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Akinola Davies, Chibuike Marvelous Egbo, Efon Wini, Godwin Egbo, My Father’s Shadow, Sopé Dìrísù

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER


The Gangs Of London actor tells Hollywood Authentic about the special thrill of bringing the first Nigerian film to competition in Cannes and the emotion of filming My Father’s Shadow in Lagos.

Hollywood Authentic catches up with Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù at the Cannes Palais the day after his soulful and evocative ‘un certain regard’ film has premiered to rave reviews and celebrated with a party on the beach attended by Nigerian dignitaries. As we sit above the red carpet as Spike Lee’s latest film premieres below, Dìrísù smiles at the reaction to a project close to his heart as the child of Nigerian parents – and as exec producer on the film. ‘I think that people who have been to Lagos found there was a sensory experience to this film,’ he nods. ‘The redness of the earth… they said that they could smell and taste the food, you know? They could smell the cooking in the bukas, on the street corner. And they could feel the heat in the textures. It is a wonderful representation of the country.’

Akinola Davies, Chibuike Marvelous Egbo, Efon Wini, Godwin Egbo, My Father’s Shadow, Sopé Dìrísù

It certainly is. Akinola Davis Jr’s vivid, evocative film co-written with his brother Wale weaves through a vibrant Lagos in 1993, as a father (played by Dìrísù) shows his two pre-teen sons the teeming capital city during one eventful day as the election results that will change the country are announced. Filmed on location in Nigeria, Dìrísù found the experience very different from his trips to the country to visit family and friends. ‘I was delighted to be contributing to the history of Nigerian cinema and to be there on my own agency, personally. I’ve been back and forth from Nigeria a lot, but mainly for family reasons – weddings and birthdays and funerals, unfortunately. But I really felt great purpose being in the country, as opposed to being there on holiday. It made me feel like I was connecting with my community. And the big celebrations that have happened, not only in Nigeria but with Nigerians across the world, on the back of the success of this film have completely justified the way that I was feeling making it.’

Dìrísù plays the father to two real-life brothers, Godwin Chiemerie Egbo and Chibiuke Marvellous Egbo, and as the story unravels the relationship between parent and children becomes more nuanced. The connection between the trio had to feel authentic and the actor recalls the detail he and his director paid to ensuring it worked. ‘It was a really interesting task that Akinola and I worked a lot on, because I think the stereotype of a Nigerian father is very harsh, patriarchal and somewhat dictatorial. But the truth of a lot of fatherhood is that it’s not just that. There’s also great tenderness and love there as well. It was really important that we spent as much time together as possible. Because if we didn’t have that intimacy, which is captured so beautifully in the film, then I don’t think the film would work as well, you know? You want these boys to yearn for their father in the same way that Nigeria is yearning for great leadership. Wale talks a lot about a dream deferred and plans unfulfilled, and how that is thematically in parallel between the domestic familial story and the one of the country. The boys couldn’t swim and we wanted to capture this beautiful beach sequence. So I remember there were nights when we were at the hotel together, where I would take them swimming. I would try to teach them to swim, or give them familiarity in the water. To get to that point where their mother entrusted me to take the boys swimming, look after them, entertain them off set – I think it speaks to the relationship that we were able to foster in the course of the film.’

Akinola Davies, Chibuike Marvelous Egbo, Efon Wini, Godwin Egbo, My Father’s Shadow, Sopé Dìrísù

As we watch the red carpet below, Dìrísù explains the importance of My Father’s Shadow breaking barriers by being the first Nigerian film in competition at the festival. ‘It’s not only what it means for me, but what it means to Nigeria and the community, in the country and in the diaspora. There has been such a remarkable celebration of it. We didn’t get to see the carpet when people came to see the film yesterday – but I was told there was a wonderful expression of the joy and the pride that those who have been able to travel to Cannes have had for the film. That same joy and pride, and that expressiveness, I’ve felt on social media. I’ve felt it in conversations. I think a lot of people are excited that Nigerian cinema and Nollywood – which are definable as two different things but ultimately go film in hand – is being celebrated on a global scale. Nigeria has such a rich, deep history of filmmaking, and it’s kind of a shame that it’s taken so long for it to be on a platform like this. But I’m delighted that we’re able to break through that ceiling, and forge the connections and the global collaborations that are necessary for this to have happened.’

Backed by Irish Element Pictures, Nigerian Fatherland, the BFI, the BBC, Match Factory and Le Pacte, production on this film was, he says, ‘truly a global effort and I hope that there can be more collaborations like that in the future.’ And what does he think of possibly winning the big ‘Un Certain Regard’ prize at the end of this week? He chuckles and shrugs. The experience here is a reward enough…’


My Father’s Shadow premiered at the 78th Cannes Film Festival
Read our My Father’s Shadow review here
Ṣọpẹ́ wears Louis Vuitton

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Benicio del Toro, Bill Murray, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson, The Phoenician Scheme, Tom Hanks, Wes Anderson

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Words by JANE CROWTHER


The British actor who leads Wes Anderson’s latest ensemble tells Hollywood Authentic about landing her role in The Phoenician Scheme and experiencing her inaugural Cannes.

Attending the Cannes Film Festival for the first time is ‘adrenaline-pinching’ according to Mia Threapleton. ‘It does feel quite daunting, primarily because I’ve not done that many red carpet things ever, actually,’ she laughs. ‘But it is also incredibly exciting and amazing that that is where the film is going to be seen by so many people for the first time. That, for me, is the most exciting thing.’

Though she has been acting for a while – impressing in BAFTA winning I Am Ruth and last year’s The Buccaneers – Threapleton takes centre stage in Wes Anderson’s all-star latest where she plays Liesl, the pipe-smoking, sardonic, nun daughter of Benicio Del Toro’s business mogul. It promises to be a performance and project that skyrockets her. ‘It was actually a very intense auditioning process over about six months,’ she recalls of pursuing the role. ‘The first email I was sent was extremely scant. There was no information on the character. The only name as far as the character that I had to go off was ‘young girl’. I self-taped and several meetings down the line, I had a screen test, and met the wonderful Benicio del Toro. [Anderson] gave me a little bit of an explanation: ‘You haven’t seen your father for six years, and you’ve lived in a convent for the majority of the life that you can remember living. You have some very full-on, unanswered questions…’ And I found out 24 hours later that I had the job.’

Benicio del Toro, Bill Murray, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson, The Phoenician Scheme, Tom Hanks, Wes Anderson

That job saw the 24 year-old joining a cast including many of Anderson’s repeat collaborators including Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Bill Murray, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeffery Wright – and a steep learning curve in the director’s inimitable style. ‘He does have a very particular style. But, actually, when it comes to the acting, he really loves things to be as natural as possible. There’s lots of other opportunities within the scene to try a couple of different beats. So what you end up seeing is basically one of the many, many versions that we do. I think 20 takes was maybe our absolute lowest. On one of our first days, we did 69 takes.’ The experience was something she says she’s still getting her head around. ‘It just feels so surreal and equally amazing to have been able to have been a part of something like this with all the people – unbelievably talented people – cast, crew members, camera team, film team, props team, sound design, set design. I don’t think it really sunk in.’

Though Threapleton is the daughter of Kate Winslet, working with such a group of established actors must have provided plenty of useful instruction on how to navigate the precarious waters of acting. She laughs and recalls how she would observe her castmates in action to learn, even on her days off. ‘I would cycle into set and hide under tables, or Wes would point at a plant pot, and say, ‘Go hide over there. That’s a good place to hide today’. I remember having a really lovely conversation with Michael Cera, who plays Professor Bjorn. It was during a scene where we’re sat in a train car talking to each other, and then outside there’s everyone else playing basketball: Benicio, Brian [Cranston], Riz [Ahmed], Tom [Hanks]. I remember Michael turning to me and going, ‘This is so amazing. This is never going to happen again. This is crazy’. We just sat looking at each other, laughing; ‘What are we doing here? This is insane.’ It felt like summer camp every day.’

She recently saw the film ahead of its Cannes premiere and was amazed anew by the calibre of the cast and project. ‘The second that the opening credits rolled, I burst into tears. I couldn’t really believe what it was that I was seeing. There’s so much excitement, adrenaline and anticipation for seeing something like this, that everybody worked so hard on, and that you really care about. And it was so surreal watching this thing in front of me – ‘Oh God, that’s my face. That’s a lot of my face. Oh my God!’ It was overwhelming in the most amazing way possible.’

Benicio del Toro, Bill Murray, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson, The Phoenician Scheme, Tom Hanks, Wes Anderson

With a second series of The Buccaneers in the can, Threapleton is aware that Cannes will be a moment that could change her career and opportunities. So what projects is she looking for in the wake of her festival debut? ‘I don’t know if I really have a bucket list. What excites me so much about this job is the amount of incredible, creative people that are out there who want to tell really cool stories.’ Hollywood Authentic wonders how her perception of the industry has changed since her first experience of filming as a little girl on Alan Rickman’s A Little Chaos. ‘I don’t think it’s changed, and I don’t think it will change. I just feel like a little sponge with everything. Then I was just wanting to absorb all of it and I still do now. I like the fact that I still have so many things to learn.’ 

As a child who grew up with a working understanding of acting, has she ever been given advice that has helped her on her journey so far? ‘“Actually, I didn’t grow up with an understanding of acting necessarily. I really didn’t grow up on a film set at all. I can count on both hands the amount of times I went into work as a kid. But I think I was always just told, you know, ‘Do the work. Work hard on it, and concentrate’. I’ve tried to do that as best I can.’


The Phoenician Scheme premiered at the 78th Cannes Film Festival
Mia wears Oscar de la Renta

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Die, Jennifer Lawrence, LaKeith Stanfield, Lynne Ramsay, My Love, Nick Nolte, Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek
Die, Jennifer Lawrence, LaKeith Stanfield, Lynne Ramsay, My Love, Nick Nolte, Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Words by JANE CROWTHER


Jennifer Lawrence’s abrasive new film – which she co-produced and stars in – may not reflect her own experience of motherhood, but the choice to take it on was certainly informed by it. Lawrence made the movie about postpartum psychosis with filmmaker Lynne Ramsay between having her two children (she was five months pregnant during filming) and told Cannes press that ‘having children changes everything. It changes your whole life, but it’s brutal and incredible’. The project, she said, ‘deeply moved’ her.

Die, Jennifer Lawrence, LaKeith Stanfield, Lynne Ramsay, My Love, Nick Nolte, Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek
Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence

In the film Lawrence plays Grace, a young woman who moves into an isolated Montana farmhouse with her boyfriend Jackson (Robert Pattinson), where she falls pregnant. When the baby arrives Grace is locked in a rinse-and-repeat pattern of feeding and changing while Jackson goes off the work, her writing ambition stalled and her grip on reality growing tenuous. Filled with rage, frustration and the need to be seen as a sexual being and not just a mother, Grace becomes erratic and violent, confounding her partner and his recently widowed mother (Sissy Spacek). Conjuring a sexual fantasy with a mysterious biker (LaKeith Stanfield) and desperate to feel something – pain, orgasm, passion – other than the numbness of a mothering routine, she wants to set her world alight. As the end credits song (performed by Ramsay) attests, ‘Love will tear us apart’… 

Die, Jennifer Lawrence, LaKeith Stanfield, Lynne Ramsay, My Love, Nick Nolte, Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek
Lynne Ramsay

Though Grace finds motherhood opens her up to self-destruction and chaos, Lawrence says that her children have helped her access more of herself as an actor. ‘I didn’t know that I could feel so much, and my job has a lot to do with emotion, and they’ve opened up the world to me. It’s almost like a blister or something, so sensitive. So they’ve changed my life, obviously, for the best, and they’ve changed me creatively. I highly recommend having kids if you want to be an actor.’

The film is certainly something of a tour de force for Lawrence who spits, fights, claws and crawls through the role like a feral creature, Grace’s fantasies overlapping and pushing against her reality. It is a fever-dream representation of the confusion, fear and delirium of post-partum depression and psychosis which the actor admitted was a terrifying condition for any woman to experience. ‘There’s not really anything like postpartum… it’s extremely isolating. The truth is extreme anxiety and extreme depression is isolating no matter where you are. You feel like an alien.’

Die, Jennifer Lawrence, LaKeith Stanfield, Lynne Ramsay, My Love, Nick Nolte, Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek

The film premiered to a nine-minute ovation in Cannes and looks to be another role that could net Lawrence awards buzz. The actor attended wearing custom Dior, an updated version of a 1949 Poulenc gown inspired by fans, and was photographed by Greg Williams in a rooftop suite of the Carlton Hotel overlooking the Croisette.


Die, My Love premiered at the 78th Cannes Film Festival

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May 15, 2025

Christopher McQuarrie, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, Simon Pegg, Tom Cruise, Greg Williams, Hollywood Authentic
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Christopher McQuarrie, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, Simon Pegg, Tom Cruise, Greg Williams, Hollywood Authentic

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Words by JANE CROWTHER


As he prepares to release his eighth (and final?) instalment of the Mission: Impossible series, Tom Cruise brings the action to Cannes.

Just as he brought Top Gun: Maverick to Cannes in 2022, the world’s biggest movie star returned to the Croisette this year to deliver his eighth Mission: Impossible film, The Final Reckoning, to the Palais. Stopping to sign autographs and greet fans on the red carpet (where an acapella group sang the film’s theme tune), Cruise’s latest actioner garnered a 6 minute standing ovation when it premiered. 

Christopher McQuarrie, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, Simon Pegg, Tom Cruise, Greg Williams, Hollywood Authentic

Earlier in the day he made an unbilled appearance at a Q&A with Mission director Christopher McQuarrie who credited the actor/producer with keeping him in the film business. Cruise’s enthusiasm for cinema, McQuarrie told the crowd, was a turning point. ‘When I met him, I was going to quit the business.’ The duo have made 11 films together since and have developed a shorthand together figuratively, and on the latest film, literally – as Cruise completed death defying stunts while underwater in a groundbreaking submarine set as well as dangling from the wings of a vintage bi-plane over South Africa’s Drakensberg Mountains.

Final Reckoning rejoins the narrative a few months after the action of Dead Reckoning as Cruise’s Ethan Hunt comes to terms with losses from their team and the fallout of an agent called Gabriel (Esai Morales) trying to control an AI programme called ‘the entity’. The team must reassemble to find the source code for the AI in an attempt to stop it from triggering all-out global nuclear war. Known for completing his stunts himself, Cruise is battered in a rolling submarine on the ocean floor and fights negative Gs and incredible physical strain on his body on the wings of a vintage Boeing Stearman. During their joint on-stage chat, McQuarrie admitted that at one point during filming he didn’t know if the actor was conscious or not during a take, fearing for his life as the pilot could not land the plane with him on the wing. Luckily, Cruise rallied, climbed to the cockpit and the plane and performer landed safely. 

Not such worries at the Carlton hotel on the Croisette when Greg Williams photographed Cruise balancing on a chair in his suite before walking the red carpet… 

Christopher McQuarrie, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, Simon Pegg, Tom Cruise, Greg Williams, Hollywood Authentic

Mission: Impossible, The Final Reckoning is in cinemas in the UK and Europe 21 May, and in the USA 23 May

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Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Words by JANE CROWTHER


Paolo Sorrentino’s latest muse burns the screen up in Parthenope. Hollywood Authentic meets the Italian actor who made the leap from extra to lead to talk beauty, fame and the advice Gary Oldman gave her.

parthenope, paolo sorrentino, celeste dalla porte, gary oldman, silvio orlando, daniele rienzo

Sitting on the rooftop of the JW Marriott in Cannes, writer-director Paolo Sorrentino considers on his latest love letter to his home town of Naples. Why, he contemplates, did he choose to tell his story through the Greek myth of Parthenope (who precipitated the creation of the Bay of Naples) and focus on the siren at the heart of it? ‘What I wanted to do was to tell the story of a girl, a woman, from the moment she is born, to the moment in which she becomes an elderly person. What I really had at heart was telling how time changes us. And it does change us, even if we wear wonderful clothes.’ His currently leading lady certainly wears wonderful things in the sensual, smouldering film that almost gives audiences sunburn when watching. Sorrentino tells the tale of ‘70s Naples teen, Parthenope, born in water and drawn to the sea like a mermaid – seducing men without even trying as she puffs on cigarettes in a bikini, shimmers in sequins on the island of Capri and titillates in nothing but the ecclesiastical treasures of a horny cardinal. 

parthenope, paolo sorrentino, celeste dalla porte, gary oldman, silvio orlando, daniele rienzo

Quite the ask of any actor, but especially for a newcomer who would have to go toe-to-toe with heavyweight performers such as Gary Oldman, playing real-life writer John Cheever, who is sozzled and depressed on Capri and sees pure beauty in Parthenope. ‘I looked at many Italian actresses,’ Sorrentino admits. ‘In reality, I found her quite soon, because I had already met and worked with Celeste. She was in The Hand of God as an extra. It took me some time to understand whether she was going to be able to handle the role. She had never played a main character.’ 

Celeste Dalla Porta, a Milan-born actor whose scene as a background artist had ended up on the cutting room floor, was up for the challenge of conveying the intelligence of Parthenope (she’s a shrewd student anthropologist) as well as her sensuality. ‘I had no doubts, but I was a little bit scared,’ Dalla Porta says, twisting the mermaid ring on her finger that belonged to her character in the film. ‘Once I accepted it, I started questioning myself: will I be able to do it? But I never had a doubt about the project because it’s such a revolutionary thing.’ Her fears about the role also extended to the fame that will surely come with the release of the film, and how her life may change. ‘I don’t know what is in store for me ahead. I’m a little bit scared. But this is what I want to do, and what I always wanted to do, to be an actress.’

parthenope, paolo sorrentino, celeste dalla porte, gary oldman, silvio orlando, daniele rienzo

I have learned a lot with [Gary Oldman]. He is this huge actor that is so open and so attentive. He paid a lot of attention. He listens to you

The experience of working with Sorrentino was, she says, expansive and supportive. ‘He’s a 360-degrees person. He has a very authentic way of being on set. He knows exactly what he wants, and he guides you to that. But I felt free working with him. Paolo gives freedom to his actors. Of course, they cannot change the story, and they cannot change the text. But he is a man who is really able to listen to what other people have to say, and to see.’ Oldman was also something of an artistic reference point during the process despite only working for a few days together. ‘I have learned a lot with him. He is this huge actor that is so open and so attentive. He paid a lot of attention. He listens to you. So, on a human level, it was also such a great experience.’

The idea of weaponised beauty is explored in the film as Parthenope leaves a trail of broken hearts in her wake. Though Dalla Porta is shot in stunning light and via an appreciative lens she doesn’t consider herself a beauty. ‘I don’t think Paolo picked me or chose me because I’m beautiful. Beauty can also be something ugly and is subjective, and something that changes over time. In Parthenope beauty is a metaphor for youth. And youth – we all remember it as something very beautiful. We think about it as something very beautiful, and something that we idealise. But then Parthenope grows up. She moves into another phase of her life, and that’s when the movie changes. There is a different photography and different people around her, and a different way of looking at her.’

parthenope, paolo sorrentino, celeste dalla porte, gary oldman, silvio orlando, daniele rienzo
Celeste Dalla Porta says goodbye to Gary Oldman

Having been the toast of Cannes when the film premiered at the festival last year, Dalla Porta is now looking for future projects. ‘I love Alice Rohrwacher. I find her to be a great, great artist, and I like her poetic way to see the world, and to tell stories. Ruben Östlund, I admire very much. Valerio Mieli – he made just a few films, but all of them talk about love. I’m super-romantic, and I love romanticism, and I love films that talk about love.’ As she navigates her way through her career she is also adhering to the advice Oldman gave to her about the business. As he tells Hollywood Authentic, their off-set relationship somewhat mirrored the one between their two characters, a mentor and a student. ‘The dynamic was very much like that with me and Celeste, because I’ve had this career, and I’m older. This is her first job, and she’s naïve. For Cheever, I think there’s an innocence and a purity that he can’t have back, that he can’t reclaim. Celeste will have an innocence and a purity that she will not be able to ever get back after this film comes out.’

Dalla Porta smiles as she recalls their chats on-set. ’He said that I have to protect what I have inside myself. I have to protect the beauty of simple things. That is something that we all have, and that we need to protect. It was very simple advice, but very important. If fame comes because you have made something that makes you feel happy inside, and it’s something you are happy with – why not? That’s what I want. And then people talk about the fame that is this kind of monster that is waiting…’ She shrugs. ‘I try to stay in the present, and to live in this moment.’


Parthenope is out in cinemas now

Written and directed by Academy Award Winner Paolo Sorrentino   
Starring, in alphabetical order: Dario Aita, Celeste Dalla Porta, Silvia Degrandi, Isabella Ferrari, Lorenzo Gleijeses, Biagio Izzo, Marlon Joubert, Peppe Lanzetta, Nello Mascia, Gary Oldman, Silvio Orlando, Luisa Ranieri, Daniele Rienzo, Stefania Sandrelli and Alfonso Santagata. 
A Fremantle film, an Italian-French co-production The Apartment – Pathé in association with Numero 10, in association with PiperFilm and Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello with Logical Content Ventures with the support of Canal+ with the participation of Cine+. Produced by Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment, a Fremantle Group company, Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent, Paolo Sorrentino for Numero 10, Ardavan Safaee for Pathé.
International Distribution: Pathé, Northern US Distribution: A24, Italian distribution: PiperFilm
.

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April 11, 2025

david oyelowo, government cheese, selma, lawmen: bass reeves
david oyelowo, government cheese, selma, lawmen: bass reeves

Photographs & Interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER


Greg Williams joins British actor-producer-director David Oyelowo at his LA barber shop to talk creating opportunity and the pursuit of excellence.

‘Getting into character, the look of the character, the physical presence of the character, is something that I tend to focus on,’ David Oyelowo tells me when I meet him at a strip mall in Tarzana one morning in February. This unassuming location off Ventura Boulevard is a place for transformation for the multi-faceted actor who has played Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, a pharma-villain in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the first African-American US Marshal in Lawmen: Bass Reeves. Today, Oyelowo is getting a haircut from his trusted barber, Gene. ‘He’s very detail orientated,’ Oyelowo says as we walk inside. ‘He gets me looking right.’

Sandwiched between a pilates studio and a dog groomers, the barber shop is a cosy space that Oyelowo has been coming to for a long time – Gene has been cutting his hair for 15 years. It’s one of his neighborhood spots in LA, now home since moving here in 2007 and becoming a US citizen in 2016. The valley is also the location for the filming of Government Cheese, his new ’60s-set dramedy show currently streaming on Apple TV+ in which he plays an ex-con who returns home to his family and causes chaos. He’s about to start a promotional campaign for the project and wants a sharp cut. 

As Gene fires up the clippers, I ask Oyelowo about his relationship with excellence, given his prolific work output and his ability to plate-spin being an actor, producer and director. ‘A principle I live by is: the difference between good and great is hard work. I think that’s what excellence looks like. I’ve had to learn that there’s a difference between perfection and excellence. Perfection is debilitating. It’s unattainable. I think, actually, it ultimately leads to depression. The pursuit of excellence is something that is attainable because it’s basically doing your best, knowing you’ve done your best, and making peace with the fact that that’s as much as you can do. Failure doesn’t mean that you weren’t excellent. I used to actually take pride in being a perfectionist, especially with having kids, you’re trying to model behaviour that they will emulate. I recognise that them watching their dad pursue perfectionism is not a good example. But excellence absolutely is. That is what I now aspire to more than perfection.’ 

david oyelowo, government cheese, selma, lawmen: bass reeves

If you find good people, hold on to them for dear life

Oyelowo has certainly shown excellence in his work to date since learning his craft at the National Youth Theatre and LAMDA before making his name in BBC spy show, Spooks, in 2002. Since then he has impressed in a wide range of projects (and accents) including Lincoln, Jack ReacherInterstellar, Silo, The Book of Clarence and most recently as Shakespeare’s Coriolanus in London’s West End. He’s been working professionally since 1995 and subscribes to the building up of a career with varied roles and experiences. ‘Young actors, or people who are aspiring to be actors, a lot of the time what they aspire to is instantaneous success, or having quite a high level of notoriety quickly. I actually think that’s a trap. What you actually want is a slow-burn career. You don’t want to have the highs be too high, and the lows be too low. But consistency is how you end up with a body of work that is admirable in its totality, as opposed to these moments that, in isolation, warrant attention, but then there’s this dearth in between. And the only way you get that is perseverance.’

As Gene carefully grades his hair, Oyelowo smiles in the mirror. ‘This is why I like having my haircut done by Gene. Every time I sit in this chair, I can tell that he is looking to do his best work. I genuinely am drawn to that. It’s one of the things that I enjoy as a producer, and whenever I’ve directed as well. It’s being around people who are brilliant at what they do. Actually, I got a great piece of advice. The feature film that I directed a little while ago, The Water Man, I called some directors who I really admire. One of them said something that really stood me in good stead, which is that your job is to hire the best people possible, communicate your vision very clearly, and then allow them to take flight. So excellent people – people who pursue greatness – is the way for you to look great as a director. And certainly I know from when I work with great directors, that’s very clearly the distinguishing factor. They surround themselves with people who are really excellent, and they model it in what they do as well.’

I ask him about working with an actor often cited for excellence, Daniel Day Lewis, who played President Lincoln to Oyelowo’s union soldier in the Spielberg film. ‘I personally think he’s the greatest living actor,’ he responds without hesitation. ‘The definition of not only an actor but a great actor is someone who is chameleonic; someone who genuinely transforms role to role; someone who clearly has studied humanity to a degree whereby they’re able to approach humanity from so many different angles and still be convincing in the roles they play. That, to me, is a master of the craft, and I can think of very few actors who take as many risks as he does, who pay a price as high as he does, and who are as successful in terms of the execution of their roles as he is. He, for me, is the gold standard. And then there’s working with Forest Whitaker on The Last King of Scotland, or a director like Christopher Nolan or Steven Spielberg or Anthony Minghella or Ava DuVernay, where you go, ‘Oh, there are levels to this thing.’ Tom Cruise is the same. These artists who you just go, ‘Oh, that’s why you’ve been doing it this long. That’s why there’s a connection between you and the audience that is not what you get everywhere.’ That gave me the blueprint, and maybe even the playbook for some of the more intense roles I’ve been afforded the opportunity to go on to play.’

david oyelowo, government cheese, selma, lawmen: bass reeves

Having played two historical figures in Martin Luther King Jr. and Bass Reeves, Oyelowo was hoping to add another to his resume with a long-gestating biopic of boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. ‘I think I have to make peace with the fact that I’ve probably aged out of playing Sugar Ray Robinson,’ he laughs. ‘But I still want to tell that story, and I think I’m going to still do it, probably as a producer, maybe as a director. Sugar Ray Robinson in his prime may be something that I let someone else do. But, honestly, that is something that I increasingly have enjoyed doing, keeping open the doors that have either been opened for me, or I’ve managed to get open, and making sure that others are allowed through. A big goal of mine is to leave the storytelling landscape different than I found it. A film about Dr King where he’s central had not been made before. A show that had Bass Reeves central had not been made before. Sugar Ray Robinson was the inspiration for Muhammad Ali. We should know more about him. That’s why I’m passionate about that story. And finding different ways to get these stories out there is the thing I’m ultimately very dedicated to.’

Oyelowo’s production company, Yoruba Saxon, looks for projects that shine a light on underrepresented stories. ‘We have a motto to normalise the marginalised. Our goal of normalising that is just an acknowledgment that filmmaking and television changes culture. It’s one of the most potent means of both advancing and regressing culture. And so I definitely want to be on the good side of that fence. Telling stories, for me, is a means of entertainment and education, but it’s also a political act for me.’ 

His move to LA from the UK was also something of a political act. Feeling limited by the opportunities available to him at home despite success with the RSC and Spooks, he turned his eyes towards America – moving himself and his wife to Hollywood. ‘It was patently obvious that the UK was not going to provide the opportunities I aspired to. Some of that is to do with race. Some of that is just to do with the size of the industry. But the two things compound each other. If it’s a smaller industry, and Black and brown people are not prioritised, then it’s an even smaller postage stamp to land on.’ Has that changed, I wonder? ‘Where I think it hasn’t changed much is I see that for Black actors in the UK, a path to a global career is still through playing roles that are not British. You still have to play American roles, or roles that are not tied to our culture in the UK, which I think is deeply unfortunate. John Boyega has to do Star Wars. Chiwetel Ejiofor has to do 12 Years a Slave. Idris Elba has to do The Wire. Naomie Harris has to do Moonlight. Thandiwe Newton has to do Mission: Impossible. Daniel Kaluuya has to do Get Out… There isn’t the same trajectory as if they’re white, British actors. It’s different.’

david oyelowo, government cheese, selma, lawmen: bass reeves

He recalls his methodology for trying to break out of pigeonholing. ‘I had to say to the people who were considering taking me on as an agent, “Put me up for the roles that are either non-race-specific or are specifically white, because that’s where there’s more dimension. And then I’ll bring the specificity of my Blackness to it.” When it’s written for a Black character, the aperture just goes so small, and it does fall into caricature and stereotype – and a lot of the stereotypes that I didn’t want to be perpetuating. Also, it made characters such that a global audience couldn’t relate to them. They felt so niche. They felt so boxed. A lot of my career has been spent exhaustingly having to educate people – my history, my culture, who I am, my journey, is not their bias or their perspective. Things are getting better but ultimately until women, until Black and brown people own distribution mechanisms, or have the resources to be able to tell their own stories outside of the studio system, we’re going to be in this cycle.’

Oyelowo leans forward in his chair and inspects Gene’s work before asking for minute calibrations in the weight of his goatee. I ask him about growing up in the UK as the kid of immigrants. His Nigerian parents from two different tribes ‘essentially eloped’ to Britain to be together, having him in Oxford before the family moved to South London and then back to Lagos. ‘You want to talk about a culture shock? Not only was it just different culturally, but it was very different familially. We didn’t really have any family in the UK, and suddenly we lived on the Oyelowo compound on Oyelowo Street in Lagos.’ At 13, the Oyelowos returned to London, to Islington, where the teenager caught the acting bug. Now he lives in Los Angeles with his family (a 13-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son; his two older sons, aged 20 and 23, have since flown the nest), three dogs and two parrots. At 48 he considers himself in the sweet spot for amassed experience and nous. ‘One of the greatest things about getting older and more experienced is trusting your gut. I think that it should be earned over time. It’s not something where you’re coming in as a 19-year-old and just throwing your weight around. I’ve seen that, and it’s not pretty. But an opinion based on knowing to trust your gut, combined with experience and with humility, I think is where you’re really starting to make a dent – a good one. That’s something that is increasing for me. And it’s amazing how much more you can achieve with genuine “sacrificial love”, where you’re putting other people before yourself, and therefore creating a culture with everyone looking after each other. On a set in particular – that’s one of the things I love about being a producer or a director. It’s having the opportunity to help establish that culture. If you’re not in a leadership position, it’s much harder to help engender that environment. The abuse of power is all about insecurity. I don’t like working with those guys or girls. That’s a luxury I now have. Not everyone has that luxury. But, boy, it’s one I take, because it’s so debilitating working with people who are power-hungry, who are not truly collaborative, who are toxic, and who just seem to thrive on making other people’s lives difficult. It’s just not worth it.’

Gene is done – it’s a fresh cut – and we return to the theme of excellence. Oyelowo thinks back to seeing the way Steven Spielberg surrounded himself with the highest level of craftsmanship on Lincoln. ‘If you find good people, hold on to them for dear life. With Spielberg – the director of photography, production designer, costumes – so many of the crew have done multiple films with him. And it’s a great way to just weed out the arseholes, and just have that shorthand with people.’ He turns to his groomer Vonda sitting nearby and asks how long they’ve worked together. The answer is 15 years. He asks his PA, Darnell, the same question. It’s three. Oyelowo throws up his hands in a ‘see?’ fashion and laughs. ‘I’ve told Darnell very clearly that I need at least seven years’ notice if she’s going to quit!’ He stands and brushes his hair off. ‘For me, that’s how you have not only a good life but a good working life…’

david oyelowo, government cheese, selma, lawmen: bass reeves

Government Cheese is streaming now on Apple TV+
Hair: Gene Miller, Grooming: Vonda Morris, Styling: Mark Holmes

hollywood authentic, greg williams, hollywood authentic magazine

February 17, 2025

mikey madison, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
hollywood authentic, bafta dispatch, bafta awards 2025, ee
mikey madison, adrian brody, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Mikey Madison and Adrian Brody

Photographs by Greg Williams
Words by Jane Crowther

The temperatures were freezing for this year’s EE Bafta Awards at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s Southbank, but relationships were warm backstage where Greg Williams captured the festivities.

The mood was celebratory as guests flooded from the Tattinger champagne receptions on all levels of the RFH into the auditorium and found their seats – as well as their colleagues and category competition. Pamela Anderson and Demi Moore hugged and chatted front of stage while Timothée Chalamet (who’d skipped the red carpet) caught up with newlyweds Soairse Ronan and Jack Lowdon. Chalamet’s girlfriend, Kyle Jenner, talked at length with his A Complete Unknown co-star, Monica Barbaro, while Cythia Erivo and Ariane Grande whispered to each other as they held hands. 

This year’s ceremony was presided over by David Tennant, who opened the show with a spirited rendition of The Proclaimers’ ‘I’m gonna be (500 Miles)’ and joked that the runner up of the Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest was sitting on the front row with his Jenner lookalike date. 

Backstage, the atmosphere was convivial as Edward Berger’s Conclave took home four awards (best picture, outstanding British film, adapted screenplay and editing) and Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist won the quartet of best director, leading actor, cinematography and score. They were expected triumphs along with best supporting actress, an emotional Zoë Saldana for Emilia Perez, and supporting actor in an absent Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain

jack lowdon, soairse ronan, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Jack Lowden and Soairse Ronan
adrian brody, pamela anderson, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Adrian Brody and Pamela Anderson
cynthia erivo, ariana grande, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande

Saldana was still tearful as she came off stage after her win – her second trip to the podium after presenting Outstanding debut with Selena Gomez to Kneecap writer-director Rich Peppiatt who joked he was in a ‘lovely sandwich’ as the actresses escorted him down the backstage steps for photographs. Aardman’s Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl also picked up two awards that seemed uncontested in the categories of best animation and children and family film. Directors Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham juggled their clay models with their BAFTA as they exited the stage.

ralph fiennes, isabella rossellini, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Ralph Fiennes and Isabella Rossellini
warwick davis, mark hamill, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Warick Davis and Mark Hamill
zoë saldaña, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Zoë Saldaña
David Jonsson, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
David Jonsson

Surprises came with the best actor category which pundits had thought might have gone to Ralph Fiennes on home turf but was awarded to The Brutalist’s Adrian Brody. He joked that he was ‘signing his life away’ as he signed papers allowing him to take his BAFTA mask home, before he returned to stand by a monitor to watch who won best actress. Demi Moore has had an unbeatable run during awards season for her work in The Substance, but BAFTA voted for Anora breakout – and Hollywood Authentic’s current cover star – Mikey Madison. When she arrived backstage, Brody high-fived her and the two chatted as they waited for Best Picture to be announced. Both actors’ films were nominated and both nodded and applauded when that gong went to Conclave. As the Conclave team arrived backstage, Madison congratulated them before pausing to huddle in a corner to call her delighted parents in LA. 

celia imre, naomi ackie, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Celia Imrie and Naomi Ackie
leo woodall, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Leo Woodall
chiwetel ejiofor, leo woodall, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Chiwetel Ejiofor
jaques audiard, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Jaques Audiard

There was a Harry Potter and Star Wars reunion when Warwick Davis received his BAFTA fellowship from Potter veteran, Tom Felton. ‘You deserve it so thoroughly,’ Felton told Warwick, who played Filius Flitwick to his Malfoy, as the two hugged and exchanged news. Waiting in the wings to present best picture, Mark Hamill joined the duo – congratulating his Star Wars co-star on his achievement and kneeling for photos.

Once the ceremony was over, the catch-ups and selfies began downstairs over dinner where oversized themed lampshades loomed over a supper of vegan caviar, roast chicken and popcorn-strawberry cheesecake. Zoe Saldana and Warwick Davis chatted with their BAFTAs in hand, Kylie Jenner slipped on a jacket to talk to tablemates on the A Complete Unknown table while Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo took Wicked group snaps.

adrian brody, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Adrian Brody

Despite a tragic fire at Chiltern Firehouse disrupting plans at the last minute, the Netflix after-party remained the post-awards place to be – moving with 48-hours notice to The Twenty-Two in Mayfair. Downstairs, Zoë Saldana and her husband hung out with Anna Kendrick as well as Demi Moore and her daughter, Scout. Jared Leto rubbed shoulders with Sophie Wilde, Colman Domingo and Ncuti Gatwa in the buzzy red lounge. Upstairs, Malachi Kirby caught up with his A Thousand Blows co-star Francis Lovehall while Orlando Bloom danced and Camilla Cabello moved among the revellers…

mikey madison, bafta 2025, hollywood authentic, greg williams
Mikey Madison

WINNERS:

Best Film – Conclave

Outstanding British Film – Conclave

Best Director – Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Outstanding Debut By By British Writer, Director Or Producer – Kneecap

Film Not In The English Language – Emilia Pérez

Best Documentary – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

Best Animated Film – Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Best Original Screenplay – A Real Pain

Best Adapted Screenplay – Conclave

Best Leading Actress – Mikey Madison (Anona)

Best Leading Actor – Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Best Supporting Actress – Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

Best Supporting Actor – Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Best Casting – Anora

Best Cinematography – The Brutalist

Best Editing – Conclave

Best Costume – Wicked

Best Original Score – The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg)

Best Production Design – Wicked

Best Sound – Dune: Part Two

Best Visual Effects – Dune: Part Two

Best British Short Film – Rock, Paper, Scissors

EE Rising Star – David Jonsson


Photographs by Greg Williams
Words by Jane Crowther

October 25, 2024

cate blanchett, charles dance, evan johnson, galen johnson, guy maddin, nikki amuka-bird, rumours

DISPATCH: RUMOURS
Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS


Surreal political satire Rumours premiered at the Cannes Film Festival before travelling to TIFF and various festivals before landing in the UK’s capital this month at the BFI London Film Festival for a party hosted at Lasdun by Universal Pictures. Written and co-directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, it follows the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies at the annual G7 summit, where they attempt to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis. But as night falls and their staff disappear the leaders discover their own fallibility and lack of agency – unless it’s a quick romp in the woods. The cast is as international as the characters: Cate Blanchett plays the German Chancellor, Charles Dance is POTUS (with an English accent, because – why not?), Nikki Amuka-Bird essays the UK PM and Alicia Vikander is the President of the European Commission who finds something mindbending in the mist…

Blanchett, Dance, Amula-Bird and their directors celebrated the UK bow of the film at a party attended by friends and colleagues. Greg Williams captured the fun…

cate blanchett, charles dance, rumours
cate blanchett, charles dance, evan johnson, galen johnson, guy maddin, nikki amuka-bird, rumours, philipp kreuzer
cate blanchett, guy maddin, rumours

Rumours is released on 6 December



Brad Pitt, Wolfs
George Clooney, Wolfs

DISPATCH: GEORGE CLOONEY & BRAD PITT WOLFS
Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS


George Clooney and Brad Pitt have been working together since they first made Ocean’s Eleven in 2001 – sharing credits in the 23 years since on Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen and Burn After Reading. And the off-screen friends were looking for another opportunity to re-team when they were pitched Jon Watts’ original script, Wolfs. The story of two ‘lone wolf’ fixers who are assigned to the same clean-up job when a DA’s dalliance with a young man ends in accidental death, the comedy-actioner premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a standing ovation. Greg Williams traveled with the duo by boat as they attended a press conference and the premiere on Venice’s Lido.

Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Wolfs
Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Wolfs
Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Wolfs

‘We kind of figured there’s gotta be a good reason to get back in a film together, something we feel like we could build upon what we’ve done before,’ Pitt told journalists when he and Clooney discussed the project without their director who had caught Covid on the journey to the floating city. ‘But also, I gotta say, as I get older, working with the people that I just really enjoy spending time with has really become important to me.’

Pitt recalled that both he and Clooney immediately liked the first draft that Watts wrote and pitched to them, and was pleased that the verve of it was retained throughout production to filming in New York. ‘It’s never happened where someone presents you with an idea and you get a first draft of the script and that’s what you end up shooting.’

Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Wolfs
Amal, George Clooney, Wolfs
Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Wolfs
Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Jon Watts, Wolfs

As grouchy hitmen, Clooney and Pitt banter and squabble throughout a long night where they try to unravel a conspiracy – and their teasing affection was on display when they sat down for their press conference and, later, boogied to Sade’s ‘Smooth Operator’ (a key track in the film) as the credits rolled in the Sala Grande. ‘There’s nothing good about it… It’s all a disaster,’ Clooney joked when asked about working with his 60-year-old friend. ‘He’s 74 and he’s lucky at this age to be still working!’

Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Wolfs
Amal, George Clooney, Wolfs
Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Jon Watts, Wolfs

Wolfs is in select cinemas and available to stream on Apple TV+ now
Read our review of
Wolfs here



September 13, 2024

bettlejuice bettlejuice, jenna ortega
bettlejuice bettlejuice, catherine o'hara, jenna ortega, michael keaton, tim burton, winona ryder

DISPATCH: JENNA ORTEGA BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS


With the Venice Film Festival marking the move of summer into Autumn, it’s perhaps fitting that a Halloween movie opened the 81st festivities. Thirty five years after Beetlejuice was first released, its sequel reunited the original cast alongside Jenna Ortega on the Lido’s red carpet – something director Tim Burton had never envisaged for a film he admits he doesn’t quite understand the success of. A quirky horror comedy starring Michael Keaton as a potty-mouthed, green-haired ghost who haunts the Deetz family when they move into a new house, it was the film that made a star of Winona Ryder (aged 15 when she filmed) and cemented a decades-long collaborative process between Burton and his two leads. 

bettlejuice bettlejuice, winona ryder

In the years since, Beetlejuice has become a cult classic and after the success of other legacy sequels such as Top Gun Maverick and Ghostbusters: Afterlife it was only a matter of time before ‘The Juice’ returned to haunted audiences anew. And on a balmy August evening Greg Williams joined the cast pre-premiere at their Venetian hotel as the film received warm reviews from critics tickled by the return to practical effects, a Ryder-Keaton re-run, Ortega’s snarky charm and the daft fun of Burton’s distinct signature touch. 

‘Over the past few years, I got a little bit disillusioned with the movie industry, I sort of lost myself,’ the director admitted to journalists earlier in the day. ‘For me, I realized the only way to be a success is that I have to love doing it. For this one, I just enjoyed and loved making it.’ For Burton that meant working with Ryder, Keaton and Catherine O’Hara again. Having worked with Burton on other projects, Ryder felt safe to step into a new story with the director again. ‘My love and trust for Tim runs so deep and there was a sense of a certain playfulness and readiness to try things,’ she said, confessing that one of her favourite things about returning to the role of Lydia Deetz – not a TV medium and mother to a teenage daughter – was staring into Keaton’s eyes again. ‘It had been such a special experience the first one and just to be able to come back to it was just a dream come true.’

bettlejuice bettlejuice, michael keaton
bettlejuice bettlejuice, michael keaton

Burton calls Beetlejuice Beetlejuice ‘a weird family movie’ that examines the rifts between parents and children as Lydia returns to her original haunted house after the death of her father. Her teen daughter, Astrid, may not believe her mum can see dead people but she soon changes her mind after a run-in with a ghost and the afterlife. Burton credits some of his creative rejuvenation to making the first season of Wednesday with Jenna Ortega so she seemed the natural choice for the role of Astrid. Ortega – whose red-carpet custom Dior dress nodded to Lydia’s wedding dress in the original film – has had a similar fast rise to fame as Ryder and the two women bonded immediately on set, not only as mother and daughter but as actors who have become emo icons of their generation. ‘The way Winona and I got on was quite weird,’ Ortega says. ‘It was like we could read each other’s minds a little bit.’ Ryder was, she says, immediately warm and welcoming. ‘It was at a time where my career was taking a different turn. I didn’t realize that I needed that from somebody who could relate, but I did.’

bettlejuice bettlejuice, jenna ortega

Also along for the ride are Willem Dafoe as an afterlife detective who used to be an actor on a TV cop show, Monica Bellucci as Delores, a long-dead vamp with unfinished business with Beetlejuice; and Justin Theroux as Lydia’s odious boyfriend and manager. 

Burton also brought SFX guru Neil Scanlon onto the project to ensure that the low-fi, fast and fun ethos of the first film was resurrected – so just like the original, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice features tactile practical effects to add to the comedy and off-kilter vibe (the waiting room is rammed with ridiculous deaths via piranha, chimney, cats, sharks and hotdogs). The result, says Burton, is a movie very much in the spirit of the original and ‘a very simple emotional movie’ – one that gained a standing ovation post-premiere. ‘The Juice’ is very much loose.


Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is in cinemas now
Read our review of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice here