When I first started Hollywood Authentic one of my more cynical friends questioned how Hollywood could possibly be authentic? Especially since it dealt for the most part in fiction. The more I connect with artists who are open, genuine, unapologetically flawed and vulnerable, the more apparent it becomes to me how wrong that friend was.
Paul Mescal by Greg Williams
Take our cover subject, Paul Mescal, who opened up about mental health and self doubt while showing me his horse skills he learned for Gladiator II. Or Naomi Ackie, who creates deliberately ‘ugly paintings’ as a form of therapy against her constant need to strive for perfection. Both remind me of the lyric Ben Mendelsohn once quoted to me from Leonard Cohen’s song Anthem; ‘Forget your perfect offering; There is a crack, a crack in everything – That’s how the light gets in.’ I’m proud that Hollywood Authentic continues to show the cracks – and the light – through honest conversations with artists.
In 2020, Cate Blanchett and I sat in the back of a car at a locked-down Venice Film Festival – where she was president of the jury – and discussed the idea I had for a magazine. She suggested a shoot with her chickens and I imagined what that would look like on the cover of Hollywood Authentic.
It was 2022 when we published our first issue; Sean Penn kindly agreed to be on our cover. Since then, I’ve continued to imagine that shoot with Cate and her chickens. Six months ago, my wife Daisy designed a gown inspired by Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep for our fledgling Hollywood Authentic clothing range. We knew who we wanted to see in it and announced to the team that our dream was that Cate would wear it in a pair of muddy wellies holding a chicken in her potting shed. We got on with manifesting it. Fast forward to a serendipitous encounter at Glastonbury and hey presto…
Greg Williams and Andrew Upton by Cate Blanchett
This issue represents another example of artists showing their generosity in inviting me into their lives to show an unseen side of themselves. Generosity and motion is what links all our subjects in this issue; they’re driving kid’s electric jeeps (Cate), vintage tractors (Josh Hartnett) and Ferrari race cars (Nicholas Hoult) while talking about what propels their passions and careers.
For this issue we also invited more collaborators into the Hollywood Authentic family. I met portrait photographer Charlie Clift at BAFTA a couple of years back and was immediately impressed by his work – he captures Lennie James for “a little nonsense”. We’re also thrilled to have Stephen Merchant guest-write his love letter to a Hollywood classic, Double Indemnity. Our now regular contributors are back: Gary Oldman and Gisele Schmidt write about the work of legendary Hollywood photographer Sam Shaw, Abbie Cornish gives us a review of Toronto Mexican restaurant Quetzal and Arianne Philips interviews veteran costume designer Albert Wolsky. Mark Read is also back turning his masterful lens to the Marin County Civic Center.
We’ve come full circle from that chat in Venice 2020 as we bring this issue to Venice 2024. I can’t wait to see what we take to the floating city in years to come…
