ISSUE 1 – 2022

April 12, 2022

sean penn, hollywood authentic, cover, issue 1, greg williams, greg williams photography

You are looking at the inaugural issue of Hollywood Authentic, a project that is very dear to my heart, and one that has been gestating for the past 20 years.

Over that time I have developed a particular approach to my shoots, aiming to give people an insider’s perspective and the sense of an authentic, first-person interaction with my subjects.

There is a precedent here: back in the day, movie stars would allow photographers and writers into their world. A magazine like Life, in a window that spanned the 40 years from the ‘30s to the ‘70s, would regularly publish intimate profiles of the actors of the day. This type of journalism gave us so many of the iconic images we remember. And brought the magic of the dream factory to a wider audience.

That’s what Hollywood Authentic is all about. It’s a love letter to the movie industry – and not only the one based in California. Our aim is to make you feel that you are breathing the same air as the artists – whether that’s fight training with S.o.pé. Dìrísù or returning to Warner Bros Studios 20 years after my first visit, and discovering that what was a few sheds on an airfield is now a world-class facility playing host to Eddie Redmayne and Jude Law for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

greg williams, hollywood authentic, cover story, greg williams photography
Photograph by Gary Oldman

The method, whether I’m on set or in someone’s house, is the same. Put them at their ease. No team, just my camera and video camera. I record a chat and then hand it over to a team of great writers. It means the pictures and the conversation has an unusual intimacy. Star of Bridgerton Season 2, Simone Ashley, for example, came over to my place in LA, cooked my family and I a curry and opened up about the position she now finds herself in, representing South Asians in her role in the drama.

For issue one, we naturally asked ourselves who the ideal cover star might be. Who is genuinely Hollywood Authentic? And how could we acknowledge, too, that at this moment in our history the world seems to have been turned upside down. For me there was an obvious choice. Sean Penn has always been one for going his own way and speaking his mind. When we heard that he was in Ukraine at the start of the terrible conflict there, we knew we wanted to get his insight. The war in Europe also brought back personal memories for me of being a kid under Russian bombardment in Grozny at the beginning of my career when I worked as a photojournalist. I wanted to hear what Sean had to say.

Luckily for us, he understood what we are trying to do here and agreed to meet. Hanging out and driving around Malibu with him, and being welcomed as a guest in his home, was a genuine privilege. As I write this, he’s heading back to Ukraine.

greg williams signature

Greg Williams, Founder, Hollywood Authentic

TRENDING

Alice Diop, Fragments of Venus, Venice Film Festival 2025, Women’s Tales

ALICE DIOP

The last time director Alice Diop presented a film in Venice with Saint Omer in 2022 she won the Grand Jury Prize

Amanda Seyfried, Lewis Pullman, Mona Fastvold, The Testament of Ann Lee, Thomasin McKenzie

AMANDA SEYFRIED

Amanda Seyfried let loose while making her unconventional biopic of Ann Lee, the 18th century leader of religious group, the Shakers

BUY

You may also like…

zoe saldana, emilia perez, hollywood authentic, cover, issue 5, greg williams, greg williams photography

ISSUE 5 – 2024

Our fifth issue of Hollywood Authentic marks a full-circle moment and point of change. We first created a simple rag of a magazine – 32 pages, no staples – and took it to Cannes two years ago. This year, we’re bringing our bigger, more beautiful evolution of the magazine back to the festival, now with

thuso mbedu, the woman king, the underground railroad, hollywood authentic, breakfast club, greg williams, greg williams photography

THUSO MBEDU

There is a map of the world on the wall of Thuso Mbedu’s apartment in the San Fernando Valley, the sprawling satellite suburb that lies to the northwest of the Los Angeles mothership. Written in large, cursive script at the bottom of the poster is the phrase “She’s going places”. A handful of dots are

Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Gladiator II, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Sir Ridley Scott

GLADIATOR II

Words by JANE CROWTHER Back in 2000 Russell Crowe’s Roman general-turned-gladiator dispatched a number of foes and shouted to the baying crowd ‘Are you not entertained?’. They were. We were. A three hour Ridley Scott spectacle that resurrected the ‘swords ‘n’ sandals’ genre and dared to kill off its protagonist, it lived on in eternity in audience