CANNES DISPATCH Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Camille Cottin calls the particular bewilderment of a film festival ‘the vortex at Cannes,’ when Hollywood Authentic sits down with her at the JW Marriott on the Croisette, which is teeming with delegates and film fans. ‘Here, time is no more!’ she jokes, ‘Everything is completely changed – all perception of reality – when you’re here. You take big cars to go about 10 metres. You no longer talk in distance, it’s just ‘Majestic to Martinez’. Night is day, day is night. You talk about money as if you’re talking about love…’ Cottin has arrived in Cannes ahead of walking the red carpet of the premiere of Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard’s Karma alongside her fictional ASK agency team from global TV phenomenon Call My Agent!, to announce that the feature film of the show is arriving on Netflix in September. The show was a success in France before becoming a belated global hit and nearly six years after the final season, will return with George Clooney, Vincent Macaigne and Laetitia Casta playing themselves.
Fans of the show will remember discussion of the Cannes Film Festival in season two, when the whole agency wanted to attend such an important event, so it’s only fitting that the team should kick off their promotion in this storied place. ‘The show is about our industry, so I think it makes sense. And also, there’s going to be something a bit meta, regarding the script, the fact that we’re here. We’ve added a piece to the puzzle, I would say. I don’t want to spoil things…’ she says. What we do know is that Cottin’s spiky character, Andréa Martel, will be directing her own movie in the film, so perhaps Andréa will be climbing the famous red steps herself? ‘Of course, when you direct a film, being at Cannes is something that I suppose every director dreams of,’ she teases.
She’s not giving plot or guest appearances away, but the actor will discuss why the team is returning to the ASK offices after the show finished. ‘I think it came from a deep attachment to the characters and the relationship between them. There’s something quite generous and tender to that show regarding the humour, regarding the perception of our contemporaries in the industry. And I think it was the desire to continue this communication with the fans. The funny thing is that when we stopped filming and COVID happened, that’s when people outside France discovered it. So it’s maybe about bringing it back to the present.’ With its insider, meta comedy the show has spawned international remakes and, some might say, inspired The Studio. Not bad for a project that Cottin admits wasn’t an immediate hit. ‘Even in France, they didn’t want it at the beginning, because they thought it was too niche.’ She hasn’t watched the other versions of the show, but thinks that her character is such an intriguing creation that it translates across language and culture (though Andréa’s queerness was changed to heterosexual in the Turkish version).
‘It was great the way she didn’t try to be loved. I think it’s incredible, not only for the gay community, but as a woman, being completely free from the perception of others, and from the need to seduce or to be loved or to be approved. It’s something that is terribly cathartic and empowering and juicy to watch. And she’s absolutely not nice, which is quite funny. You could hate her, but she has a lot of integrity. That’s why she’s not a toxic person – because she is what she says she is, and she does what she says.’
Though she’d been a success in France, the role gave Cottin access to a wider range of work, and she’s since appeared in Stillwater with Matt Damon, then Allied, A Haunting in Venice and Golda. ‘That was something I dreamed of,’ she says of expanding her canvas. ‘I spent five years in London when I was a teenager, and I’ve spent a lot of time in Spain. I have this desire to work in other cultures. Working in a foreign language with another culture – it really turns me on. It excites me. I find it thrilling and exciting and interesting. I would be sad if I had to stay in one place, in one surrounding, in my four walls.’ She enjoys the discipline of acting in another language, she says. ‘Normally when you act, you really focus on how you feel, rather than how it sounds. When you’re acting you hope to lose your awareness of how it looks and how it sounds, and you’re just going through the beauty of how it feels. That’s the thing we’re all searching for. But in another language you have to have that awareness.You have to be aware of the shape of your tongue, your mouth. There are certain sounds that after some time you will not be able to imitate, because it has a certain shape…’ She smiles. ‘I’ve got the French mouth.’
She will be using her Mother tongue in the upcoming sumptuous French adaptation of Les Misérables.‘I think we have now, in our French industry, lots of appetite for putting on screen some of our best classics. And obviously it’s fun, because when I was cheeky to the director, he said, ‘Victor Hugo, what a showrunner’.’ She’s also filmed Edward Berger’s The Riders with Brad Pitt. ‘I loved working with Edward Berger. He gives you a lot of freedom, and at the same time he’s very precise. And even though he’s focused on what he does, he’s warm. And Brad is so kind.’ Now she’s worked with Pitt, Damon and, with the new Call My Agent! film, Clooney, it feels like she’s working her way through the Ocean’s 11 team. She laughs. ‘I’m desperately in need of Julia,’ she says before she disappears back into the vortex of the Croisette…
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by JANE CROWTHER Call My Agent! The Movie arrives on Netflix 10 September 2026
Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER
Actor Ellie Bamber visits Lucian Freud’s former studio with Greg Williams to discuss channelling Kate Moss, finding peace and the confidence her latest project has given her.
Kensington Church Street is buzzing with commuters and shoppers when I meet English actor Ellie Bamber outside a Georgian grade II-listed townhouse. She has been here before, like the woman she plays in her upcoming film, Moss & Freud. This address was the former home and studio of Lucian Freud, from the ’70s until the artist’s death in 2011, and it’s where Kate Moss sat for Freud over a series of evenings between 2001 and 2002. The duo talked about perception, identity and art as they collaborated on Moss’ portrait during a tumultuous time in the model’s life. By the time she finished her sittings with Freud, Moss was pregnant with her daughter, Lila Grace. The resulting life-sized nude, Naked Portrait, sold for £3.5 million to an unknown buyer.
Bamber, blessed by Moss to play her during this period of her life, also spent time at this house, retracing Kate’s steps and emotional journey before she began filming. ‘She was painted by him in this studio for many, many months in the evenings,’ Ellie tells me as we enter the property, now owned and looked after by David Dawson, a landscape artist and Freud’s longtime assistant for two decades.
I can’t believe that we’re in here. It’s the craziest, craziest thing, there was such an amazing interplay between artist and muse, and what that means, and what that relationship is, and how involved she was in the piece as well
Dawson’s photographs of Freud at work in this house are in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, and he was the subject of a number of the artist’s portraits including Sunny Morning Eight Legs [1997] and David and Eli [2003]. As a fan of Freud’s work, it’s a thrill for me to step inside; the space is just as he left it, the way it would have been in those evenings when Moss lay on the bed and he painted.
‘It’s so incredible. It’s really a sanctuary,’ Ellie says as she moves through the paint-splattered rooms. ‘I feel like when you’re in here, it has such a powerful effect. And it reminds me so much of the headspace I would have to get into, to think about being painted by someone like Lucian Freud.’ Ellie didn’t film in the space; the studio was recreated as a set inside a similar house, the flicked paint on the walls and discarded rags recreated in painstaking detail. The studio is still a working room – David paints there and lives upstairs. ‘I’ve turned my paintings around so that it doesn’t distract from today,’ David explains modestly. ‘It’s not a shrine or anything. I was in here every day for 20 years. So I didn’t want to get rid of it.’ David was the artist who recreated the Moss painting seen in the film (‘We used Lucian’s painted image and then did some clever handiwork on it’) and this first floor area is the studio where two titans of British culture met, complete with the bed where Moss lay during her sittings. I encourage Ellie to sit on the bed as David leaves us to talk.
‘I can’t believe that we’re in here. It’s the craziest, craziest thing,’ Ellie marvels and considers the nine months that Moss was in the same place. ‘There was such an amazing interplay between artist and muse, and what that means, and what that relationship is, and how involved she was in the piece as well – like, bringing herself in that moment, you know? And the fact that she decided that she wanted to be nude for the painting as well – I think it meant there was a certain intimacy. It revealed a lot of herself, and I think that him trying to get to the heart of a person is so fascinating. One of my favourite paintings of his is called Hotel Bedroom [1954]. It’s a painting of a lover of Lucian’s. And just the emotion that it evokes, and the tenderness…’
In James Lucas’ film, Freud is played by Derek Jacobi and the duo explore the role of persona in fame, who the real person is behind the celebrity and what is at the truth at the core of an artist. Freud famously turned down painting Princess Diana and the Pope during his career, but was intrigued by Moss after she said in a Dazed & Confused magazine interview that one of her ambitions was to be painted by him. Freud invited her to dinner via his daughter, Bella, and then insisted Moss sit for him consistently, between 7pm and 2am – without being a minute late. The pair discovered shared commonality and, as imagined by writer-director Lucas, forged a unique relationship that transcended either of their worlds. ‘It’s interesting being watched by someone like that, and being painted,’ Ellie says of reconstructing the sittings with Jacobi. ‘The thing that I started to realise is that it’s so different to being photographed, and I feel like I’ve been photographed quite a bit in my life. But being painted is an entirely different thing. I think it was after I finished shooting, my friend asked me to sit for him. Him staring at me, and looking at me so intently… It’s quite affronting, you know?’
The thing that I started to realise is that it’s so different to being photographed, and I feel like I’ve been photographed quite a bit in my life. But being painted is an entirely different thing. I think it was after I finished shooting, my friend asked me to sit for him. Him staring at me, and looking at me so intently… It’s quite affronting, you know?
Knowing Moss now, as she exec-produced the film, I ask if Ellie feels that Freud found the supermodel’s soul in the process. ‘It was quite complicated for both of them. I think I’m right in saying that neither of them were totally happy with the painting. Because Kate was going through so much in her life during that time, that it was such a transitional period of her life – and also his – that I feel like maybe he didn’t say everything that he wanted to say, and maybe neither did she.’ I ask her to pose as Moss did, with me taking Freud’s place and we look at the painting on my phone. ‘We had to experiment in the film, like figuring out the best position for you to stay in for a really long time – just practically staying comfy, and being able to hold a certain position. Do you feel like you’re trying to get to the heart of a person when you photograph them?’
I tell her that I do, but l’m not trying to uncover some dark truth. I’m interested in the journey of my subjects, how it shaped them as a creative and as a person. I’m not into celebrity. I’m into artists. I ask about getting to know Kate for the role. ‘She’s a total one-of-a-kind human being. She is so effervescent. The thing that I was so intrigued about when I met her, actually, is that she is just the most amazing storyteller. So spending time with her meant hearing a lot of incredible stories, whether it be about Lucian or about her life. But she has a way of telling a story, which I think she does within her images as well that is so exceptional. She’s a total enigma in that way. She was so generous at letting me step into her world. She’s very funny and very naughty, which is so fun. She’s got the best laugh.’
In the film, Ellie captures Moss’ distinct laugh to a tee. I ask if she can do it now, conjure it up in this hallowed space. ‘I haven’t done this in ages. By the way, with the laugh, this was quite funny – my brother had to sit me down and have a word with me. After I finished filming, he was like, “I noticed that your laugh is a bit weird now. It doesn’t feel right, and I’m not happy with it.” She pauses and does a pitch perfect Moss laugh. I’ve shot Kate a few times and can confirm it’s good. ‘The laugh was the thing that I became quite obsessed with.’
I wonder, having examined artistic truth, persona and identity in the film, what the project has taught Ellie. ‘I think, honestly, it gave me a bit more confidence in myself, because Kate’s such a smart decision-maker. She’s got such a confident energy. But she also has a total vulnerability too, which I think is the conversation within the piece as well. The film is all about a woman understanding her place in the world as an artist. Through discovering that conversation, and through Kate’s journey, I think it gave me a lot more confidence in myself, and my decisions, and maybe how I see myself as an artist. Everyone has doubts, and I definitely have doubts. It allowed me to maybe say a little bit of a “bye bye” to some of them, rather than letting them fester, you know?’
We had to experiment in the film, like figuring out the best position for you to stay in for a really long time – just practically staying comfy, and being able to hold a certain position
Ellie recalls that she had met Moss before getting the role but when discussions got serious she bumped into the model at a mutual friend’s party. ‘It was a whole meeting where we were both like, “Whoa, I can’t believe this is happening right now.” There’s a picture that Jasper [Conran] took of us on his bed together, just lounging about. It was such a coincidence and such a funny meeting.’ Bamber used the photo to announce her casting on social media. ‘It feels like a milestone,’ she says of the project in a career that began with her being scouted to play ‘young Jenny’ in Trevor Nunn’s Aspects of Love at the Menier Chocolate Factory when she was 13. That landed her an agent and opened her up to opportunities in theatre before she moved to film with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals. She played Cosette in the BBC’s Les Misérables, Mandy Rice-Davies in the The Trial of Christine Keeler and led The Serpent for the BBC, as well as Disney+ show, Willow. She’s exec produced a short, There Will Come Soft Rains, and has a packed slate coming up. She’ll appear in family film Animal Friends, IRA drama Stranger With a Camera, Anna Biller chiller The Face of Horror,and is currently filming A Christmas Carol with Johnny Depp. ‘I felt like I had a responsibility to Kate to make it truthful, and show her in a way that was truthful. That was really important to me. And I wanted to handle it with a lot of care.’ She’s anticipating the film’s release with what she describes as ‘excitement slash terror’. ‘But I feel like I’ve made peace with how I feel about it.’
We start to read some of the scrawls on the walls of the studio, left by Freud. The masseuse on Thursday. Portrait of the hand. Celibate. Naproxen. ‘There’s a phone number. It might be quite interesting to ring it up and see who it is,’ she suggests.
I grew up in theatres with parents who worked in the industry myself, so I’m interested to know how Ellie’s theatrical background taps into her work now. ‘This did feel like a play,’ she nods. ‘Working with someone like Sir Derek Jacobi – I mean, when we first met, we had lunch together, and he mentioned Laurence. And I was like “Wait, are you talking about Laurence Olivier?” He’s such an amazing actor, and to be opposite him in scenes where we were just talking in a studio – it did feel like a play.’
As a girl from a small town near Reading, she always dreamt of moving to London and got her wish when she landed a role in High Society at The Old Vic as a 17-year-old. ‘I was quite young and I think at maybe quite a rebellious point of my life,’ she laughs. ‘I think I was figuring it out.’ I ask when she first knew she wanted to act. ‘I was quite young when I really knew, because I would get all of the members of my family to do little shows with me all of the time, and most of the time they would roll their eyes. I did a lot of it when I was younger, and then forgot about it for a while. And then I had this amazing drama teacher who basically convinced me to audition for the school play, then after that, I knew. I didn’t finish school, I didn’t finish my A-levels – I had to do a bit of convincing of my dad. But then there was a conversation as to whether I wanted to go to uni, and I very much knew that I didn’t want to go to uni. But I didn’t have a plan B, because I just knew that that’s what I wanted to do.’
The film is all about a woman understanding her place in the world as an artist. Through discovering that conversation, and through Kate’s journey, I think it gave me a lot more confidence in myself, and my decisions, and maybe how I see myself as an artist
It sounds like she almost manifested a career, willed it into existence. ‘I think there’s a certain amount of fate that I believe in. But also I’ve started doing some producing myself because I feel like I want to be able to try to create the roles that I might want to do, and maybe also other people might want to do too. So I’m really enjoying being on that side of the camera, and creating something from a conception. But I definitely of course have dreams of working with directors or with actors that I love. That’s a big dream for me.’
She considers what might have motivated her to keep pursuing her dreams. She thinks the drive to find agency is born from working from young age. ‘Kate also started working at 15. That was a similarity that I think from the beginning going into it. How can you drive your own journey? Particularly when you’re young, and you’re thrown into a creative environment, how much choice do you have? How much control do you have in your own path? I think that’s been a learning experience for me. I would roll with it to begin with, and go with things, and be quite hopeful. And now I’m quite driven by my choices in what I want to do and where I want to go. So I think maybe that’s where I’ve been on that journey with Kate. It’s feeling more empowered, and having more agency…’
Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER Moss & Freud is in cinemas from 29 May Thanks to David Dawson
CANNES DISPATCH Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by JANE CROWTHER
2026 TROPHÉE CHOPARD ‘I’ve never been here before and never thought in a million years that this would be happening the first time that I came here,’ Marty Supreme actor Odessa A’zion told the audience at this year’s Chopard Trophy ceremony, presented by French icon Isabelle Huppert. Photographed by Greg Williams at the Martinez Hotel’s Chopard terrace before festivities, the American actor was recognised alongside Connor Swindells as a next generation talent at the jeweller’s annual festival award.
‘Cannes is a place of memory, but it’s also a place of birth. Every year, new faces appear,’ Huppert said in her welcoming address. ‘Tonight, we celebrate two singular presences, two sensibilities, two paths that are only beginning to be written and that we already want to follow’. When she took to the stage to accept her gold and silver film reel trophy, A’zion said, ‘I don’t know why you guys chose me, but I’m so grateful. There are so many actors that I admire who are part of this lineage of this award and this is so crazy. This is really cool.’
A’zion hit big this year as Marty’s childhood sweetheart in Josh Safdie’s award-winning film but has risen to prominence in I Love LA, She Rides Shotgun, Sitting in Bars with Cake and Fresh Kills. She has a packed slate ahead with Justine Triet’s psychological thriller, Fonda opposite Andrew Scott and Mia Goth, as well as Mother Courage with Sarah Paulson and Naomi Watts.
Having awarded new talent since 2001, The Trophée Chopard has a long list of previous recipients who have consolidated their wins with stellar careers including Marion Cotillard, James McAvoy, Léa Seydoux, Diane Kruger, Florence Pugh, Jessie Buckley, Gael García Bernal, Anya Taylor Joy and Naomi Ackie. The celebration, co-hosted by Chopard’s Caroline Scheufele, festival president Iris Knobloch, and general delegate Thierry Frémaux, was attended by a glittering guestlist who ate dinner by Michelin-starred chef, Bruno Oger, and enjoyed a performance from pianist Gina Alice Adlinger at the Carlton Beach Club on Cannes’ golden sands.
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by JANE CROWTHER Trophée Chopard (Chopard Trophy) is awarded by a jury of professionals to two young actors in order to recognise and encourage their career
CANNES DISPATCH Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by JANE CROWTHER
2026 TROPHÉE CHOPARD ‘This is surreal,’ Sex Education breakout Connor Swindells admitted ahead of being presented with the Chopard Trophy by French icon Isabelle Huppert. Photographed by Greg Williams at the Martinez Hotel’s Chopard terrace pre-ceremony, the British actor was recognised alongside Odessa A’zion as a next generation talent at the jeweller’s annual festival award evening at the Carlton Beach Club attended by many established artists. Huppert said the award ‘recognises a movement, a promise, something that is already there yet still in the process of becoming.’ For Swindells that promise began with Sex Education and gathered pace with turns in Emma, The Vanishing, SAS Rogue Heroes, William Tell and Barbie. His upcoming projects continue that trajectory – he’ll appear in Ruben Östlund’s The Entertainment System Is Down and Kayleigh Llewellyn’s The Dreamlands.
The Trophée Chopard has form in recognising talent destined for the stratosphere: in the past it’s been awarded to to the likes of Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, Diane Kruger, Florence Pugh, Jessie Buckley, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Mike Faist and Gael García Bernal. All have seen their careers soar but Huppert cautioned Swindells and A’zion as they moved forward in their path. ‘Success is uncertain, capricious, and sometimes deceptive. I wish you something else — I wish you freedom. The freedom to choose. The freedom to refuse. The freedom to explore unexpected territories. The freedom to be yourselves. The freedom to dream. And above all, the freedom to remain faithful to that mystery that brought you here, because that mystery is what makes great actors.’
In accepting his award Swindells thanked his late mother, who tragically died of bowel cancer when he was seven years old. ‘My mother’s name is Phoebe. She died when I was very young and sadly, she didn’t get to see any of this, but this definitely would not be possible if not for her. She’s been an amazing spirit that’s been with me all this time.’
The celebration, co-hosted by Chopard’s Caroline Scheufele, festival president Iris Knobloch, and general delegate Thierry Frémaux, is in its 26th year and Swindells took home a gold and silver film reel trophy from the luxury jewellery house after a dinner by Michelin-starred chef, Bruno Oger, a performance from pianist Gina Alice Adlinger and dancing til the small hours.
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by JANE CROWTHER Trophée Chopard (Chopard Trophy) is awarded by a jury of professionals to two young actors in order to recognise and encourage their career
CANNES DISPATCH Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by JANE CROWTHER
Diego Luna’s return to directing – and his premiere of his fourth film, Ceniza en la Boca, at Cannes Film Festival – became something of an Y Tu Mama Tambien reunion. The film that made him a global star also gave him a lifelong friendship with director Alfonso Cuaron and co-star Gael Garcia Bernal. Both were present when Luna bowed his latest project in the Cannes Palais, Cuaron cheering on his protege and Bernal as executive producer on the film. Greg Williams captured him at the Martinez Hotel before he premiered his project.
A timely character study, his film tracks a pair of Mexican siblings abandoned by their mother (Adriana Paz) when she departs to Spain to escape the violence of her hometown. Eight years later, the children, 21 year-old Lucila (Anna Diaz) and teen Diego (Sergio Bautista), follow her to Madrid where a life of economic hardship and xenophobia awaits. Based on Brenda Navarro’s 2022 novel, the movie follows the numerous low-paid jobs Lucila must take to scrape her rent together, the sly ways in which she is disenfranchised by her employers and how a dream of safety (financially and emotionally) is so often out of reach.
Though it may not be Luna’s own experience of working abroad (he’s appeared in Star Wars films and TV, found success and happiness), the story is somewhat personal. ‘It’s a beautiful story, hard and difficult, about migration from a perspective we don’t see much,’ Luna told Cannes. ‘My mother died when I was two, so the subject of parents not being around hits me profoundly.’ He told Variety that ‘often, we have to grow up to understand what our parents did for us or didn’t do for us’.
The film touches on a hot topic as Spain has become a gateway for Latin Americans into Europe during the Trump administration. It also explores the concept of home, how to mourn or honour a family member and the gig economy. Cannes is a familiar place for Luna to debut his film; he first attended in 2003 as an actor in Soldados de Salamina, and has returned for Mister Lonely in 2007, as director of Abel in 2010 and as a Un Certain Regard jury member in 2016. Ceniza en la Boca has been bought by Netflix for Spanish-speaking territories and will bow in 2027.
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by JANE CROWTHER Ceniza en la Boca premiered at the 79th Cannes Film Festival and will debut on Netflix in 2027
CANNES DISPATCH Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER
Vincent Cassel admits that his first time visiting Cannes film festival was by hitchhiking. These days the celebrated French actor need not thumb for a lift and he returns to the Croisette with award-winning Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Tales, premiering at Cannes’ Grand Théâtre Lumière on Thursday night. Farhadi’s exploration of voyeurism is playing in competition at this year’s festival and stars Cassel in a dual role alongside French icons Isabelle Huppert and Catherine Deneuve.
Huppert plays Sylvie, a novelist who starts spying on two men (Cassel and Pierre Niney) and a woman (Virginie Efira) living across the street, hoping for inspiration for her next book. Hiring an assistant (Adam Bessa) to help her sort her thoughts, Sylvie begins to blur reality and fiction as she writes alternative existences she sees through her telescope..
Loosely inspired by the sixth episode of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Dekalog, Parallel Tales premiered in the famous Lumiere Theatre at the 79th Cannes Film Festival. Cassel told festival press that the dual role he played was ripe for playfulness and that he might have been tempted to act ‘less well’ as the fictional character; ‘but it’s not something I was able to do!’
Greg Williams photographed the actor at the famed Carlton Hotel before the film premiered to a five minute standing ovation.
Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER Parallel Talespremiered at the 79th Cannes Film Festival
CANNES DISPATCH Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER
‘The importance of the festival is not only to celebrate good films,’ says Stellan Skarsgård when Greg Williams meets him in his suite at the Majestic Hotel ahead of his Cannes Festival jury duties. ‘It’s mainly important because it puts the light on these films that don’t have any money for publicity. They don’t have money for billboards. And they get seen by a lot of people at festivals. They get noticed by awards; by festivals in general. I think that cinema needs to be preserved as cinema, in a cinema – so we don’t think that it’s the same experience to watch it on television. Because it’s not. It’s another art form. Cinema is supposing that you’re watching it all the time. That you’re concentrating on it. That you’re following the film in detail. And that means that you have a lot of things that are without words. That are unsaid, because it’s all on the screen. And those things are immensely valuable.’
Skarsgård would know. A veteran of the festival and an actor who has known the industry for years as well as watched his actor sons, Alexander and Bill, chart a course through it, the Swedish artist is thrilled to be spending ten days watching cinema under jury president Park Chan-wook. His own work has previously come under such scrutiny.
‘Breaking the Waves was my first Cannes Film Festival. I’d been to Berlin before. But it was overwhelming because it was also a great success for the film. It was insane. I was totally unprepared for it. Not as unprepared as [co-star] Emily Watson. She was very unprepared. It was her first film. I felt like I had to protect her,’ he laughs. ‘But, of course, it was beautiful. I came with several Lars von Trier films, and ended up with Melancholia. Every film was like reinvented cinema, and every film was something new; something people hadn’t seen before. It was always exciting to be here with a Lars von Trier film.’
Being a jury member is a special privilege, he says.And a very different experience from attending the festival as an actor.‘Nobody’s watching you for what you’ve done, and nobody’s demanding anything of you, except that you watch films. And that’s easy – compared to having the pressure of wanting to win, and having to win for the success of the film. But now, I’m just going to watch films. I’ve never seen a film at Cannes before, except for films that I’ve been in, because I’ve never had time….’
Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER Stellan Skarsgård is a jury member of the 79th Cannes Film Festival
Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER
Actor and musician Damian Lewis tells Greg Williams about his latest role in WWII film Pressure and his passion for artistry on the stage, screen and pitch as he attends a key Como 1907 game at their lakeside stadium in Como.
When I meet Damian Lewis on a beautiful sunny day in May at the lakeside Villa D’Este, it’s gearing up to be a scorcher. ‘Already hot for a ginge,’ Damian grins, lounging on the balcony in Brioni, ‘but I’m muscling through. I’ve got my Factor 50 on. And I’m about to go and watch some footy.’ The actor and musician is in Lake Como to watch local team Como 1907 play a crucial Serie A game against Napoli in the hopes of qualifying. ‘Not dissimilar to my team, Liverpool, who are loitering in fourth position, and hustling for a Champions League place as well.’ Damian has long been a football fan (‘Liverpool when I’m in the UK; when I’m Italy, Como 1907 is my team’) and played the sport seriously as a teen to schoolboy trials level as a striker wide right, or wide left. His path didn’t take him further in the sport (‘I had the body of a 17-year-old poet, with not much poetry to show for it,’ he jokes), his interest turning to acting instead.
These days, he still plays charity matches (he regales me with a self-deprecating tale of having Brian Robson telling him to keep his legs together at such a match before being nutmegged by Zidane at Old Trafford, to his great public embarrassment), but can see a correlation between the beautiful game and acting. ‘There’s something about the geometry and the preoccupation with an objective,’ he says. ‘On a football pitch, it’s very similar to being on stage – a sense of where you are dynamically in relation to your fellow players or your fellow cast members, whilst moving towards a shared objective goal – narrative – and the story, and knowing how you’re driving that together on stage. It’s total, total focus, away from the outside world; away from anything else that you’ve been thinking about for the rest of the day. Just the patterns on the stage, or on the pitch.’
Great footballers are artists, he considers. ‘There are footballers who are artists, because when you see them move, the grace and precision… Zizou is like long grass in the breeze. But what is the definition of great art? It’s something expressed personally that speaks universally. Great artists sometimes labour for a lifetime to create the thing. Or sometimes it’s in a moment of pure animal instinct that’s so pure and beautiful.’ The thought puts him in mind of another entertaining anecdote (Damian has many). ‘I’ve always loved this story about Paul McCartney going to see Julian Lennon because he’s got recently divorced parents. And he gets stuck in a traffic jam, and he’s just sitting there. And in the space of half an hour, he’s knocked out Hey Jude. That’s lightning in a bottle, isn’t it?’
Photo: Bob Ford
Lightening, and all manner of weather, is something that preoccupies Damian’s latest role, playing Field Marshal Montgomery – ‘Monty’ – in Pressure, the true story of the meteorologist called in to help make one of the most crucial decisions of WWII: when to deploy troops to the Normandy beaches for D-Day. As Eisenhower (played by Brendan Fraser) tries to make a decision, weatherman Captain Stagg (Andrew Scott) tries to deliver an answer on best timing. Monty, a vet of two world wars, is light comic relief in Damian’s hands, with his outraged outbursts over delaying because of a spot of rain. We walk down to the shady edge of the lake, Negroni in hand, as Damian describes the man he plays.
I ended up in two fabulous projects telling the story – one behind enemy lines at night, and then Monty on the other side, with Eisenhower and a weatherman trying to figure out how to get our lads safely on to the beaches
‘Monty was a complicated character. A big ego. Stubborn. One of our great war heroes, of course, but he couldn’t really say his ‘R’s. Obviously I didn’t want to make a caricature out of him but I said I’d like to do it with the weak ‘R’, and the pedantry, and the ego, and the stubbornness. So hopefully we’ve got that, whilst, at the same time, showing that his side of the argument was valid. It’s the largest invasion force in history trying to cross the channel to liberate Europe. And he’s just asking how we keep this plan secret if we delay. Monty is hopping up and down like a sort of terrier in the background.’
Damian came to attention for many as Captain Winters in Spielberg’s watershed TV show Band of Brothers, and enjoyed the throughline from that to this. ‘What I loved about doing Pressure was that as Monty was planning the liberation of Europe with the Navy and the Air Force, in Band of Brothers, the 101st parachute regiment, Easy Company, who Captain Winters was commanding officer of, were landing behind enemy lines that night. There’s one crucial episode of Band of Brothers – episode two, which is now used as a training tool at West Point Military Academy in America – where Dick Winters takes a small group of men against a much bigger force, and takes out the FH-88 Howitzers, which are shelling the beaches as our boys are coming up the beaches. I ended up in two fabulous projects telling the story – one behind enemy lines at night, and then Monty on the other side, with Eisenhower and a weatherman trying to figure out how to get our lads safely on to the beaches.’ There’s another connection between the stories. ‘Lovely Andrew Scott was in a scene with me, in episode two of Band of Brothers, which a lot of people don’t know. He had one scene playing a young, scared soldier, and he hooks up with Winters, and it’s just those two walking through the woods. It’s a nice circle of life, I think.’
Damian came to Band of Brothers from theatre – he was part of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford – having attended drama school at Guildhall School of Music & Drama alongside Daniel Craig and Ewan McGregor (both in years ahead of him). He recalls being inspired by their success. ‘I always remember Ewan saying, “I want to be a movie star” and everyone chuckling, going, “Yeah. Alright, Ewan.” And then he just immediately became a movie star.’ All I wanted to do was theatre. I was completely obsessed with being the next, you know, Branagh, Olivier. I didn’t really think about making movies until I saw my peers; people around me, who I liked, who are pals – making films. I thought that was for other people. I just realised there was a bigger canvas out there.’
The legend goes that his big break came after Spielberg and Tom Hanks saw him in a production of Hamlet on Broadway. ‘It’s sort of been misreported that they saw me in that, and put me in Band of Brothers. Actually, neither of them remembered really seeing me,’ he laughs. ‘Me getting Band of Brothers was totally a needle-in-the-haystack casting. I’d gone through all the endless auditions and interviews in a damp basement in Soho in London, over a period of four or five months. And then suddenly the producer of the show got up one day, out of his chair, and said, “Damian, how would you like to fly to LA, and meet Steven and Tom?” I went, “Sure. Let me just check I haven’t got lunch with my granny.” I went and met Tom, did some readings. I had a friend in town. We went out and got loaded. We were out late. And then I got a call at like eight in the morning from Meg Liberman, the casting director, saying, “Damian, Steven would like to see you at 11 o’clock.” I had 73 cups of coffee and three showers. When I arrived there was an unbelievably good-looking actor sitting outside. I look at him, and I think, “You are the spitting image of Dick Winters.” I just literally thought, “Well, that’s been a fun ride.” He goes in and when he comes out, he really generously says, “Good luck, man.” And he walks away. I go in, and Steven and Tom do the interview. They literally say in the room, “OK, we’re going to start bootcamp in April. Go get in shape…” I love that story because it is my young actor Hollywood story. It’s that break. It’s that moment. I’m fully aware that not everyone gets that moment. It was very ‘two different worlds’. I loved being at Stratford-upon-Avon, playing Shakespeare, putting on my tights. But actually, this might be something I could do.’
Acting is an interpretive skill. The guy who put the words on the page – that’s the source. Everyone else after that point is an interpreter. I love the psychic journey of an actor. I love the sublimation of self to become someone else. I love going down the rabbit hole, and transforming… walking into a different person; walking through a different world; being in a parallel reality
I ask if he thought he’d return to theatre after the show. ‘I always wanted to go back and do theatre, but I think what happened, without me knowing it, is that Band of Brothers was one of the shows that was right at the vanguard of this golden era of TV. The Sopranos was out. The Wire. Band of Brothers came out. Suddenly, everyone was talking about TV in a slightly different way. And film people were coming into TV. And then Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Homeland, which I was in. I went off down a route that I hadn’t imagined for myself, because so much interesting work, and so many interesting people, were in it.’
With Negronis drunk, it’s time to head to the match. We jump in a boat to get to the lakeside stadium. As we drink in the views, Damian tells me about his music, having recently released his latest single, Sweet Chaos. ‘I’ve always played music. But I’m doing it more formally, I guess. When I was in my 20s, I used to motorbike around Europe with my guitar and a tent, and I used to play in the streets and busk. And then acting took over. There are often pathways in life. You come to forks in the road. I was married to Helen McCrory. We very much identified as an acting couple. I loved that life.’ He didn’t turn his attention to music until he met music manager and agent, Steve Abbott who suggested making a record together, Mission Creep. His latest album, also called Sweet Chaos, is out in June. ‘It’s definitely a passion, a way to creatively express yourself,’ he says of songwriting. ‘It’s not a vanity project. It has to pay for itself. If it doesn’t work, and people aren’t getting paid, and not enough people are liking or listening to the music or showing up to gigs or buying records or a bloody tote bag – then it doesn’t add up. And I won’t be doing it any longer. But I love writing songs. I love getting to the studio and recording them. I’m obviously much better known for my acting and that will probably never change. But I hope people find the music, and take it on its own terms. Changing lanes in this country can be tricky. It takes a bit of time for people to get used to that kind of thing. You don’t persuade everyone. I’m sure I won’t. But I love doing it.’
As we bob along he considers what music gives him that acting doesn’t. ‘Acting is an interpretive skill. The guy who put the words on the page – that’s the source. Everyone else after that point is an interpreter. I love the psychic journey of an actor. I love the sublimation of self to become someone else. I love going down the rabbit hole, and transforming… walking into a different person; walking through a different world; being in a parallel reality. Imaginatively, creatively, psychically – it’s quite a long journey to travel. It’s quite a long way to come back as well, if you really are an actor that believes in immersing themselves. And I try to be that kind of actor. Doing music has given me a different sort of agency and authorship that I love. I write the songs. I then go and record them with amazing musicians, and then I go on tour, and then I perform them. So every stage of the way, it’s mine. I really enjoy that process. It’s quite exposing, but I find acting quite exposing, too. I think any good art, where anyone is committed to it – is exposing. It’s a place of vulnerability.’
We arrive at the stadium for the Como/Napoli game and walk towards the 12,000-seater venue. When we get inside and head to the pitch, he immediately starts inquiring about the grass and anticipating the atmosphere when the place is full of fans. I rustle up a football to give him a bit of pre-game keepy-uppy, which he tackles enthusiastically. He’s buzzing with pre-kick-off excitement as we head up to the bar of the Art Deco stadium where Damian chats to local fans about the match and his home team of Liverpool. He smiles broadly, in his element. He’s ready to see some of Como 1907’s artistry on the pitch…
Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER Pressure is in cinemas on 29 May
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by GREG WILLIAMS & JANE CROWTHER
LA born-and-bred actor Lewis Pullman shows Greg Williams around Hollywood and hits the drums as he pursues a ‘fugue state’ in his art.
The morning after he presented Best Film Editing with his dad, Bill, at the Oscars, Lewis Pullman arrives at a Hollywood rehearsal space on the Walk of Fame, a greasy hangover sandwich and iced coffee in hand. He’s dressed down after his night on the red carpet with his parents, a bag of drumsticks over his shoulder, and he admits to nerves the night before. ‘But it was so special. Just getting to see my mom dressed up, and out and about on the town is worth it, you know?’ Lewis is a Hollywood kid, born and bred. The son of Bill Pullman and modern dancer, Tamara, he grew up at the family house in Beechwood Canyon and, aside from his college years and extended trips to the family place in Montana, has called LA home all his life. A drummer in band Atta Boy, he can’t do much shedding where he currently lives due to his neighbours’ proximity (his kit is packed away), so if he wants to practice he needs to find a rehearsal room. The place we’re meeting is right on the corner of Hollywood and Vine, where flash mob dances are happening on the crosswalk, star homes tours leave from the curb and Johnny Cash’s brass sidewalk star sits outside the door.
When he’s had his caffeine and carbs fix, we decide to head down the labyrinthine corridor to stroll around Hollywood. ‘I used to skateboard here with my friend, Jonah. We skateboarded all the way from the East Side to the beach all the time, on those little rubber-wheeled skateboards. We would take Hollywood Boulevard, because…’ He indicates to the smooth terrazzo of the Walk of Fame. ‘Good skating. We’d stop at Ralph’s, and get a full watermelon, cut it in half, and sit on the curb. It’s the best.’ The Pullman family home was a couple of blocks from where we are now (he points towards the circular Capitol Records) and he and his siblings all still reside in the town he and his dad work in. ‘My brother, my sister, their kids – they all live in the same cul-de-sac.’
It was during high school that Lewis got into the band and was a dedicated drummer, Atta Boy making a record just before graduation. ‘It was a kind of monument to what we had in that era, and that time. And then 10 years later, the guitarist Freddie went and looked at the bank account, and he was like, ‘There’s a lot of money here for not having promoted it or anything. What should we do?’ And we were like, ‘Let’s get the band back together!’ So we did, and now we’ve made three albums and we’ve done a couple of little tours. It’s 0.5% playing music, and then all the rest is just on the road – gas stations, driving, old buddies, old friends. So it’s the fucking best.’ He’s not managed to be on every tour due to his acting commitments but remains committed to mixing his disciplines. ‘I love that I still have it in my life,’ he says of playing music. ‘To be able to challenge your creative brain.’
We were like, ‘Let’s get the band back together!’ So we did, and now we’ve made three albums and we’ve done a couple of little tours. It’s 0.5% playing music, and then all the rest is just on the road – gas stations, driving, old buddies, old friends. So it’s the fucking best… I love that I still have it in my life… To be able to challenge your creative brain
Creativity is hardly surprising given his lineage. During the Oscars, he joked that he was his dad’s ‘sequel’ and Bill noted that Lewis had carved out a career without his interference; ‘All on your own you did just fine.’ ‘My dad didn’t raise me shovelling messaging down my throat, telling me “do this, don’t do this”. It was very much through watch and learn. And I got another great lesson from him when we walked into the Oscar rehearsal and he was like, “This isn’t how we talk, though. If we’re doing this, why are we doing it as somebody else? Let’s make this our own voices.” I was kind of nervous to change it. But they loved it. If there’s anything I got out of that whole experience, it was just being reminded to protect yourself. Protect your voice. Protect your intention of why you’re doing something. Why are we presenting? How can we get something out of it as a father and son?’
The Pullmans will be starring together in the long-awaited sequel, Spaceballs 2, a project Lewis admits to feeling some trepidation about taking on given it was the film that put Bill on the map. He will be reprising Lone Starr and Lewis will be playing his son. ‘I didn’t want to step on my dad’s toes. This was his second movie. It really launched him, and is so personal to him,’ Lewis says. ‘I think it would be different if I was playing his role, but then once I found out I was playing his son, that changed things. And then once I read the script, and it was one of the funniest scripts I’ve read ever in my whole life, I was just like, “It’d be stupid not to do this.” But I had to talk to my dad, and we had a lot of conversations about it. I think that he thought that I was tiptoeing around it, because I didn’t want to step into a realm that he had already been in. Meanwhile, I was tiptoeing around it because I thought maybe he didn’t want me to step in there. So then once we finally were like, “No, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it’s so meta.” I felt I’d absolutely regret it if somebody else played that role. I don’t think I could get over that if I missed out on it. I’m so glad I did it because it was one of the most rich experiences of my life, working with him in that capacity, which is comedy, which is something we don’t get to do often, but we do all the time when we’re at home.’
Will we be seeing a little of the real Pullmans’ dynamic when we finally see the film? ‘You know, you always have that, regardless of how hard you try. There were parts where it was kind of a challenge to act with your family member, because you fear that they know you so well that they’re going to know better than anyone if you’re lying – if your acting is shit. But I would hope I’m not very similar to my character, although I love him greatly. He’s not the brightest bulb in the shed.’ He pauses. ‘But I don’t know. I have my days…’ He laughs.
We cross the street, passing beneath the 1920s Taft Building, the first high-rise office building in LA, the former HQ of the Academy, as well as housing offices for numerous Old Hollywood stars including Charlie Chaplin and Will Rogers. Across the street, the neon retro sign for the crossroad twinkles in the sun as we head towards the old Pantages Theatre and the Frolic Room bar (the drinking haunt of Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and, in her last seen appearance, the Black Dahlia, Elizabeth Short). Showbusiness is evident everywhere we look. I ask Lewis how he feels about the business end of his career, the promotion. ‘It’s probably my least favourite part of the whole thing. It’s so different being in front of a camera right now with people that aren’t the crew, that don’t know the “why” of why we’re doing it, or what we’re doing. There’s something about a film set where everyone is under the same preconceived notion about what the story is, and the collective illusion. The publicity part of it – I’m trying to find my way in.’ He stops and admires the marquee of the old movie theatre. ‘I keep thinking about deathbed thoughts,’ he laughs. ‘I don’t know why this has been on my mind lately. What the fuck am I going to be thinking when I’m dying? I don’t want to look back on my memories, and just see slates and hotel rooms and press junkets. So I’m trying to figure out a way to make that all not just something that I sleepwalk through, you know?’
I’ve gotten it down with the lines now. But at the beginning I was thinking maybe this wasn’t the profession for me, because it takes me so long. But now I’m starting to love it, because I’m treating it less as memorisation and more as just steeping. My job is to live in the scene, and to try and paint it in my mind as accurately as possible. Once I trick myself not to memorise, I end up memorising through that process
Does he think that’s because he has watched his father’s experience and has entered the industry with his eyes wide open? ‘I get asked about nepotism all the time… It’s an undeniable truth, but I think one of the more strangely valuable parts of the whole thing is watching my dad through a long career and what that looks like – how he manages his expectations, and what he actually allows himself to feel celebratory over, or where he gets his gratification from. Because he never got it from accolades. It was always the experience of the making of the thing. The journey. And the rest of it is just noise that he mutes. There is a healthy dose of discontent in him that keeps him driving forward, I think he holds onto that. But now I see him taking it all in, and living in the breaths in between a lot more.’
Music seems to help Lewis live in the breaths in between. Growing up, he was in different bands until he started playing with his ‘best buddy’, Kyle McNeill, and they began recording with their bassist, who ended up becoming Lewis’ brother-in-law. He recalls the messing about in the recording studio fondly. ‘There was something about the repetition of takes and what it looks like to get the chance to do it multiple times. In theatre you get one take each night, and then you have a whole day to think about what you might adjust. Whereas in the studio, sometimes you try and just have one night that’s like a one-night play.’
As we wander a few blocks down we pass a movie shooting on location. ‘It’s nice to walk down a set where you’re not worried that you’ve got to be learning your lines right now,’ he grins. He tells me he has ‘all sorts of beautiful, little learning challenges’, including dyslexia. ‘I’ve gotten it down with the lines now. At the beginning I was thinking maybe this wasn’t the profession for me, because it takes me so long. But now I’m starting to love it, because I’m treating it less as memorisation and more as just steeping. My job is to live in the scene, and to try to paint it in my mind as accurately as possible. Once I trick myself not to memorise, I end up memorising through that process.’ Despite the learning challenges, Lewis studied social work at a small liberal arts college, Warren Wilson, in Ashville, North Carolina after high school. ‘It’s a work studies programme. There’s a farm. I was on the tractor crew – I’m handy with the back-hoe and the front-end loader. I was doing social work, theatre, and working outdoors with my hands. And it was that trifecta of variety that I felt was really fruitful.’
We head back inside, to a rehearsal room with a drum kit and a Fleetwood Mac road case doubling as a coffee table. ‘I’m fairly rusty,’ Lewis says, eying the drum kit sitting on the vintage rug. ‘I chose the worst instrument for somebody who travels.’ He takes out a set of favoured sticks and sits on the stool, placing a cloth over the snare. ‘Growing up, my favourite drummer was Levon Helm, and he was all about muting it down, so that it’s not so ring-y.’ He pushes a blanket against the bass drum head so that’s also not as ‘ring-y’. ‘I’m not a technical drummer. I’m all about the feel and the pocket,’ he says as he starts tapping out a rhythm. ‘Let’s fuck around for a little bit.’
He begins to play and despite his protests, he’s great – his triple pedals tight and using his hands on the snare. ‘The first drum I ever got was a cajón so I got really into trying to incorporate hand stuff into the middle of that,’ he explains. ‘I forget I’m doing it, for a lot of that time. And that’s something that I don’t get in any other part of my life. In acting, that is what you’re seeking – right? That kind of forgetting that you’re there, that you’re doing it. Losing yourself. The brain just goes into this little fugue state, a purgatory in-between place. It’s a nice place to go.’
He’s recently been in pursuit of that fugue state in Marvel’s Thunderbolts*, The Testament of Ann Lee and the upcoming adap of the bestseller, Remarkably Bright Creatures. Lewis plays a rootless young man in search of his father who befriends an OAP (played by Sally Field) with a connection to the octopus in the aquarium where she cleans. ‘It sounds like something that is so specific for octopus lovers but it’s very much a universal story about found family. And Sally Field is unbelievable in it. Every day, getting to work with her was like going into the boxing ring. You’re just way below the weight class. She doesn’t settle for anything but the total truth. So if anything felt like a lie or a fib, she would really be adamant about tapping into the truth. It was like when I worked with Jeff Bridges. He loves asking questions, and philosophising, and mulling it around a lot – which I find really helpful. I think it’s cool to be able to work with actors of all different generations, because everyone has different styles.’
His experiences playing Bob in Top Gun Maverick, and Bob in Thunderbolts* as well as the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, were similarly educational moments. ‘Doomsday was such an experience – one of those ones where you’re literally trying to open your eyes as wide as possible, to just soak it all in. It’s one of the most massive movie sets I’ve ever set foot on, but you wouldn’t know it with how the Russo brothers operate. Despite it being this massive thing, it always felt like we were doing something that was trying to capture something in the room. It was there, regardless of the kind of scale. I never would have thought I would be in a movie like Top Gun or in a Marvel movie. Sometimes I wish I was a better planner or manifester. But also I never would have dreamed to manifest either of those things. So, keeping it open in some ways has been a gift for me, just because I love those experiences. And yes, they’re big, huge movies, but they’re so different. The characters are so different, despite them sharing the exact same name – I think I’ve tapped out on playing another Bob there.’
He’s just produced his first movie under his Buckwild production company shingle, directed by his friend, Graham Parkes, and co-starring Maya Hawke – they premiered it at SXSW earlier in the week. It follows Lewis and Maya as a couple whose harmony or disharmony affects the world around them (fighting equals earthquakes, stocks crashing, the Dodgers losing). Describing the film as a ‘surreal rom-com-dram’, Wishful Thinking was born out of an ambition to give himself a role ‘other people weren’t giving me the opportunity to do’ – namely, playing a romantic lead. ‘You do a movie like that because you wouldn’t normally be cast in it, you know? Maybe you haven’t done it, so they can’t imagine you doing it. It’s not a short cut. It’s a long cut. But it’s the only way to garner any sort of control.’ He’s also working with his Maverick Doomsday castmate Danny Ramirez on his writing and directorial debut, soccer movie Baton. ‘He’s got a serious plan, and he sticks to it, and it really serves him. It’s just amazing to see him directing and writing and producing and starring.’ Does Lewis think he might want to move into directing, too? ‘I see what it takes to do it well, and I know myself well enough to know that I don’t think I have that gene. Also, I’ll probably die not having figured acting out. I don’t need more on my plate than that. I’m still trying to figure that out.’
With that in mind, he’s looking for projects he describes as ‘never right down the line, off-kilter, off-balance’. As he packs up his drumsticks he considers how his move into producing will affect the choices he makes in roles. ‘I don’t want to spend three months of my life doing something that I could watch, or play a role that I’ve seen somebody else do, or play a role that I know somebody else could do better than me. So it’s about finding the ones where I have something to say, and I can say it in this part right now. That can change month to month, you know? I’m realising that the project that I might be perfect for today, I might not be for tomorrow. But it’s really touching base with that grain of truth, when you’re like, “I know I can do something that nobody else can do right now.” Being able to say that, and with pride, is empowering…’
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by GREG WILLIAMS & JANE CROWTHER Remarkably Bright Creaturesis on Netflix now, Avengers: Doomsday is in cinemas 18 December, Wishful Thinking and Baton will release soon, Spaceballs 2 is in cinemas 23 April 2027 Thanks to Hollywood Rehearsals www.hollywoodrehearsals.com
Actor Leslie Bibb tells Hollywood Authentic about laundry, lazing about and her love of Polo cologne.
How important is a little bit of nonsense now and then to you? Oh God, I think very important. I feel like in the nonsense, in the fun, in the imperfect, in the silly, lies great depths for me to swim around. It’s like daydreaming to me… it’s imperative. Also, I like being a little devious…
What, if anything, makes you believe in magic? I was born believing in magic. I don’t know why I do, but I do and it’s as true to me as anything. For me, holding this belief makes me not take anything for granted. Me running into Greg Williams in Venice, in that hallway, it’s cosmic. I think that’s magic. It’s glorious.
What was your last act of true cowardice? Not standing up to this woman who I was working with on a project. I abandoned myself and let her gaslight me. It’s a longer conversation, but I am disappointed in myself. But, whoosh, I learned a lot of lessons.
Do you have any odd habits or rituals? I don’t walk under ladders. Why test the fates? I don’t like to talk about jobs too much before they happen. Don’t want to jinx anything.
What single thing do you miss most when you’re away from home? Sammy and Gus, our German Shepherd. And sleeping in our bed. Our bed is delicious, but so is Sammy [Leslie’s partner, Sam Rockwell]. Also, our washer and dryer. I loathe sending my clothes out to be laundered. I like to wash my own things.
What is your party trick? I always throw the party, so I fancy that’s the best trick.
What is your favourite smell? It’s not so much a smell, but I love when I am cooking and the house is full of whatever that aroma is. It’s the way I feel about a stocked fridge. It makes me so happy. And, this is gonna sound nuts, but I love Polo cologne. Sam wears it and it reminds me of growing up in Virginia and I just fucking love that smell, especially on Sammy.
What do you always carry with you? A excerpt from Nelson Mandela’s 1994 inaugural speech. I have carried it in my wallet for 25 years. I have it laminated.
What is your guilty pleasure? Being lazy. It’s hard for me. I feel guilty if I have too many lazy days. I don’t know, I think we should take advantage of how much time we are alive. Wasting that, wasting a moment of being curious feels… oh I can’t bear it.
What’s your idea of heaven? Sitting on a screen porch in the country, the sun is setting, music is playing, fridge is full, friends are in the house, I can hear their laughter, Gus is laying down next to me, and Sammy is walking out onto the porch with cocktails for us. Yeah, that’s heaven.
Actor and producer Leslie Bibb began her career as a model before moving into acting, her big break arriving with Popular. She made her film debut in Private Parts and is known for her roles in Iron Man, Talladega Nights, Tag and About My Father. She’s most recently been seen in Palm Royale and the third season of The White Lotus.
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
*Arguably one of the most memorable (and quotable) scenes in 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is when Mr Salt mumbles, ‘It’s a lot of nonsense,’ to which Wonka replies, in a sing-song voice, ‘A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.’
