what else there is to call him? He’s shunned for his lack of self. He’s a blank canvas without any ties to a niche, or slice of culture like everyone else, so it comes across as a lack of conviction. He’s eager, he’s hunting for some idea of self. That’s why he tries so hard to be the hero too.

Left Jacket, pants and shoes Balenciaga, underwear Calvin Klein

Right Full look Sacai

You weren’t even born at the end of the 90s, the era in which this movie is set, so tell me what preparation you did for the role to really get into character?

We were constantly absorbed in the music of that time, and of course wearing the clothes too, but again my guy, Eli, is so far removed from all of that. I was blessed with Lachlan [Watson] and Rachel [Zegler] to always keep me in the moment, with their non-stop singing of 90s and 2000s songs. Haha!

Left Top and pants Sacai, shoes Dior Men

Right Top Dior Men

Ok, so name your best 90s artists?

All the hip-hop! Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde, Digable Planets, Del, Nas.

Vintage t-shirt, pants Dsquared2

What about 90s movies?

Magnolia, La Haine. It was a crazy time for Asian cinema too, so A Brighter Summer Day, Rebels of the Neon God, and all Wong Kar-wai’s films. I love Mike Leigh’s stuff too, like Naked and Secrets and Lies.

Worst 90s fashion trend?

What was with everyone’s vendetta against their eyebrows?!

Jacket, tank top and pants Ami, shoes Givenchy

I’ll have you know I rocked that skinny brow look! Anyhow, moving on. Let’s talk more about fashion and your red-carpet style. How do you approach dressing for events? What other brands do you love and where do you shop?

These days I dress myself. I wear a lot of vintage stuff. I love Bode.

Left Top Dior Men, tank top Ami

Right Full look Loewe

Ok, back to the acting. You’ve played so many complex characters since starting out as a child actor, so I’m curious to know what subject matters are you more drawn to?

All I really want is a role that challenges me, because I need it. I’m not a genius actor or even a natural-born performer. I need experience to push me out of my comfort zone. I say that because I would’ve answered... dark roles, bad guys, I want that. But at the same time, I’m so attracted to something like Y2K because it’s the most challenging of them all, because what do I know about comedy? I get to work with my comedy hero and analyse his approach to performing and he’s directed me. Like what?!

Left Vintage t-shirt, pants Dsquared2

Right jacket Balenciaga

You fell into acting at a young age too, when you moved to LA, but was there ever an experience or moment that changed everything for you; like seeing a theatre show or film that really ignited the fire in you?

You know what, not really. There was never this singular big realisation for me, but a sort of continuous stream of those moments throughout my life. Constantly trying to understand that weird fire, that thing that feels like unconditional love for something that can be so fruitful and hypnotising but then so damaging and, at the end of the day, will never really say it loves you. It comes with a lot of bad habits, anxieties, and shallow desires and expectations… all these things that make you ask why you care so much! It tests people because it is such a mystical, enticing way of life and if you can’t handle it responsibly, it turns you rotten. So, every day, the fire goes up and down. 

Jacket, pants and shoes Balenciaga, underwear Calvin Klein

So that fire has changed your approach to your craft over the years, would you say? What have you learned about yourself along the way, both professionally and personally?

It changes every time it seems. I’ve been looking for an equation ever since I started, out of fear for my luck running out. But I’ve realised lately it’s mostly about being adaptable and open, which is the same as in life, really. Doing all the work, all the practice or the thinking, right now and always, but being okay with it all shifting, and that work being “wrong” or one big realisation erasing all the other big realisations. 

Cat Bode

So, I’m guessing you critique your performances then, and is there one that you look back on with a specific fondness?

Yes, I do. Performances, no, not really… but the experiences of shooting and the things I learned performance-wise, absolutely! 

Left Jacket Balenciaga

Right Jacket, tank top and pants Ami, shoes Givenchy

Any acting and directing heroes you’re super keen to work with?

I LOVE Mark Ruffalo. He was in my dreams recently! He and Kang-Ho Song are my favourite actors. They just beam love and energy, with this deep, twisted empathy for their characters. My favourite directors are Bong Joon Ho, Paul Thomas Anderson and Robert Altman.

Left Jacket, top and pants Sacai, shoes Dior Men

Right Top Dior Men

What about directing in the future, is that something you would like to do and are there any ideas or stories bubbling away in your mind that you want to explore on screen?

I’m writing a movie right now with a friend, and I think it’s about men. The culture of man, growing up and becoming attuned to all the bad qualities of man. The stifled, sad, and silly ones too. It’s also really about control, because men are more outwardly and often more devastatingly, obsessed with control. I am also writing (and have been writing for nearly 10 years), a movie that will help me understand my relationship with all the stuff I’ve mentioned earlier about acting. Not in a self-pitying or self-flagellating or self-indulgent way… although, maybe it will be all those things, because I’ve got to address those qualities which are present in most actors; but in a way that understands it all, out of intrigue. 

Left Top Dior Men, tank top Ami

Right Full look Givenchy

Well, on that reflective note, which is a good place to end, as we’re heading towards the end of this year; what would you like to do more of next year?

Every single year, I tell myself… It’s bulking season. It never sticks. Obviously!

Discover the full story in our upcoming SS25 Issue

Interview by Kate Lawson

Photography by Wish Thanasarakhan

Fashion by Mauricio Quezada

Hair by Takuya Yamaguchi at The Wall Group using Oribe

Make-Up by Asami Matsuda at Saint Luke Artists using La Prairie

Photographer’s assistants Atiwat Mondee and New Saralertsophon

Stylist’s assistant Eva Megannety

WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE

IT SEEMS THAT MAGIC IS SOMETHING FICTITIOUS. A KIND OF FORCE THAT ONLY EXISTS IN MOVIES AND MOST FANTASTIC STORIES. AND THAT IS NOT TRUE, MAGIC EXISTS AND IS WITHIN OUR REACH. BUT MAGIC IS NOT LIGHTNING OR COLOURED SMOKE, IT IS A STAGE WHERE THE DEDICATED ACTORS, EITHER ON A HUGE SCREEN OR LIVE, JOIN THEIR ENERGY TO TRANSPORT US TO OTHER UNIVERSES. FOR SEVERAL HOURS, IN TOTAL DARKNESS, WE CAN STEP AWAY FROM OUR OWN REALITY TO FACE A FRENETIC ADVENTURE, A HUMAN DRAMA OR A HORROR STORY. ETHAN SLATER IS ONE OF THOSE MAGICIANS WHO HAS BEEN ENCHANTING US FOR YEARS WITH HIS WORK IN FILM, TELEVISION AND THEATRE, WHICH HAS LED HIM TO BE ONE OF THE MOST RELEVANT NAMES ON BROADWAY TODAY, HAVING WON A DRAMA DESK AWARD AND RECEIVING SEVERAL TONY NOMINATIONS. NOW, SLATER HAS IMMERSED HIMSELF IN THE FABULOUS WORLD OF OZ THANKS TO JON M. CHU'S ADAPTATION OF WICKED, A WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON RACKING UP MILLIONS AT THE BOX OFFICE. ETHAN IS LIVING THE SWEET DREAM OF PLAYING THE CUTE AND CUDDLY BOQ WOODSMAN, AN INSTANT FAN-FAVOURITE. NOW, AS WE IMPATIENTLY AWAIT THE SEQUEL, WE TALK TO ETHAN ABOUT HOPE AND THE POWER OF DREAMING OF A BETTER WORLD.

Left Blazer Dolce & Gabbana, shirt Todd Snyder

Right Full look Valentino

Ethan, it's a pleasure to talk to you. I like this time of the year, the award season, because it makes us talk about films and go to the cinema to enjoy the big premieres. Tell me, how are these months for you?

Thank you, Juan! It’s so great to speak with you too. Awards season has never really stuck out to me in the past as a moment other than watching and following along casually to see how the films I loved were doing. But what’s been really exciting this year about being so near to (and involved with) the award season with Wicked is that I have had an excuse to watch and rewatch so many great movies, just so I can know what’s up for “work”. And then to have the opportunity to meet some of the filmmakers who made these incredible things! It’s really cool, it’s really special.

 

You ended last year with great success, as Wicked has become one of the highest-grossing musical adaptations of all time. Where would you say the magic of Wicked lies?

Wicked has magic all over it, it’s hard to pinpoint one place where it comes from. But I think it all comes back to the two women at the centre of it, the story of friendship, love, acceptance, and growth. It’s a big reason Wicked has been such a huge part of the culture for so long already. And then to have those roles inhabited by Ariana and Cynthia with such power, grace and skill takes it from great to… indescribable. They are magic. So, I guess the magic lies with them.

Left Coat and tank top Todd Snyder, gloves Miu Miu

Right Shirt Miu Miu, pants Todd Snyder, shoes Loro Piana

 You are one of the biggest names on Broadway at the moment and so I would like to know what your relationship with Wicked was before you took part in the film.

I don’t know about “one of the biggest names”! Not even close! I have always loved Broadway and Wicked has always been a huge part of that. I saw the show with my 6th grade class, we took a day trip from DC to NYC to see the original company of Wicked, and all I remember is singing the songs from the OBC the entire 5-hour bus ride home. Then, I took my niece to see Wicked as her first Broadway show when she turned 9, and it really hit home how special the show is. To be able to watch it through her eyes, to see how it moved her (in the same ways, and different ways, that it moved me). So my relationship with Wicked before the movie was mainly as a fan (though I did audition once for Boq back in 2013, but I didn’t get the role).

 

Now you play him in the films! I was very surprised by his style because it is absolutely current – even in cities like New York or Madrid we can see people who seem to follow his style faithfully. What was your characterisation process to become Boq like?

Do you mean his fashion sense or his style of moving through the world? Because for the clothes, I have to say Paul Tazewell is just unbelievable. The way he created a modern, current, off-kilter but still uniform look for Shiz (and for the whole of Oz) was so transformative. On set, it was such a huge help, honestly! I don’t believe that “the clothes make the man,” or whatever; but I do believe there’s something to be said for “dressing for the job you want.” Paul made every single person on set feel exactly themselves (in character) before we even left our trailers. And I think, for me, after the steps of doing script work and creating a backstory or whatever, the next most helpful things are the tangibles: the set, the props, the wardrobe.

Left Shirt Miu Miu, pants Todd Snyder

Right Shirt Dolce&Gabbana

 I love films that take place in a student environment, in this case at Shiz University, but I would like you to go back a bit further and tell me what you were like in high school.

Oh god. I don’t know how I would describe myself in high school exactly. I loved theatre, and I loved wrestling. Those were the two biggest things that I devoted myself to in high school. I would make the wrestling team sing during workouts (which, in retrospect, was equal parts funny and really obnoxious of me), and then run from the gym to the theatre to start rehearsal (probably a little too sweaty for everyone else's comfort). In some ways, I think I was a lot like Boq (part 1) in high school, though. I had friends, for sure, but I also always felt a little on the outside of the friend group. Some of that had to do with strict parents, but probably most had to do with my insecurities. And because I felt a little out of place, I was looking for places to fit in. Hence throwing myself so fully into wrestling and theatre.

 

I love fantasy and science fiction. I wish I could live in one of those universes, I would love to wake up in the world of Blade Runner, for example. What about you? Which fantasy universe do you wish you could move to?

I know it’s a cop-out, but Oz! Truly! Especially Jon Chu’s Oz. If some of the political and social turmoil could be, you know, worked on, it’s a universe I would love to live in.

Sweater AKNVAS

 I know you like to write songs. What are the themes that you are drawn to exploring with your music?

I don’t know if I have specific themes that I like more than others. I love to write, and I think songwriting can be a wonderful way to explore all the different sides of yourself! Whether the song is actually about yourself, or a character you create. Most of the songwriting I do is just for fun, mostly I write plays and screenplays, but occasionally I do write music for musicals I’m working on. One in particular, called Edge of the World, I guess contains some of the themes that I often find myself writing about.

 

We live in strange days in which the world often seems terrible, and sometimes beautiful. Do you think that musicals are an escape from these crazy times?

I think musicals (and theatre and film in general) can be an escape or a reflection. Some are more one than the other, but the best (for my money) are both. And I think Wicked, for one, is a really great balance of the two.

Left Shirt Miu Miu

Right Coat, tank top and pants Todd Snyder, gloves Miu Miu

 I'm very curious about the way Broadway has changed in New York since you started working there. How has it evolved?

I don’t know exactly how to answer that, to be honest! Certainly, Covid changed Broadway (and the theatre community) quite a lot. So it’s constantly in flux. Both in terms of the audience and the art that is being made. Which is sometimes a scary thing, and sometimes a beautiful thing.

 

When was the last time you felt excitement sitting in front of a stage or screen?

I have felt so much excitement even in the last few months going to the movie theatre to see Wicked, and Conclave, and A Real Pain, and on and on. Of course, I love watching movies at home, but to be in a theatre full of people experiencing a movie (or a play or a musical) together? It’s always exciting.

 And (maybe this is what you were getting at too) watching Wicked with an audience for the first time at our world premiere was thrilling. In a way that’s hard to describe.

Left Full look Valentino

Right Shirt Miu Miu

 Do you think you are born with a love for theatre or do you grow to love it?

I think we are all born with a love of stories, but everything needs to be tended to in order to grow. Which is why arts education, and teachers, are so important. I am unendingly grateful to my theatre teachers growing up, and in high school, Laura Rosberg and Jim Mahady, in particular. But it’s not just important for the kids who might become artists or actors or writers or whatever; arts education is important for everyone. It helps teach us empathy, it helps teach us media literacy, how to engage with the world, how to engage with the people in our lives, with the stories we tell each other and the stories we tell ourselves. Which is to say: yes.

Shirt, pants and belt Dolce&Gabbana, shoes Loro Piana

Interview by Juan Marti

Photography by Erik Tanner

Fashion by Nicholas MacKinnon

Casting by ImageMachine cs

Grooming by Laramie

Photographer’s assistant Jared Christiansen

WALKING THE LINE

BILLY EICHNER HAS MASTERFULLY WALKED A DELICATE TIGHTROPE, BALANCING A HEARTFELT DEVOTION TO POP CULTURE WITH A BITING PARODY OF HOLLYWOOD'S ABSURDITIES. HIS ABILITY TO NAVIGATE THESE TWO SEEMINGLY OPPOSING FORCES HAS MADE HIM A SINGULAR PRESENCE IN ENTERTAINMENT. WHETHER DELIVERING RAZOR-SHARP COMMENTARY ON THE LATEST CELEBRITY NEWS, HOSTING IRREVERENT GAMES ON THE STREETS OF NEW YORK, OR VOICING ANIMATED CHARACTERS WITH EQUAL PARTS WIT AND CHARM, EICHNER MANAGES TO BOTH CELEBRATE AND CRITIQUE THE INDUSTRY IN A WAY THAT FEELS SIMULTANEOUSLY AFFECTIONATE AND HONEST. BILLY ON THE STREET IS A MANIFESTATION OF THIS PUSH AND PULL. THE CHARACTER IS A DEEPLY DISTANT YET INTIMATELY CLOSE PORTRAYAL OF HIS 12-YEAR-OLD SELF, A PERFECT EMBODIMENT OF STAN CULTURE.  THIS DUALITY COMES THROUGH IN HIS RECENT ROLE IN MUFASA: THE LION KING, WHERE HIS TAKE ON TIMON CLEVERLY BALANCES NOSTALGIA WITH A MODERN EDGE, INFUSING THE ROLE WITH HUMOUR AND HEART IN A BELOVED STORY.

Suit Fendi, shirt Dior Men archive, boots Dsquared2

I read that you had a Madonna-themed bar mitzvah. I need to know more about it.

So, I know it’s been widely reported that it was Madonna-themed but that is not 100% accurate. The actual theme was Broadway meets pop music.

Left Sweater Loro Piana

Right Shirt Bottega Veneta

 Oh, that’s so much better, somehow even gayer.

Exactly, see the thing is, I couldn’t decide which one I liked more so I thought, “Why not?” There was an almost life-sized airbrushed portrait of Madonna in the Blonde Ambition Tour. She was standing on one side of the DJ booth; on the other, there was a similarly airbrushed portrait of the Phantom of the Opera.

Shirt & pants Bottega Veneta, shoes Manolo Blahnik

 [Laughs] This was the party of the season.

[Laughs] This is true. There is video evidence that will come out one day. I was a huge Madonna fan and grew up in New York City. Luckily for me, my parents and I shared a love of culture, specifically a love for musical theatre. We didn’t necessarily get the most expensive seats—we weren’t rich—but we got the seats we could afford. This was the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, so MTV was playing on a loop in my apartment. Pop culture always played a big part in my life. I have an older half-brother, but we weren’t raised together. I grew up as an only child in a small apartment in Queens. The entertainment industry was my friend. It was always something I was fascinated by, I wanted to be a part of it.

Sweater Loro Piana

 Did you go to the latest Madonna tour?

Of course, I went twice. My parents took me in 1990 to the Blonde Ambition Tour. I was in the sixth grade, and I sat there with my parents, a little fat, gay Jewish kid voguing in my seat. I was incredibly lucky, I had liberal and accepting parents which was especially rare those days. I benefited from the fact my parents had grown up in New York. My mother had gay friends. They always encouraged me and supported my interest in the performing arts. They took me to Madonna, Barbra Streisand, and Bette Midler at Radio City Music Hall. That love and support laid the foundation for my success in entertainment later.

Sweater & pants Bottega Veneta

 Has your relationship with pop culture changed over the years?

I mean, I’m an adult now so it’s not as idealized anymore. Certain parts of Hollywood that I used to romanticize when I was a child have changed. Some of that comes from having an adult’s perspective, some of it from being part of the industry, and some from just cultural tastes changing. Yet, I’m still such a fan of the entertainers that I love. They hold space in my heart—in my mind, in my life. I rely on their stories and their work even more now that I am a professional going through the ups and downs of show business. I look at their careers and creative choices as blueprints to follow. It remains something that inspires me and comforts me. I was thinking about this recently. Someone told me, “Wow, you’re still such a fan.” A lot of people enter the industry and they get caught up in the game—they forget why they entered it, why they loved it in the first place.

Tank Bottega Veneta, pants Dsquared2

 It’s interesting to hear you say that because so much of your work addresses show business and yet you are very much in it. Do you ever feel any sort of tension in parodying the system you’re a part of?

I do feel conflict sometimes, but I embrace it in my work. I think Billy on the Street is the ultimate example of it. That character was someone I created as an adult but that was inspired by the 12-year-old Hollywood-obsessed version of me blown up in the six-foot-three adult body. I made him up for my live comedy show in New York, way before YouTube or TikTok, way before I found the success he would have. When you’re watching him, you’re both seeing my absolute love and affection for the entertainment industry while I’m satirizing someone who is as emotionally invested as he is in it. I’m always walking that line—somewhere between celebration and satire.  I’m satirizing the space it occupies in my mind. It’s a bit complicated, perhaps even hypocritical but I love it. So yes, I feel the conflict and I love it, I embrace it. You can love something to an irrational degree and understand its absurdity but still not be able to help yourself.

Left Sweater & pants Loro Piana, shoes Manolo Blahnik

Right Bottega Veneta

 I’m sure it being a character provides you with some protection but still, you are putting yourself in a hard situation to improv in.

I don’t have a hard time anymore thankfully, I’ve been doing it on and off for two decades, it's almost the entirety of my adult life. It’s easy for me to slip into even if doing it is extremely hard. There’s a high level of degree of difficulty in Billy on the Street. We make it look easy and breezy, but I am wandering around the street, sometimes by myself, sometimes with a celebrity guest, a camera guy, and a mic. If you ever came and watched that shoot, it’s challenging. I have to fire on all cylinders because there’s no way to phone it in. He has to operate at such a high level of energy. I’m literally making it all up on the spot. I might have some idea going into it of what the segment is, but more often than not I have the beginning of the conversation and nothing else. For it to be funny, so many things have to fall in the right place. Who knows who’s going to be out on the street that day?

 

I have circled the block with my friend that’s behind the camera working the nerve to talk to anybody because it is not in my nature to talk to people in that way—the character is not close to me, he’s somewhere in me, but not close. The satire of it is that I heighten my behaviour, that’s where the social commentary comes in. So many times I meet someone who is astounded by the difference between the character and myself. It’s been out for a long time, but people find it every day on TikTok. I now have young people that come up to me that weren’t even born when I started doing it. 

Suit Fendi, shirt Dior Men archive, boots Dsquared2

 Yeah, but it isn’t surprising that Billy on the Street is so viral –  the snappy, organic nature of it seems as if it was designed for social media. Of course, you created it before virality was a success mark. Has the dawn of its online success changed the way you think about it?

The metric of social media is just as simple as “Are people watching it?” and “Are people liking it?” That’s what I had always hoped for. But I’ve had many years of viral videos, it’s not the end of the world if something doesn’t [go viral]. I don’t expect every single thing I do to connect in the same way. I just want things to be funny. Whether every single thing is popular in that way doesn’t concern me, but it did at one point. I needed it, it was a huge part of my success. I don’t know if I’d be here talking to you without it. Social media allowed me to sneak around the gatekeepers. When I started it was a different time in culture. There weren’t openly gay actors but, even beyond that, I have always had a unique point of view. When I started, I had execs come to me saying they didn’t know what to do with me, they couldn’t fit me into the Hollywood puzzle.

Full look Bottega Veneta

 But defining you is still quite hard. You do improv, you’re a stand-up comedian, you’re an actor, you’re a host. Where do you feel most at home creatively?

First and foremost, I am an actor. That’s what I started as. I went to Northwestern University which has had a lot of great actors come out of it. My first love was acting, and I still think of myself as an actor. Even Billy on the Street, while it’s not acting in the traditional sense, it’s still a character. There are many lessons I learned in acting classes that I’ve applied to it. I mean first rule of acting is listening and reacting in the moment. That’s the name of the game with Billy. I have to drop all preconceived notions of what this person is going to say and drop in, just be in the moment with them. If anyone told me I’d be known as a comedian when I went to school, I would’ve thought you were out of your mind. I was doing Greek tragedy, Shakespeare, and scenes from Angels in America. When I was in high school if you had asked me what I’d like to do, I would’ve said, “I just want to do plays in New York,” which is surprisingly one of the few things I haven’t done yet.

Left Shirt & pants Bottega Veneta, shoes Manolo Blahnik

Right Sweater Loro Piana

 How does that love for acting manifest when it comes to voice acting? As you reprised your role as Timon in Mufasa: The Lion King, do experiences like that scratch the acting itch?

There may not be physicality involved on screen but, in the recording studio, the character is still in my mind in the same way. Especially for this, because we established Timon’s character in relation to Pumba, played by Seth Rogen, we come as a duo. And the character does have physicality and, even if it’s not directly mine, the animators do take inspiration from the way we move in the studio. Obviously, he is a small meerkat, and I am a large human man so it's not a one-to-one transfer. Also, improv plays a big part of it. Seth and I are playing off each other as if in a traditional set.

Suit Fendi, shirt Dior Men archive, boots Dsquared2

 Bros marked such a significant moment in the studio system. It sits as a sign of progress. Do you think the pendulum will swing back?

I love that movie, I’m so proud of that movie. It was a wonderful, glorious, complicated, challenging experience as it was always going to be due to the rare nature of the film. I keep reading that that pendulum will swing, that it’s going to be a much more risk-averse moment in entertainment. I’m hoping the progress we’ve seen that Bros was certainly a part of—but so was Billy on the Street even much sooner—of queer-centric projects doesn’t retreat. In the past 10 years, queer comedy has come along a way. It all felt so overdue but so exciting.

 

It’s a tricky time for the entertainment industry. We went through a golden age when it came to the amount of movies and TV shows being made at every level. Along with it came opportunities for people who were previously ignored. We have to get ahead of it because there are people out there who think we have to purely do broadly appealing projects. We need to stay in the fight. My hope is that progress keeps going forward.

Sweater & pants Bottega Veneta, shoes Manolo Blahnik

Interview by Pedro Vasconcelos

Photography by JJ Geiger

Fashion by Marco Milani

EIC Michael Marson

Casting by Imagemachine

Grooming by Jason Schneidman

Photographer assistant Brandon Young

BLUE GAZE

THERE ARE GAZES CAPABLE OF TAKING YOUR BREATH AWAY. IF ICY EYES FALL ON YOU, YOU CAN'T HELP BUT FALL UNDER THEIR CONTROL. THEY HAVE THE MAGNETISM OF A GRAY SKY, A SNOWY FIELD OR A STORMY HORIZON. THEY MAKE YOUR SKIN CRAWL AND ARE UNBELIEVABLY ATTRACTIVE. GLEB ABROSIMOV HAS ONE OF THOSE LOOKS. THIS YOUNG RUSSIAN ACTOR, BASED IN SPAIN, FELT FROM A VERY YOUNG AGE THE MAGNETISM THAT AWAKENS THE SEVENTH ART. WITH HIS CATCHY PRESENCE AND HIS AURA OF MYSTERY AND MISCHIEVOUSNESS GLEB WAS THE PERFECT CANDIDATE FOR THE UNIVERSE ELITE, ALWAYS LUXURIOUS AND CRAZY. HIS PERFORMANCE IN THE SERIES HAS MADE HIM A VERY SOUGHT AFTER FACE IN THE INDUSTRY AND SPANISH FASHION THANKS TO THAT AIR OF BAD BOY BUT AT THE SAME TIME SENSIBLE AND HARDWORKING THAT PERMEATES ALL THE ROLES HE ACCEPTS. NOW, AFTER CLOSING HIS CHAPTER IN LAS ENCINAS, HE BEGINS A NEW STAGE FULL OF CHALLENGES AND ADVENTURES THAT GLEB CAN'T WAIT TO TACKLE. CAN YOU FEEL THE SKIN ON YOUR NECK CRAWL? GLEB ABROSIMOV'S MOMENT HAS BEGUN.

Left Jacket and shorts Abra, boot Rombaut

Right Coat JW Anderson, boots Abra

Gleb, it's a pleasure to talk to you. We are approaching the end of the year, the arrival of winter, how do you welcome this melancholic time of the year?

I really like this time of the year. I like the cold more than the heat, so I prefer to be a bit cold but not too much, just enough to wear a sweatshirt and sleep without heat.

Winter in Madrid is strange, it can be a very romantic time or, on the contrary, gray and rainy. Do you remember the days when you arrived in the capital?

I arrived in Madrid in summer if I'm not mistaken, what I do remember is that I wasn't very warm. Besides, the days were very good, you can say that Madrid received me very well.

Coming to Madrid requires a certain strength of character, do you consider yourself a brave person?

I don't consider it as a brave act, I consider it as a good decision I made at the time, a bit risky, but sometimes you have to make decisions like that to move forward or to achieve different things and get out of your comfort zone.

Left Jacket and shorts Abra, boot Rombaut

Are you a person who tends to look back to the past or do you prefer to focus on the future and what's to come?

I prefer to focus on the present always, although there are times when it is difficult just to be in the present. Many times I go back to the present and many times I go to the future, I try to stay firm, not to get carried away and build the present to have a better future.

I remember wanting to be a writer since I was very young, but I also wanted to be a doctor, a judge, a private detective... Did the same thing happen to you?

Yes, the same thing happened to me, I did not understand what I really wanted to be, what I realized is that whenever I saw a movie or series I tried to imitate the character and wanted to do the profession of the movie I liked, until I realized that what I really want is to be an actor.

Left Full look Abra

Right Jacket Y/Project, socks stylist’s own

You are an actor who gives a lot of importance to training. Since you started acting, are there any valuable lessons you have learned?

The most valuable lesson is that the actor never has to stop training, training and learning, keep doing courses, classes, training, that's the most valuable lesson, the rest are resources that you learn to be a better actor.

Tell me about a scene of “Elite” that you keep with special affection among your memories of the years you've spent in the series.

Possibly the scene I remember most fondly is the one on the roof when Eric wants to jump, because it was a complicated and very nice scene with Ander Puig, there was a lot of work and it was also my last day, so I remember it with special affection.

How did you feel when you said goodbye to this character so significant for you?

Honestly it didn't hurt me much to say goodbye to him because Eric was in a good place, recovering, with his family. It hurts more not to be able to connect with him, but who knows, maybe in the future I'll come back to him.

Left Jacket Avec armour

Right Jacket Gant, shorts Carhartt, boots Camperlab

In an actor's career you play characters that have absolutely nothing to do with yourself, is it easy for you to get into a skin very different from your own?

It's all a job, it's the most beautiful thing to empathize with your character, understand him and then get into his skin, there are times when it is more difficult to connect with certain characters but that's what I like about this profession, to work, look for the connection and connect with the character.

Are there any other actors who are references for you and whose careers you admire?

There are many actors that I like, but I don't have references as such. I've even used references from films or actors for certain characters, I continue with my goals and my career.

Left Jacket Avec Armour

Right Jacket and shorts Abra, boot Rombaut

Many actors become interested not only in what happens in front of the camera, but also in what happens behind it. Are you interested in exploring the possibilities of writing or directing audiovisual projects?

Yes, of course, I love cinema in general, in fact I am writing a film with my friend Guillermo Fernandez who is a director. In this film obviously I will not be directing at least for now..., but it is a world that I obviously want to explore.

Tell me about the last time you were excited in a movie theater.

It's been a while since I went to the cinema, a mistake on my part but due to time it has not been possible, the last film I saw in a movie theater was Challengers, which I liked very much, many other premieres I have seen from home due to lack of time and finally I encourage everyone to go more often to the cinema and theater

Interview and production by Juan Martí

Photography by Antártica Studio

Fashion by Gonzalo Ortuño

Art Direction by Miriam Velo

Grooming by Laura del Muro

Production assistant Vini Dore

EXPANDING HORIZONS

CHRIS MASON IS NO STRANGER TO THE SPOTLIGHT. OVER THE PAST DECADE, HE HAS BEEN PART OF SOME OF THE MOST CULTURALLY RESONANT SHOWS, FROM RIVERDALE TO DOCTOR WHO. NOW, WITH HIS ROLE IN DUNE: PROPHECY, THE LIVERPOOL-BORN ACTOR STANDS ON THE BRINK OF A SEISMIC CAREER MOMENT. STEPPING INTO THE VAST AND STORIED SCI-FI UNIVERSE, HE TACKLES THE LAYERED ROLE OF KEIRAN—A SWORD MASTER FORGED BY A PAST AS COMPLEX AS THE DUNE MYTHOLOGY ITSELF. YET, DESPITE THE ALIEN WORLD DUNE IMAGINES, CHRIS MAKES IT DEEPLY HUMAN. SO MUCH SO THAT HE BRINGS HIS OWN LIVERPOOL ACCENT TO KEIRAN—A CREATIVE CHOICE THAT NOT ONLY DISTINGUISHES HIS CHARACTER BUT GROUNDS THE FUTURISTIC EPIC IN A SENSE OF AUTHENTICITY, THAT’S THE ESSENCE OF CHRIS’S APPEAL: HIS ROLES ARE NEVER MERE CHARACTERS BUT FULLY REALIZED PEOPLE, ALIVE WITH DEPTH, EMPATHY, AND HUMANITY. WE SAT DOWN WITH THE ACTOR TO DISCUSS HIS COMEDIC BEGINNINGS, HIS JOURNEY INTO WRITING, AND HOW HE BREATHES LIFE INTO EVERY STORY HE TOUCHES.

Full look Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello

Hi! How are you?

I’m good, I’m excited right now.

 

I get that, with Dune: Prophecy about to come out. I always think the most exciting time is the moment right before something is about to happen.

Obviously, I’ve done shows before that you wait to see them, and you can’t wait for them to be out but there’s definitely something about this show that feels different—both in exposure and scale. I got my first taste of that when we went to the New York premiere. I just want it out so I can see what people think about it.

Jacket and pants Emporio Armani, watch Omega

Do you find there’s any pressure because of the audience Dune comes with?

Probably. My first reaction to getting this role was “Wow, I’m going to be in Dune.” Then my next reaction was, “Oh dear, I’m going to be in Dune.” [Laughs] But that’s what was only in the beginning. After I spoke to the showrunners, I felt safe in their hands. They’re veterans of their craft as the actor you can’t take on that pressure, you’re there to do your small part of it.

 

Projects of this magnitude are characteristically secretive. Did you know what we were auditioning for?

Not at first. I think the description at first just said “Untitled Drama.” I was like “Ok, this is cool, it’s sci-fi.” The role at first was called Dimitri but they didn’t give me much about it. Then two weeks later I got a call back for a different character, Alexander, I then sent it off. But what was rare and strange about it, and that never happened, was that I forgot about it. Then, two weeks later, I got a text from my agent saying “Yeah, this is Dune.” A few days after that they told me it was looking good. I thought “Okay, cool, maybe I’ll get a call back or get to meet the showrunner.” But then I just booked it. It was a welcome surprise; it never really happens for actors.

Full looks Dior Men

 In the past years, you’ve been part of shows that are so in the zeitgeist, Riverdale, Doctor Who, now Dune: Prophecy. When did it click that this is something you wanted to do?

My brother is an actor, he’s six years older than me, Sean Mason—fantastic actor— and I grew up watching him, first in school plays, then in theater, he went on to do a British soap. We’re both very different from each other but I kind of looked at him arrogantly as a kid and was like, “I can do that too.” When I was in my mid-teens, I realized it’s a real craft. I got to work with some great directors at the theatre level in Liverpool, they taught me storytelling on an entirely different level. That’s what made me fall in love with it. When I left school, I thought I would take a stab at it. I got a job then I didn’t have a job then I wouldn’t get a job—it’s a tough career. You face a lot of rejection but if you can make it through, it’s a great thing.

The Dune universe is so complex. I was reading that you read the books before you went on set. How did that inform your narrative?

It’sfascinating because in a lot of roles, you turn up you only get the script, the backstory falls on you. You ask questions like, "Is this where this person comes from? What drives them?" With this we were lucky. They gave us the books that precede the story, so we read those, and there’s so much family history there. I was looking at it from a tragic angle, you know? We even discussed inherited trauma—like passed-down PTSD—from parents and how that shaped Keiran’s character. It was great to have all that background, but it was also freeing to create a new character that hasn’t been seen in the books. We weren’t tied down, but we had his backstory and family history right there to draw from and use to create the man he is today.

Coat Emporio Armani

Do you approach a show like Dune: Prophecy or Doctor Who differently than something like Broadchurch, which is more rooted in the real world? Does the genre change how you connect to the humanity of a character?

Yeah, I think the number one rule is the same no matter what show you’re working on—whether you’re playing an alien or something else—it’s about finding the truth about the character. With Doctor Who, I was playing John Lennon. Everyone knows who John Lennon is, so you work on his mannerisms, movements, voice—all that. But there’s a scene where he’s worried, and he breaks a little, showing real emotion. For me, it’s important to prioritize humanity over impressions. With Broadchurch, it was completely different. Chris Chibnall, the writer, told me that a lot of the dialogue I had to deliver came verbatim from interviews with a real serial rapist. That was tough, it made me sick to my stomach. It was about accepting that someone could have actually said those things and finding a way to portray that truth. With Dune, it’s a mix. It’s sci-fi in space, sure, but the roots of the story are grounded in humanity. The flaws and emotions are very real, so you stay true to the character and ride through that.

Do you think empathy plays a role in connecting with your characters?

Definitely. Sometimes, though, it’s hard. Broadchurch is an example where I struggled with empathy. But you still have to do the job. You spend so much time with your characters that you end up understanding their intentions, even if they’re twisted or wrong. With Keiran, I feel a strong connection.

Keiran's a very physical role, there's a lot of stunt work involved. I've had people describe stunt work to me as a performance art really. What was your relationship to the Keiran’s physicality?

When I saw the brief that said Keiran is a sword master, I thought, “Okay, I’m under pressure now.” I had some stage combat training back in the day, but it’s slower and safer than what you see on screen. Before heading to Budapest to shoot, I did a couple of weeks of Japanese hapkido training. It wasn’t just for sword skills but to understand how a sensei teaches, because Keiran is also a coach. I wanted to channel that discipline into the role. It’s kind of a dream for an actor, all you want to do is to run around and play with swords all day.  We had an amazing stunt team who were patient with us. They took us from zero to a place where Sarah Sophie and I felt comfortable doing long takes together without cutting. It’s a dream come true to be able to spend so much time learning a discipline and then get to put that on screen.

Coat Emporio Armani

When it comes to accents, do they add to your portrayal, or do they feel like extra work?

Accents are environmental, so they inform the character’s world, where they grew up, and how they think. For this role, I initially auditioned with a standard British accent, the Queen’s English kind. But as we got closer to shooting, I felt like my own accent would add something—which is never my instinct as an actor, I rarely use my own accent—but it fit Keiran’s story and helped differentiate him. In the U.S., I usually work with an American accent, and there are so many varieties of that. I love accent work. I’m always up for the challenge.

Do you find that an accent provides emotional protection between you and the character?

It’s a performance element. It’s an easy switch for a character, it makes it so I can turn a character on. I start using an American character and there he is. It does help it separate it a little bit which can be nice. But if I’m struggling with a line—or the truth of it—I’ll just say it in my accent and that’ll help me find the core of it. It’s easier with Keiran being able to go in and have him sound like me.

It's so interesting. I was going to ask, but you kind of answered it—what do you choose when it comes to something like Dune, where the concept of regions, at least the way we perceive it, doesn't really exist?

Yeah, we’ve got so many talented actors in this show, you know, a lot of them British, and then some Australian, and a lot of different accents in there in general. Pushing for my accent, I wanted it to kind of have a separation because of where the Atreides are, and their planet is very separate in their story. Having Keiran in this world is very much an outlier on his own right now. So having that separation was good, but also kind of just, I think, having something interesting to listen to helps overall. You know, the Liverpool accent—or the softer Liverpool accent that I’m doing—is not something people might associate with that time. But who knows? It’s sci-fi, right? No one can say what the history of accents and lineage and all that stuff does. So, we have a little bit of creative license there.

Full looks Emporio Armani

It’s so interesting to hear you talk about accents as an active part of storytelling from an actor's point of view. I’ve read before that you have a passion for writing and storytelling that differs from acting. Do you ever consider going behind the cameras or working on writing?

Yeah, absolutely. It’s actually something I’ve been passionate about these last couple of years. I shot my first short film this year here in the States, and it was a huge learning curve. We gave ourselves the challenge of shooting something in three weeks, starting from scratch. It was a real eye-opener in terms of production elements—how hard it is to gather and wrangle everyone, how much things cost at certain levels, and all that. I wouldn’t say I’m naturally built for that stuff—I like the creative side more—but it was fun to learn. My aim now is to eventually get to a feature film where I could at least have written it, maybe even directed it. I want to test the waters. I could be a terrible director, but there’s only one way to find out. Writing, though, is something I love. When you read a script, you kind of play all the characters in your head. Writing is just that—it’s creating characters, finding their little quirks, and trying to keep them consistent. It definitely helps with storytelling in my acting, knowing how to get to the end of a story.

Do you think this love for writing and understanding of storytelling helps you when it comes to acting?

Absolutely. I wasn’t very well-educated in terms of writing—I never went to university or studied writing formally. One day, I assumed I could write a script, and I did, but it was dreadful. From then on, I bought every screenwriting book and screenplay guide I could find to teach myself about story, dialogue, and character. It’s one of those things you never stop learning. Watching people like David Mamet talk about storytelling is different from how Ron Howard approaches it as a director. There are so many great resources out there now, and I’ll continue learning throughout my life. In terms of acting, it’s helped me to pick out beats in a script, understand the arc of a character, and see the bigger picture of the story. Looking back at some of the indie movies I’ve done, I wish I knew then what I know now because we could have brought the story together better. Any reading, writing, or practice helps you craft your skills.

 

I’ve read that you did stand-up back in Liverpool. Is that something you’d be interested in doing again or developing further?

I loved doing stand-up. It was so much fun, especially when I was a young actor trying to get jobs and there weren’t many opportunities to perform. Getting on stage gave me the buzz of a live performance, which I loved. It’s something I’ve always thought about revisiting. Living in the States is different—the sense of humor and crowds are more forgiving, which might make it easier for me. Back then, I played off my youth and cheeky charm, which I don’t quite have anymore, so it’d have to be different now. These days, I’ve found myself happier writing comedy. That’s likely where it’ll come out now—through scripts and storytelling—rather than getting back on stage.

Left Full look Alexander McQueen

Right Full look Emporio Armani

So you think your writing tends more toward comedy?

Definitely. I grew up watching movies like Ghostbusters without realizing as a kid that it was a comedy. Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate how brilliant it is—every time I watch it, I catch jokes I missed before. I was obsessed with Austin Powers, Mike Myers, Robin Williams, and Jim Carrey. Family movie nights were filled with Mrs. Doubtfire, Liar Liar…. Stand-up wasn’t something I planned to try—it came from a random workshop day. I got on stage, liked it, and people encouraged me to do more. I had regular gigs in Liverpool, working with different comedians. But stand-up is hard work. Writing scripts and figuring out what’s funny feels much easier to me now.

 

Does your sense of humor and early exposure to comedy inform your acting, even in dramatic roles?

Maybe not my acting directly, but it informs my approach. I like to have fun on set, laugh, and keep things light-hearted off-camera. When it’s time to focus, I bring it in. Some actors need to stay in a certain headspace but that’s not me. For me, humor is just part of who I am more so than my acting.

Interview by Pedro Vasconcelos

Photography by Debora Brune

Fashion by Steven Huang

Production by Lea Bütefisch

Grooming by Talia Sparrow at A-Frame

Photographer’s assistant Eli Hatfield

Stylist’s assistant Aaishah Perager

ARchive

Access to our exclusive content from our prints archives

ARCHIVE
©Nouaunu_Behind the Blinds_2022_05_22_4886.jpg
NO LIMITS
Pomme by Jan Philipzen_BTB13_14.jpg
CONSOLING MELODY
OP17084_AP_CHANEL_4149_13_CMYK.jpg
THE COLOR MAGICIAN
IH_BTB_TBT6.jpg
PLEASURES OF PARADOX
BTB6_FATAL_SS18_BERLUTI_11.jpg
ROLE-BREAKING BEAUTY
Behind The Blinds Issue 5 _ Austin Augie BTB_2.jpg
BMX REVOLUTIONS

LATEST

Featured
MM26_Campaign_Bag_Photo_Gigi_Derived_G03_NoLogo_PR_150dpi.jpg
MIU MIU CONTROLLED CHAOS
OFFICIAL CROP_00030_GU_044_F21.jpg
ECHO OF AN IDENTITY
Featured
Layout-Mercredi.jpg
SERVICE BOY - GOOD BOY
antoine.jpg
NOCTURNAL ATTRACTION
Featured
tempImageZjakDg.jpg
MILAN AND PARIS DIARY: WOMENSWEAR FW26
IMG_2664.jpeg
PARIS DIARY: MENSWEAR FW26