Photograph and words by GREG WILLIAMS

Greg Williams takes pause to consider the bigger picture of images seen small on his social media. This issue: Jacob Elordi at the Venice Film Festival in August.

I took this picture of Jacob just before the premiere of Frankenstein at the Venice Film Festival, my favourite festival without any doubt. To have actors all dressed up in such a beautiful city, the boats, the water and of course the rich history of cinema makes it an incredible canvas to work on. Within that history is a set of photos taken of Paul Newman by Graziano Arici in 1963. They are my favourite Venice pictures ever. So for the 10 years I’ve been covering the Venice Film Festival I have carried those images in my head.

I’ve met Jacob a number of times in recent years and so when I was at a dinner with him I asked him if he’d be happy for me to do a picture. ‘Ah, you want to do the Paul Newman?’ he said. I couldn’t believe my ears as that was exactly what I was about to say to him. ‘Yeah, meet me at 6.30pm downstairs from my hotel tomorrow night…’ I ended up getting closer to ‘the Paul Newman’ than I ever have before in what must be close to 200 shoots I’ve done at Venice over the years.

Jacob’s great look and authentic style worked perfectly for the picture. He is up at the front of the boat in a not dissimilar pose to Newman. The image has an authenticity that I love. Seeing Jacob’s eye behind his glasses, the angle of his hand. The picture has a timeless quality that is made modern by Jacob’s slight mullet haircut, which makes it a little more punk rock. And then the Jacques Marie Mage sunglasses make it still feel vintage.

Leica SL2, 1/2000 sec, f/4.0, 1600 ISO, 75mm