Glass speaks to British actor Lucy Boynton about her latest role as Ruth Ellis and what her story of injustice says about society’s treatment of women

Women have historically been vilified, whether for their intelligence, their refusal to conform, or simply for existing. Caged by society’s expectations, they have spent centuries making amends for so-called transgressions.

“Can you believe it? When you really sit and think about the witch trials, it’s easy to view them as a detached historical event, but women were literally set on fire and drowned, for being intelligent or for simply being good at maths,” Lucy Boynton reflects as we take a deep dive into her latest project, the TV drama A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story.

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Ellis, a London nightclub hostess, holds a singular and haunting place in British history as the last woman to be executed in the UK. Convicted of murdering her lover, David Blakely, in 1955, Ellis’s case captured the nation’s attention and ignited a fierce public outcry. She shot Blakely six times, four of those shots fired at close range, with forensic evidence revealing shotgun residue on his skin.

Her swift conviction and subsequent execution by hanging stirred widespread outrage, casting a stark light on the harsh realities of capital punishment and leaving an enduring mark on the national conscience.

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The case, marked by later revelations of her abuse at the hands of Blakely, ignited the debate about capital punishment. At just 28, Ellis was hanged at Holloway Prison. Her execution fuelled calls for reform, contributing to the eventual abolition of the death penalty in the UK. Her life saved thousands of others. But what a costly price to pay. 

Taking on the lead role as Ellis carries weight. What was Boynton’s route into her universe? “My plan was to gather all the facts and then approach it from an analytical point of view, figuring out how I wanted to play her. But the empathy engaged much earlier than I had anticipated. I was mistaken in thinking there could be any neutrality when reading this case. It is devastating.”

_{Photographer: Pip}

Boynton is introspective yet precise, a rare balance among performers. But she’s no stranger to portraying complex, enigmatic women, often drawing from real-life stories. Born on 17 January 1994, in New York City to English parents, journalists Graham Boynton and Adrianne Pielou, she was raised in southeast London and attended Blackheath High School, followed by James Allen’s Girls’ School in Dulwich. 

After an early breakout in Miss Potter (2006) about Beatrix Potter, Boynton gained recognition in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) as Mary Austin, Freddie Mercury’s steadfast yet conflicted partner. She has since embraced historical roles, including the fiercely intelligent Marie Antoinette in Chevalier (2022), bringing nuance to a figure often reduced to excess.

Across projects like The Politician (2019-2020) and The Pale Blue Eye (2022), Boynton gravitated toward characters shaped by power, ambition and isolation, solidifying her reputation for portraying women of depth and contradiction.

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“It’s always interesting to re-examine the way women have been presented to us,” says Boynton. “When doing any kind of historical piece or reading anything throughout history, we are very aware that there has always been an author. So, it’s always worth challenging the way a historical event or historical figure has been framed. But I think this is especially true when it comes to women. We are progressing, but only now. Society has become increasingly more equal, yet we still live in a patriarchy. We still live in a misogynistic society.”

This was particularly evident in the life of Ruth Ellis and her subsequent trial. “Her case directly impacted our judicial system. Sadly, the general public had already come to that conclusion at the time. Many people wrote to their MPs, saying that she absolutely did not deserve to be hanged. In the UK, the general appetite for capital punishment had almost completely diminished. There had been a few cases just before Ruth where people were hanged, only for it to later be discovered that they had been wrongly convicted. So, it was murder.”

_{Photographer: Pip}

It is harsh language but necessary, a conversation that, decades later, still demands attention. “The way we have viewed and portrayed women has always been, in some way, tinted by misogyny. Whether slightly or heavily, it has been coloured by societal biases. This is why, with stories like Ruth Ellis, I want to re-examine them through a contemporary lens, through the modern understanding we have now. It is a gift to be able to do that, informed by hindsight, contemporary freedoms and the knowledge of how far we still have to go,” Boynton continues.

Even today, the biases persist. “I find it so interesting talking to women about this. Every time I brought it up before filming, during or after, the reaction was always the same. Every woman I spoke to, upon hearing that Ruth Ellis was the last woman hanged in the UK for shooting her partner, responded with ‘what did he do?’ That reaction is not unreasonable. The statistics for domestic violence in 2025 are abhorrent, horrific. It has been deemed a national crisis. Domestic violence against women is an epidemic.”

_{Photographer: Pip}

An epidemic that must be confronted, and one that can only be dismantled through more open, relentless conversations. On a roll, Boynton adds, “When I started this press tour, I wanted to bring positive numbers, thinking things would have significantly improved. But the reality of it is shocking. Yes, it is better than in 1955, when domestic violence was so commonplace that people didn’t even think to report it. But we are nowhere near where we need to be.

“There is so much exhaustion in women’s voices when discussing this because it is still posed as a ‘women’s issue’ despite the fact that women are the victims. Yes, men are also victims, statistically speaking, but they are primarily victims of male violence. Women, however, bear the overwhelming brunt of it. I just wish more men, especially the men who know themselves to be good men, spoke about it as much as we are forced to,” she laments. 

But the reality is more complicated. Take Ruth Ellis and her tragic story, the system that failed her, the men who judged her. The very fact that, in the 1950s, the judicial system was unequipped to deal with the nuances of her case speaks volumes. Empathy was limited, sympathy non-existent. 

_{Photographer: Pip}

“The very facts of her life show that she endured so much abuse from childhood. Her father sexually assaulted her and her sister. Her first partner abandoned her. Her first husband was abusive. She lived through the Second World War, experiencing the Blitz in London. She lived so much life in such a short amount of time. She was executed at 28. When I approached this role, I was 29 and, already, I had outlived her without experiencing even a fraction of what she had endured,” Boynton explains. 

There is real tragedy in the fact that these conversations remain necessary, with facts not having improved much. “A lot of fundamentally kind and educated men are genuinely surprised by this. And that confusion, that lack of awareness, baffles me. I wish the gender divide in these conversations didn’t exist.

“I hope that with this show, men don’t feel defensive. I hope they lean into it, realising, ‘I didn’t know the figures were this bad. How can I help?’ I hope it extends the conversation beyond just women.” 

_{Photographer: Pip}

The gender bias today may be less explicit than in Ruth Ellis’s universe. However, her reality is stark and dark. “For Ruth to sit in a courtroom, with male psychiatrists, a male jury and a male congregation, hearing them talk about ‘female hysteria’ as an actual diagnosis, for a woman who made a conscious decision to end the cycle of abuse in her life, is baffling.”   

Her voice sharpens. Rightfully so. Women have endured oppression and abuse for so long and anger against it has been passed down through generations. It begs the question, where does it pinnacle? “I wonder what the accumulation of all of this will result in,” Boynton echoes. 

But if she had the chance to speak to Ruth Ellis in her final moments, what would she say? “If I couldn’t change anything then I don’t know that I could say anything,” comes the swift reply. “She’d been on the receiving end of a cacophony, I would just want to let her have her peace. In quiet company. I wouldn’t try to create any ripples. I would simply show respect for the fact that, in the end, she took ownership of her own narrative.”

As all women should. 

by Adina Ilie

Photographer: Pip 

Stylist: Esperanza De La Fuente

Hair: Halley Brisker

All make-up by Andrew Gallimore using CHANEL Spring-Summer 2025 Make-up Collection and No.1 de CHANEL Body Serum-In-Mist

Manicurist: Sabrina Gayle using CHANEL Le Vernis in 197 Artiste and CHANEL La Crème Main

Photography Assistant: Emmanuel Robert

Styling Assistant: Maria Anita Pompili

Talent: Lucy Boynton

_{Look 1: Eternal N°5 ring in 18K beige gold with diamonds CHANEL Fine Jewellery, No.1 de CHANEL Red Camellia Cream, CHANEL Les Beiges Bronzing Cream, CHANEL Rouge Coco Baume Shine in 762 – Raspberry Kiss, No.1 de CHANEL Body Serum-In-Mist, CHANEL La Crème Main, All fashion CHANEL Spring-Summer 2025 ready-to-wear collection}

_{Look 2: Bouton De Camélia earrings in 18K yellow gold with diamonds and Coco Crush earrings in 18K beige gold, all CHANEL Fine Jewellery, No.1 de CHANEL Red Camellia Cream, CHANEL Les Beiges Bronzing Cream, CHANEL Jeux de Lumières Multi-Use Eyeshadow and Highlighter Palette, CHANEL Ombre Essentiell in 252 – Pêche Glacée, CHANEL Rouge Coco Baume Shine in 762 – Raspberry Kiss, All fashion CHANEL Spring-Summer 2025 ready-to-wear collection}

_{Look 3: Coco Crush earrings and rings in 18K white gold with diamond, 18K beige gold with diamond and 18K yellow gold with diamond, all CHANEL Fine Jewellery, No.1 de CHANEL Red Camellia Cream, CHANEL Jeux de Lumières Multi-Use Eyeshadow and Highlighter Palette, CHANEL Rouge Coco Baume Shine in 762 – Raspberry Kiss, No.1 de CHANEL Body Serum-In-Mist, CHANEL La Crème Main, CHANEL Le Vernis in 197 – Artiste, All fashion CHANEL Spring-Summer 2025 ready-to-wear collection}

_{Look 4: Bouton De Camélia choker in 18K yellow gold with diamonds and Coco Crush hoop earrings in 18K beige gold, both CHANEL Fine Jewellery, No.1 de CHANEL Red Camellia Cream, CHANEL Les Beiges Bronzing Cream, CHANEL Jeux de Lumières Multi-Use Eyeshadow and Highlighter Palette, CHANEL Rouge Coco Baume Shine in 758 – Blushing Pink, No.1 de CHANEL Body Serum-In-Mist, All fashion CHANEL Spring-Summer 2025 ready-to-wear collection}

_{Look 5: Coco Crush rings in 18K white gold with diamonds and 18K yellow gold with diamonds, both CHANEL Fine Jewellery, No.1 de CHANEL Red Camellia Cream, CHANEL Jeux de Lumières Multi-Use Eyeshadow and Highlighter Palette, CHANEL Rouge Coco Baume Shine in 764 – Charming Lilac, No.1 de CHANEL Body Serum-In-Mist, CHANEL La Crème Main, CHANEL Le Vernis in 197 – Artiste, All fashion CHANEL Spring-Summer 2025 ready-to-wear collection}

_{Look 6: Coco Crush earrings and rings in 18K white gold with diamond, 18K beige gold with diamond and 18K yellow gold with diamond, all CHANEL Fine Jewellery, No.1 de CHANEL Red Camellia Cream, No.1 de CHANEL Body Serum-In-Mist, CHANEL La Crème Main, All fashion CHANEL Spring-Summer 2025 ready-to-wear collection}

_{Look 7: Coco Crush rings in 18K beige gold with diamonds, 18K white gold with diamonds and 18K yellow gold with diamonds, all CHANEL Fine Jewellery, No.1 de CHANEL Red Camellia Cream, CHANEL Rouge Coco Baume Shine in 762 – Rapsberry Kiss, No.1 de CHANEL Body Serum-In-Mist, CHANEL La Crème Main, CHANEL Le Vernis in 197 – Artiste, All fashion CHANEL Spring-Summer 2025 ready-to-wear collection}

_{Look 8: Coco single earrings in 18K beige gold with diamond and 18K yellow gold with diamond, all CHANEL Fine Jewellery, No.1 de CHANEL Red Camellia Cream, CHANEL Jeux de Lumières Multi-Use Eyeshadow and Highlighter Palette, CHANEL Ombre Essentiell in 252 – Pêche Glacée, CHANEL Rouge Coco Baume Shine in 762 – Rapsberry Kiss, CHANEL La Crème Main, CHANEL Le Vernis in 197 – Artiste, All fashion CHANEL Spring-Summer 2025 ready-to-wear collection}

The post Lucy Boynton talks to Glass about her latest role as Ruth Ellis first appeared on The Glass Magazine.

_{From Summer Issue 58}

Some stories demand to be told. Others have been shared, yet they fall on deaf ears. Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, Blink Twice, is set to command attention. This is precisely what Naomi Ackie also intended to achieve when she took on the project.

When Ackie steps into a role, she transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. Her latest venture in the high-stakes world of Hollywood is no exception. Starring alongside Channing Tatum, she plays Frida, a cocktail waitress whose life takes a surreal turn when she captures the eye of tech billionaire Slater King at his opulent fundraising gala.

_{Photographer: Rosaline Shahnavaz}

An invitation to his private island promises a dream vacation – a paradise where wild nights seamlessly merge into sun-soaked days and laughter seems endless. Yet, as the idyllic days unfold, Frida senses an unsettling undercurrent. Strange occurrences hint at a darker reality beneath the surface of this luxurious escape. In this gripping narrative, Ackie’s character must unravel the island’s secrets to survive.

_{Photographer: Rosaline Shahnavaz}

Ackie’s rise to fame has been nothing short of meteoric. With a background in theatre and a breakout role in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, she swiftly established herself as a talent to watch. Her performances in critically acclaimed films like Lady Macbeth and the TV series The End of the F***ing World have showcased her range and depth, earning her accolades and a dedicated following. As she continues to take on diverse and challenging roles, Ackie proves time and again that she is on the cusp of becoming a formidable force in the entertainment industry.

_{Photographer: Rosaline Shahnavaz}

Her latest role is set to propel her to new heights. She’s now tackling a character that navigates the powerplays of wealthy men who exploit vulnerable women, all while dismantling the falsehood that women are powerless in these situations.

“There’s a halo effect around people with money, influence and power, making you feel safe because they are powerful, and you can have a touch of whatever they have,” the 32-year-old actor begins.

_{Photographer: Rosaline Shahnavaz}

She’s currently packing for a trip to Mexico, an unfortunate time to be drawn out of holiday mode into a lengthy discussion about the patriarchy. But ultimately, the damage is done by good people who stay silent, not by bad people who do harm. When it comes to Blink Twice, the topic of women’s safety is crucial and pivotal to the storyline. 

What were Ackie’s thoughts when first approached by her agents with the project? After all, she took on the role of a woman who shows vulnerability and then has to fight for her life. “Well, I think the first thing I remember was my agents coming to me and saying, ‘Zoe Kravitz wants to talk to you about a film called Pussy Island’.  And I was like, ‘Pussy what?’,” she laughs. “I thought, well, it looks like I’m doing a film called Pussy Island, and she had me by the title. I know the title has changed now because it’s like the end of the world to say ‘pussy’ in public.”  

_{Photographer: Rosaline Shahnavaz}

Blink Twice doesn’t shy away from examining the dangerous allure of power and the often misplaced blame on victims. It’s the vision behind the storyline. “We see this happening a lot,” Ackie nods in agreement.

“There’s a constant conversation around power and people’s attraction to it, and how power can be taken advantage of. From the outside, you might think, ‘of course, you don’t go to a private island with someone you don’t know’. Unfortunately, the conversation often blames the victim – it’s your fault for going, so whatever happens to you is on you.”

Society teaches women to feel guilt for trusting, shame for not knowing better and powerlessness when trying to speak out, while absolving perpetrators of all accountability. “There’s something to be said about being aware of your surroundings and knowing that you are vulnerable in certain situations. There’s an excessive focus on what we have to do to protect ourselves instead of what perpetrators have to do to, maybe just not fucking do it,” Ackie echoes. 

_{Photographer: Rosaline Shahnavaz}

In Blink Twice, the climax is gripping and flips the powerplay on its head. Women do take control of the island. “Then, all the women take very justified revenge on these men. Some horrific things have been happening that they weren’t fully aware of, and it’s about how these women try to get off this island,” the actor continues.

Ultimately, Kravitz’s vision was pivotal in redefining the thriller genre. As Ackie says, she’s had a vision for the movie for ages. “She’s very specific and has thought about this idea for years. So when it came time to make it, she was really clear on what she wanted to say. The film has many different facets. Once you see it, you’ll notice the care and joy she has taken in piecing this story together and creating a real experience.”

_{Photographer: Rosaline Shahnavaz}

The film also tackles the motivations behind harmful actions. Why would anyone want to take advantage of women? Why are we hurting one another? Is it power? Is it ego? Or is it purely a personal agenda depending on the individual? “We have to be flexible around the fact that there are people in the world who just want to hurt others for their sick reasons,” Ackie notes.

“Without understanding where that comes from and why it exists, it’s like putting a plaster over a really big wound. It doesn’t fix the issue.” The actor hits the nail on the head with her last line. Understanding is a plaster; fixing it entails going to the root of the issue. But seeing these scenarios develop more frequently on screen does help with spreading awareness.

Blink Twice aims to shift the perspective, placing viewers in the shoes of vulnerable individuals and illustrating their journeys through harrowing experiences. “This film tries to approach it from that end, putting people into the place of being that young person who doesn’t realise they can be taken advantage of in that way and watching them go through that journey,” Ackie explains.

The tone of the film masterfully blends horror with a sharp, irreverent edge. Ackie describes this unique balance, saying, “The tone is very interesting. Zoe has come up with this tone that is both harrowing and quiet. Irreverent is the right word. It’s very dark humour. There are moments where you’re like, ‘Oh my God, hasn’t every woman been in this situation?’”

_{Photographer: Rosaline Shahnavaz}

Reflecting on personal and collective experiences, Ackie highlights the film’s relatability. “Maybe not this specific situation, but a situation where you’re like, ‘I should not have come here’ or ‘I don’t feel safe’. When you look back, there were many moments with red flags but you were taken by the moment. All those distractions can blind you to the red flags.”

Only through collective awareness and a willingness to change narratives for women worldwide can we actively achieve change. Both Kravitz and Ackie are paving a new path for women on the silver screen. Sometimes, you need horror before you find peace.

by Adina ilie

Photographer: Rosaline Shahnavaz

Senior Fashion Editor: Lily Rimmer

Hair: Lauraine Bailey using THIS HAIR OF MINE and DYSON HAIR PRO

Makeup: Lucy Wearing using NARS COSMETICS

Manicurist: Jada Elize using CHANEL Le Vernis in Rouge Noir and CHANEL Le Lift Hand cream

Movement director: Liam John

Photography assistant: Henry Hewitt

Styling assistant: Sabrina Raso

Photography intern: Yasemin Özdemir

Talent: Naomi Ackie

Special thanks to Thomas Conant and Joanna Goodman for props

_{Look 1: Dress BURBERRY}

_{Look 2: Vest SESSÙN}

_{Look 3: Vest SESSÙN, Belt FCS at RELLIK, Skirt JUNYA WATANABE at RELLIK}

_{Look 4: Corset ROWEN ROSE at KOIBIRD, Skirt TOVE STUDIO}

_{Look 5: Top LOEWE}

_{Look 6:  Top, skirt ALAÏA, Belt ALLSAINTS, Shoes KALDA}

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_{Look 8: Vest ONITSUKA TIGER, Belt ALAÏA, Skirt LURLINE}

_{All jewellery CARTIER}

The post Naomi Ackie talks to Glass about redefining the thriller genre first appeared on The Glass Magazine.

The t-shirt, emblazoned with hand-drawn scribbles, is a direct homage to the graffiti and artwork that covered every toilet stall of Berlin’s underground clubs. The two bags, stencilled and hand-sprayed, take their cues from the graphic intensity of raves inspired by the film collection curated by MUBI and the ubiquitous rave flyers that plastered the city.

_{Gerrit Jacob x MUBI}

Meanwhile, Jacob’s take on denim, seen in both a jacket and jeans, evokes a high-octane remix, embodying the raw yet aspirational ethos of the era, where fashion and self-expression were inseparable from the city’s evolving identity.

The accompanying campaign, shot by Berlin-based photographer Marina Mónaco, grounds the collection with the essence of a generation reclaiming spaces, both real and imagined. Art-directed by Bianca Batson, the campaign uses a documentary lens to capture the rawness, urgency and irreverence of a city in flux.

_{Gerrit Jacob x MUBI}

As the campaign’s central character drifts through Berlin, the city itself becomes part of the collection, its textures echoing throughout each frame. Themes of love, heartbreak, freedom, rebellion – the stuff of life, shot in the streets that lived it appear in both black-and-white and colour.

_{Gerrit Jacob x MUBI}

The campaign’s key visual, an airbrushed dragon emblazoned on skin adorned with ”Reclaiming spaces”, echoes the cultural energy of the MUBI film series that inspired the collection.

by Chidozie Obasi

The post Gerrit Jacob and MUBI showcase an ode to 90s Berlin with capsule first appeared on The Glass Magazine.

‘A Gathering of the Angels’, a two-day event on September 14th and 15th, 2024, will immerse fans in the enigmatic world of Lynch, offering a unique tribute to the auteur behind Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, and Blue Velvet.

The festival, held at the London Irish Centre, will feature appearances from actors and collaborators who have worked closely with Lynch. Notable guests include Dana Ashbrook, known for his role as Bobby Briggs in Twin Peaks; Sabrina S. Sutherland, executive producer of Twin Peaks: The Return; and Lesley Dunlop, star of The Elephant Man. A rare big-screen showing of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me will also take place, along with panel discussions and costume competitions.

Both days will offer exclusive access to Lynch Creatives online panels. Saturday’s panel will focus on Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, with contributions from co-writer Robert Engels, music editor Lori Eschler, cinematographer Ron Garcia, and sound designer Douglas Murray. Sunday’s panel, “The Lynch Collaborators,” will feature cinematographer Peter Deming, make-up head Debbie Zoller, casting director Johanna Ray, editor Duwayne Dunham, and cinematographer Frederick Elms.

Evening entertainment will include performances from the Double R Club, a Lynch-inspired burlesque and cabaret group, and music at The Slow Club, a bar modelled after the Blue Velvet set. The festival will also host a Mulholland Drive Jitterbug class, The Angels Art Gallery, a Lynch-inspired short film program, and tattoos by LA artist Lain Freefall.

A highlight of the festival is the immersive live-action Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me Puzzle Experience, inviting participants to unravel the mysteries of Lynch’s universe in a series of escape-room-style challenges. This hour-long adventure will lead fans through the uncanny narrative of the iconic film, testing their wit and creativity.

by Adina Ilie

_{Ticket prices start at £310 VIP Ticket, with £170 General Admission Weekend ticket and £93.50 General Admission Day Ticket. More information and purchases at  www.gatheringoftheangels.com}

The post London to host ‘A Gathering of the Angels’ – a two-day festival celebrating David Lynch first appeared on The Glass Magazine.

_{From Summer Issue 54}

“I really needed outside validation at one point in my life,” says Bruna Marquezine on our long-distance call from her hotel in Rio. Marquezine is currently in production for an upcoming Star+ limited series and her schedule is nothing to be messed about with. But the effort is not alien to the young performer.

_{Bruna Marquezine by Kat Irlin}

The Brazilian actress and model first rose to prominence in Brazil. Born on August 4, 1995, in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, Marquezine started out as a child actress but went on to become an influential figure in the entertainment industry.

With her charismatic presence, she has graced both the small and the silver screen, leaving an indelible mark on every project she undertakes. But recently, it’s been announced that Marquezine is on the cusp of taking Hollywood by storm too. She’s about to become the first Brazilian actress in the DC live-action superhero franchise, Blue Beetle.

_{Bruna Marquezine by Kat Irlin}

Coming to cinemas 18 August, Blue Beetle is based on the DC Comics character of the same name. The film centres around Jaime Reyes, a teenager from El Paso, Texas, who becomes the latest individual to wield the powerful Blue Beetle scarab.

Starring Xolo Mariduena (of Cobra Kai fame) as the third Blue Beetle of the franchise, the film will see Marquezine play Jenny Kord, his love interest. Little is known about the plot details thus far, but it appears Jenny will play a significant role in Jaime’s origin story.

The scarab, an alien artefact, grants him extraordinary abilities, transforming him into the Blue Beetle, a superhero with a sleek blue exoskeleton and a range of impressive technological capabilities. As Jaime navigates his newfound powers, he must learn to balance his responsibilities as a hero with the challenges of being a teenager.

_{Bruna Marquezine by Kat Irlin}

The pressure is high with Marquezine’s upcoming responsibility as the first Latin leading lady in a major Hollywood superhero film franchise. On her shoulders rests the accurate representation of Latin characters in cinema.

Marquezine is positive, though. “I try to think about it as an opportunity. I know it’s a responsibility, but I want it to feel more like an opportunity than a responsibility,” says the 27-year-old.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to represent my country, talk more about my culture, and inspire other women from Latin America. And hopefully be a good representation for young viewers or people who look like me. I will continue to strive to ensure people will not put me in a box.” 

_{Bruna Marquezine by Kat Irlin}

It has proved difficult for Latin American performers to break out of their telenovela mould. Yet, somehow, Marquezine’s done it. In an industry that is consistently trying to typecast actors left and right, we now have a generation of young women who believe in themselves and strive to break out of the proverbial box.

“I grew up hearing people say that it was impossible for Brazilian actors to break through and do stuff outside of the country, especially Hollywood,” she reveals.

“This was something that was always so far away from my reality. So I feel Blue Beetle is the first step. It still blows my mind all the time. Of course, it involves a lot of work. But still, I feel like it’s the first step. Now I must focus on ensuring people will not put me in the ‘Latina’ box.”

_{Bruna Marquezine by Kat Irlin}

What’s Marquezine’s take on current representation in Hollywood for Latin-American women? Is the playing field levelling out or is it another marketing  ploy played out by the big studios? “I’m being completely honest, it’s something that’s new to me,” says Marquezine.

“In my country, I’m not Latina, I’m just  myself. And outside of my country, this is the first thing people see. And that’s something new to me. I’m learning how to navigate this industry outside of my country. It’s a challenge. Now I need to learn not to allow others to put me in that box.”

What keeps her going, though? “I’ve always had this feeling that this would happen,” she asserts. “Not this exactly. But that my work would allow me to break through and work outside of my country with people I admire and grew up watching. But now that it’s happening, it’s crazy. Because it’s a mix of ‘I knew it’ and ‘how the fuck is this happening?’”

_{Bruna Marquezine by Kat Irlin}

She adds with a flourish, “I would tell other girls to follow their gut. Never stop working hard. Do everything you can to achieve your goals. If you believe in something, never stop. And I never stopped believing.”  

Dreams do come true. And Marquezine’s path is the testimony of this. A rising tide lifts all boats, so with the release of Blue Beetle, the actress is setting the tone for a broader representation of Latin women in Hollywood.

“Stop sharing your dreams with people that are not adding anything,” she states adamantly. “It’s frustrating when you share your dream and feel silly because of the reactions of people around you. So I decided I was not going to share them with people anymore. I will keep it to myself, and I don’t have to prove myself to anyone. It’s an amazing feeling when you achieve your goals – when you see your dreams coming true and you don’t need to say ‘ha, I told you so’. It’s not about other people. It’s about you.”

_{Bruna Marquezine by Kat Irlin}

While nurturing a thought process based on internal validation instead of external praise, imposter syndrome began to nevertheless creep in.

“I was doubting myself a lot. It was after the last soap opera that I did a few years ago. At the beginning of the soap opera, my work was criticised. I believed many things people were saying about me. But now I know how to take care of myself. And I know when it’s happening or when it’s an intrusive thought, and I try to look for help. I remind myself of everything I’ve accomplished and that I don’t have to be the best. I just need to do my best. It’s not a fucking competition. It’s supposed to be great, not a race.”

_{Bruna Marquezine by Kat Irlin}

Marquezine has now gained seniority both on a personal level and on a professional one. After decades of hard work, she now looks back with fresh eyes and understands the battles and the lessons that came with them.

With Blue Beetle about to hit theatres, her life is about to be split into a ‘before and after’ scenario. So what’s her advice to her younger self? “Never lose confidence. Just keep believing. You’ll get there.”

by Adina Ilie

Photographer: Kat Irlin

Stylist: Morgan Greer Lipsiner

Make up: Misha Shahzada using Shiseido

Hair: Takuya Yamaguchi using Oribe

Photography assistant: Ror Hayes

All clothing and accessories Fall 23 Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello

The post Bruna Marquezine talks to Glass about breaking the stigma of Latin women in Hollywood first appeared on The Glass Magazine.

Back to the Future – Glass talks to Swedish actor Rebecca Ferguson about her roles in Dune, Mission: Impossible and the lessons we can learn from spaghetti

REBECCA Ferguson is on location in Budapest, possibly dressed up as a sci-fi high priestess with glowing blue eyes and a three-pronged bouffant. Dune, Denis Villeneuve’s 2020 reinterpretation of David Lynch’s 1984 Frank Herbert adaptation, needs reshoots of its own, so Ferguson is talking to me over the phone in between takes from what sounds like a galaxy far, far away …

Rebecca Ferguson. Photograph: Nick Thompson

In accordance with “soon-to-be-released-Sci-Fi-epic” law, Dune is shrouded in secrecy. As yet there are no behind the scenes featurettes, and no leaked stills to give an insight into Villeneuve’s vision for Ferguson’s character, Lady Jessica, the age-agnostic mother of Timothée Chalamet’s cosmic hero, Paul Atreides.

So, I do the only thing you can do when imagining the new cast of a reboot and attach Ferguson’s disembodied head to the beheaded body of her Lady Jessica predecessor. Et voilà, Rebecca Ferguson: live from Budapest, possibly looking like a futuristic, blue eyed, heavily bouffanted, Lynchian high priestess.

Rebecca Ferguson. Photograph: Nick Thompson

She’s called back from a location with better phone coverage and we’re discussing cities, from the “incredible” (Budapest), to the inhabitable (London, Ferguson’s second home), via LA, which, putting it mildly, fits neither criteria in the 37-year-old’s glowing blue eyes. “The idea of moving to LA has never, ever, ever been on my agenda,” she declares.

The first thing that strikes you about Ferguson is that she’s passionate talking about practically everything. “Look, there are people I love, who love it there … and I get it. When people there look at you and smile, there is a joy,” she pauses, reliving early encounters with LA, and smiles … “And a happiness which is so lovely and endearing and light – but I can’t take it too long. I just want to smoke a cigarette and kind of blow it in someone’s face.” An apology seems on the tip of her tongue, but she decides it would ruin the joke, and merely says, “I don’t actually smoke, by the way.”

She spends much of the year in a Swedish fishing village – “a different world”, she says, possessing all the things she loves: row boats, the ocean, her friends, grilling fish and just the right amount of smiling and joy. Ferguson’s open and only slightly sardonic disdain for the folly of wanton joy suggests, to me, two things. One: that while she clearly loves Sweden, the place of her birth and homeland of her father, the English side of her mother is potent.

Rebecca Ferguson. Photograph: Nick Thompson

And two: the ability to “get in and get out”, as she puts it, remains a priority. As a teen, Ferguson was unknown to the world but famous in Sweden as the star of soap opera Nya Tider. When the show ended and she was 15, she got out. “I studied, had a beautiful child, worked in restaurants, shops, God … in hotels – I did everything.” Everything but act, other than a couple of minor, un-recurring TV roles and student films in exchange for free lunch.

“I never wanted to go to drama school, mainly because I didn’t want to be like every other Swede in film. Not to criticise Lars Norén or … Ingrid Bergman, but all I could think was ‘I don’t want to be a drama student with a fucking purple beret on my head, I don’t want to be like them’. I think, now, looking back, I was just terrified I wasn’t going to get in.”

Eleven years after Nya Tider, Ferguson starred in Swedish language film, A One-Way Trip to Antibes. “And that was the gateway for me.” Soon after she was cast as Queen Elizabeth in BBC period drama The White Queen, which was less a conveyer belt towards ‘the big time’ as it was a treadmill cranked to 11. But playing Queen Elizabeth on the BBC isn’t without its drawbacks – play the role well enough and the whole world will think you’re English.

Being called Rebecca Ferguson probably doesn’t help, and her English is too perfect to be considered a second language. Most of all, though, it’s to do with the version of Englishness that lives so prominently in Ferguson: her mother’s version. “My mother is quintessentially English,” she says. “When she came over to Sweden, words and expressions like ‘whoops-a-daisy, ‘holy moly’ and ‘kerfuffle’ still existed – it’s how she spoke and it became the natural way of speaking for me, too.”

Rebecca Ferguson. Photograph: Nick Thompson

It made Ferguson a convincing Brit, laying the groundwork for the most seamless England/Sweden switcheroo since Ferguson’s own mother integrated so adeptly into her adopted home that, in 1975, she was awarded the ultimate endorsement: appearing on the sleeve of an Abba album. And yet, beyond the whimsical lingo, Ferguson is neither stiff, stoical nor repressed – three fundamentals of Britishness.

On chat-shows, she’s gregarious and tactile and warm, and this confuses people who go by the “if it looks like a Brit and sounds like a Brit …” metric. It’s a little like painting a cat with black and white stripes and saying, “what’s wrong with that zebra and why is it such an outrageous flirt?” “I’ve seen those bloody comments! It’s so weird. It makes me think I should stop touching people altogether, which is sad because, you know … we’re here, we’re together, we’re human beings.”

Rebecca Ferguson. Photograph: Nick Thompson

The problem is, when your wagon’s hitched to a vehicle like Mission: Impossible, where each instalment is an event, and every instalment ends with the promise of another instalment (Episodes 7 and 8 are in the works), chat show appearances are unending. Rumour is that number seven will be filmed in space, which is a worthwhile trade for the talk-show couch merry-go-round, depending on where you stand on heights. “In space? That’s news to me, but with TC nothing surprises me.”

TC is, of course, Mr Mission Impossible: Tom Cruise. “So,” I ask her, would she do it? “I would probably say ‘fuck off’ to that. Heights are my greatest fear and I’m not doing cognitive therapy acting … then again, I never thought I would jump 40 metres off that house in Vienna (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation). That was bloody terrifying. But I did it … and got to do something that I never thought I would do, so maybe it is all just therapy?”

He’s a force of nature,” Ferguson says. “I’ve never met anyone like him.” There’s a unique fascination around Cruise, due to his personal life and the idea that the line separating him from his Mission Impossible character, Ethan Hunt, has become almost non-existent; that the actor has permanently morphed into the character, who now spends his days playing the role of the actor he once was. Which is a crazy suggestion, obviously, but Cruise is so intensely fascinating that I can’t help such ideas whirl through my head whenever I see him interviewed “out of character”.

Rebecca Ferguson. Photograph: Nick Thompson

I ask Ferguson what it’s like to have a relationship with someone so divisive, who invokes such strong opinions, and whether she feels strangely protective of Cruise. “I don’t think I can. I feel there’s no need to be protective of him. He’s powerful …  just the way he is. I feel like I’m supported by him all the time.” Nor does she tire of being asked about him. “He’s an interesting person to talk about, and a very interesting person to get to know.

The boyish charm, the need to always be doing fun things for everyone while making sure everyone feels safe … Sometimes we’ll start laughing and unbuckling our seatbelts just to fuck with him,” which weirdly is the only Tom Cruise anecdote I think I’ll ever need. “We’ve had some beautiful moments filming together.”

On which note, with our allotted 30 minutes long expired, I ask Ferguson what ‘together’ means to her, but she seems to have re-entered whatever foreign galaxy she started the interview in, and the question gets chewed up on its way over. She responds, “spaghetti?” which, after some clarification and deliberation, we decide to stick with, despite the kerfuffle. “Because togetherness is the opposite of isolation and segregation,” and nothing represents the importance of togetherness like than the profoundly sad sight of a lone strand of spaghetti.

by Charlie Navin-Holder

Photographer NICK THOMPSON

Stylist FABIO IMMEDIATO

Hair JON CHAPMAN at NYLON ARTISTS

Make up MARY GREENWELL at PREMIER

Post production COLOR WORKZ

Talent REBECCA FERGUSON

All clothing and accessories from the DIOR Autumn Winter 2020-2021 Women’s Collection

The post Glass talks to Swedish actor Rebecca Ferguson first appeared on The Glass Magazine.

This spring, he’s starring in Netflix’s upcoming jazz thriller The Eddy. As per Netflix’s synopsis, The Eddy takes place in the vibrant multicultural outskirts of modern-day Paris. It’s a dramatic portrayal of life outside the first arrondissement. Holland plays Elliot Udo, a formerly highly celebrated jazz pianist who is now the co-owner of struggling club The Eddy. As Udo learns that his business partner might be involved in illegal affairs, secrets start to surface.

The first two episodes set the tone for the series. Directed by Oscar-winning Damien Chazelle of Whiplashand La La Landfame, their pace is vibrant and chaotic – in line with the happenings at The Eddy. Chazelle also claims the executive producer chair and calls Jack Thorne to his side as a scriptwriter.

Chazelle and Holland have history. They were both running the same circuits during award season when both Moonlightand La La Landwere competing for Best Picture. “I could tell that I admired him, I thought he was a smart and talented guy and I really wanted to work with him from then,” Holland recalls of their initial exchanges. As time passed, the two aligned on The Eddy.

“When we started talking about their series, we realised that we had a lot of the same taste in other films. We got along well and started working on it like that. He really trusts his actors and that is important to me,” Holland says.

Andre Holland

Andre Holland

As for scriptwriter Jack Thorne, Holland recalls their dynamic on set as challenging. But it ultimately brought out the best in both of them. “We didn’t always agree on everything,” admits Holland. “But that’s just the nature of the practice. You can never agree on everything. He was always available to listen to the ideas that I had though. We worked to try and put our different views together and I think the series is better for that.”

Giving up freedom to find a way into the character was a necessary evil. Udo’s pro-gression starts with chaos and finishes in simplicity. Even though each episode is dedi-cated to a specific individual, Udo is the primary link that allows the show to have flow. His complexities, frustrations and turmoil spiked fascination in Holland. “I tend to gravitate towards projects that allow me to learn something new, and this one definitely applies. I also had a chance to improve my French and work with Damien. It just all made sense and that really attracted me,” he reflects.

His character, Udo, was grieving the entirety of the show. It’s never evident, but it’s the catalyst for his actions and reactions. The show jumps from one narrative to another, leaving the viewer pondering about all the previous happenings. It’s a multicultural musical thriller that spans over three languages and multiple speeds of narration. How did Holland find common ground with Udo? “The fact that he was in the grieving process, having just lost a child, I think that really struck me. He was really deeply stuck and he didn’t know how to move on,” says Holland of the character.

“I just really tried to get caught up in that world and at the same time, as an actor, I understand the creative process. I understand the frustration that Udo feels when things aren’t going the way that you feel they should go. The challenges of taking control of your own emotional life while still having to go out and perform. There are a lot of similarities.” However, there were dimensions that Holland, 40, wanted to give Udo, outside of Chazelle and Throne’s perspectives.

“Having grown up in the south of Alabama and around gospel music, black culture was very important to me. We find out throughout the series that Udo is in search of something – he’s lost his voice, his creativity,” he explains. “The thing that he ends up finding is a sound that comes from people within him. It is connected to his culture. We went back and we were working on what the last song would be and what it would sound like. It was important to me that it sounded black, that it had a sound you could hear in gospel and that it had a mood.”

“For me, in order for Udo to become the man that he needs to be, to be the father that he needs to be, he had to get back in contact with that part that he has stepped away from. That was the one thing that was really important,” the actor concludes. Another significant aspect was portraying Udo’s relationship with his daughter accurately: “It was important to me that we’d see that he’s trying as a father. He’s failing, but at least he’s trying to be better. He’s not just a guy that screws up. We’ve seen that too many times and I certainly didn’t want to put that into an image that I feel responsible for.”

Four different directors helm the series at different stages. Starting off with Chazelle’s first two episodes, the narrative inevitably changes pace as it progresses through the differing creative lenses of Houda Benyamina, Laïla Marrakchi and Alan Poul. As a performer, Holland found their signature styles vital for The Eddy: “Each of the directors has their own vision and I think that is what Damien wanted from the beginning. Five directors that were really artists and could put their own stamps on their two episodes.”

Image from The Eddy

“And each of them is different,” he continues. “Houda is a very passionate director, she cared deeply about finding the truth of things and sometimes she really pushed her actors really far to find what she’s after. Laïla, I would say, has a more classic approach to things, she does a lot of research and preparation, which was really cool to witness. Alan, being the executive producer, I think he was sort of like the clean- up hitter in baseball. He understands it. He has the whole story in his head and he feels responsible for bringing it all home and making it land.

But Damien was the one who really set the tone and I am glad he did.” And setting the tone is precisely what Chazelle accomplished. With recognisable energy, he visualised and mixed all the different aspects of The Eddy into one concise formula. Jazz is “conflict, and it’s compromise, and it’s very, very exciting,” declares Ryan Gosling in La La Land . In The Eddy, excitement takes a different form, but the narrative is still moulded by the musicality of the show.

Randy Kember wrote approximately 40 original songs before Thorne even began scriptwriting. You’ve got actors who are only just learning the craft mixed with real-life jazz performers that have been playing for decades. How do you juggle the two? “We were all having to do things that we were not comfortable with,” Holland remembers.

“Again, the actors had never been musicians. And the musicians were fascinating to witness. I loved watching them rehearse. The way that they communicate with each other and listen to each other was really interesting.” In a show that thrives on the vibrancy of the moment, improvisation and spontaneity are key: “There was a fair amount of improvisation in most of it. Not to say that we just made things up on the fly – it was nothing like that. It was scripted for sure, but there were times when we ended up spontaneously finding really good grooves.”

From the grooves to juggling three languages and learning new musical instruments, Holland needed all the help he could get. “I have to shout out one person who was probably the most important person on set for me personally,” he declares. “Dany Héricourt came on as a dialect coach and she was the one helping us all com-municate. Somehow, she also ended up being an acting coach for the people on set. She was overseeing a lot of the story and helping us.

“So the two brilliant minds that brought the story together for me were Dany Hericourt and then Bob Krakower for sure. But especially Dany – she really helped us all. Working with the musicians, she was basically teaching them how to play scenes – really complicated scenes on the spot. It is a real gift.”

Holland’s respect for the music and artistry of the show goes beyond the silver screen. It’s vivid in his portrayal of Udo and in the way he describes the musicality of the show. What started off as playfully chaotic, finished off subtle, simple and dramatic. The jazz followed Udo’s story and even sympathised with him at times.

“When I watch it with an untrained ear, there does seem to be some mirroring in terms of the music and the storyline,” he explains. “It starts a bit chaotic and then by the end it turns into a really simple tune that carries a lot of emotional impact. I would say it moves from chaos to simplicity.”

Andre Holland

At the end of the season, The Eddyis reduced to merely a signifier rather than a place in itself. Jazz resides in people, not in buildings. Or as Holland comments, “It’s a family rather than a place. Udo starts the show going to Paris because he needed somewhere to be safe and create. Somewhere that he can call home. He runs to the only place that he knows, which is this club where his best friend is at. Together they try to keep and create this place where they can be safe.

It becomes a home for so many different people, so I think by the end, they all come to the realisation that the place is so much more than just a venue. It really is a home for all of them.” After a career spanning decades of noteworthy performances, Holland recognises that he did face challenging times along the way. Without any surprise, the most trying happened outside the confines of a film set. It was the in-between moments that demanded grit and determination.

Take an artist out of their environment and witness the turmoil. Give a person enough space and liberty to become themselves and observe the magic. “There are lots of different moments of challenge, but usually it’s the challenges that I’ve put on myself,” confesses Holland.

“Sometimes I can get too in my head about things. Sometimes I get down about the business, about my career, and I think those feelings can sometimes get in the way. When it comes to the work itself – once I’m doing it, it feels like flying. It no longer feels challenging, it feels like a blast. The moments in between, the blank spaces in between the moments when I am acting and working – those are the tricky ones. I’m learning how to better manage myself and my own feelings.”

Holland is now shining in his own right as he’s on his path to household status. But what does shining actually mean to Holland though? “The first thing that comes to mind is that my father always shined his shoes,” he responds. “That was really important to him – having his shoes polished. So I still do that now. It was something that we’d do together on Sunday mornings before church. For him, that’s about wanting to put his best foot forward. And that’s what it means to me too. Shining yourself, taking care of yourself and you can be your best at any given moment”

by Adina Ilie

All images courtesy of Netflix

The post Glass meets actor André Holland – star of Moonlight and The Eddy first appeared on The Glass Magazine.

A FLURRY of archive news reports and interviews in White Riot‘s opening sequence establishes the disturbing historical context of Rubika Shah’s new film. It is 1976 and the UK’s largest far-right party, the National Front (NF), is ascendant: selling newspapers outside schools, commanding huge numbers at rallies and espousing violent racism with impunity. Martin Webster, the NF’s National Activities Organiser and a particularly vile character, holds forth to crowds about protecting Britain from “invaders with black, brown and yellow faces”. His preferred policy is “the phased repatriation of all coloured people, their descendants and dependents” — ethnic cleansing on a national scale.

Image from the film White Riot. Photograph: Ray Stevenson

At the same time, punk has transformed youth culture overnight and maintains an uncomfortably ambiguous relationship with the far-right. While many punk fans are instinctive anti-racists, others flirt with Nazi iconography. As one contributor notes gravely, “it could have gone either way”. Out of this cauldron comes Rock Against Racism (RAR), a grassroots cultural movement harnessing the power of music to smash the fascist threat. “The job of RAR”, we are told, “was to peel back the Union Jack and reveal the swastika.”

While it has popped up in various films and TV programmes covering 1970s music and politics, RAR has not previously been a documentary subject in its own right. With White Riot, Shah corrects this oversight and gives us a bracing portrait of a divided society that will feel remarkably familiar to audiences in 2020.

Paul Simonon on stage at the Rock Against Racism concert at Victoria Park, London 1978. Image from the film White Riot. Photograph: Ray Stevenson

Through new interviews we are introduced to the ragtag group of performers, designers and typesetters who first conceived of RAR and embarked on the improbable mission of enlisting the most influential bands of the day for a political movement. Co-founder Red Saunders, mellowed slightly since his days as agitprop theatre persona Mr Oligarch, identifies Eric Clapton’s notorious racist tirade in support of Enoch Powell as a turning point.

Saunders’ historic letter to the NME skewered the hypocrisy of a white rock star who could shout “send them back.” while making money covering Bob Marley. “P.S. Who shot the sheriff, Eric? It sure as hell wasn’t you, mate.” Other contributors include reggae musician Dennis Bovell, Pauline Black from The Selector, and Clash drummer Topper Headon, all of whom provide valuable insights into the nuanced dynamics of the cultural moment.

The pre-social media world of grassroots activism is lovingly evoked: making phone calls, publishing DIY literature, writing hundreds of letters. In an anecdote which nicely captures the innocent, people-powered nature of the campaign, the RAR team receive a letter from a young supporter in Bognor Regis lamenting the absence of a local branch. They hurriedly inform him that there is now a Bognor Regis RAR branch and he is it.

The anarchic Temporary Hoarding magazine, brainchild of graphic designer Syd Shelton, provides director Shah with a narrative device that liberates the film from an over-reliance on talking heads. The cleverly animated collages, rich in puns and biting satire, give the film a visual energy that mirrors the adrenalin-fuelled soundtrack.

Image from the film White Riot. Photograph: Ray Stevenson.

Shah also makes compelling use of archive footage, rooting RAR in a broader context of political struggles, not only against racism but for gay rights and for justice in Northern Ireland. In older documentaries about injustice, black and white clips risk breeding a certain complacency (things have changed since then, right?); in White Riot, the vivid colour and high resolution of the archive footage have the effect of erasing the intervening years and bringing home the relevance of the anti-racist struggle. Physical violence is rarely far from the surface, and scenes of fascists marching defiantly through Lewisham chanting in support of the NF may shock younger viewers for whom racism has often worn a more polite mask.

Pioneering cultural theorist Stuart Hall makes a brief appearance in one TV clip, observing that “extreme racists have become part of balance, an acceptable point of view within the spectrum of political opinion.” It’s a reminder that current debates about how liberal democracies should deal with the existence of extremist ideas – pitting “free speech” against the risks of normalising racism – are nothing new. A luta continua.

Shah ends her film with footage of the now legendary RAR carnival in Victoria Park in April 1978, featuring Tom Robinson Band, The Clash, Steel Pulse, X-Ray Spex and Jimmy Pursey from Sham 69. In reality, this was no end-point, just an early highlight; a few months later, another RAR carnival would be headlined by Elvis Costello, and the movement continues today in a less radical guise as Love Music Hate Racism. But documentaries cannot show everything, and White Riot is a welcome tribute to RAR’s first, most vibrant chapter— an extraordinary fusion of culture and politics that changed society for the better.

by Jackson Caines

For more information about where you can view White Riot, visit this link

The post Glass reviews White Riot – Rubika Shah’s film about the Rock Against Racism movement first appeared on The Glass Magazine.

1. The Best of Youth (2003) by Marco Tullio Giordana, 366 minutes

This story of two Italian brothers who take very different paths in life is achingly moving and has that rare thing — a truly memorable final sequence.

2. Short Cuts (1993) by Robert Altman, 188 minutes

Altman’s hilarious adaption of Raymond Carver’s short stories seamlessly weaves together several threads of Los Angeles life with the help of an all-star cast including Julianne Moore, Lily Tomlin and Tom Waits.

3. Mysteries of Lisbon (2010) by Rául Ruiz, 272 minutes

Ruiz’s final feature is a good old-fashioned yarn, an intricate 19th-century tale of jealousy, passion and identity that fully justifies its four-hour running time.

4. The Mother and the Whore (1973) by Jean Eustache, 219 minutes

One of just two features Eustache completed before his untimely death, this cerebral, monochrome epic stars Jean-Pierre Léaud and is a must-see for fans of the nouvelle vague. 

5. So Long, My Son (2019) by Wang Xiaoshuai, 185 minutes

Novelistic in scope, Xiaoshuai’s three-hour drama traverses decades and vast expanses of Chinese geography to tell the story of two families confronting  personal drama and political upheaval.  

6. Fanny & Alexander (1982) by Ingmar Bergman, 188 minutes

A magical, sumptuous film set in pre-WWI Sweden which captures a rich spectrum of human experience, from the joy of childhood imagination to the pain of death and separation. 

7. West Side Story (1961) Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins, 152 minutes

This classic musical is not without its flaws but its exhilarating numbers, including Jet Song, America and Tonight ensure it remains essential viewing. 

8. Faces (1968) by John Cassavettes, 183 minutes

Not for the faint of heart, Cassavettes’s drama puts human relationships under the magnifying glass with brutal, breathtaking realism.

9. The Deer Hunter (1978) by Michael Cimino, 184 minutes

Arguably the definitely Vietnam movie, this deserves watching as much for its sympathetic portrayal of small-town America as for its shocking depiction of war.

10. Dekalog (1989) by Krzysztof Kieślowski, 572 minutes

Loosely based on the Ten Commandments, this hugely ambitious work is, alongside the Three Colours trilogy, Polish director Kieślowski’s masterpiece – a richly patterned and totally absorbing piece of humanist filmmaking.

by Jackson Caines

The post The Glass guide to the top 10 long films to watch in isolation first appeared on The Glass Magazine.

10. The Killer (1989), directed by Hark Tsui

Hong Kong has produced its own repertoire of gangster films, but few combine such moving and thrilling themes as The Killer. The film entails the journey of an assassin, who accidentally damages the eyes of the singer Jennie during a shootout. He discovers that if Jennie does not undergo an expensive operation she will go blind, and to get the money for Jennie, decides to perform one last hit.

9. Still Human (2018), directed by Oliver Siu Kuen Chan

Starring claimed actors Anthony Wong and Crisel Consunji, Still Human is Siu Kuen Chan’s directors debut, creating a touching cinematic story of the relationship between a Filipino domestic worker and the paralysed man she takes care. Taking home three awards at the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards, the film shines through its examination of human relationships and real social issues in Hong Kong. The film was the first in Hong Kong to have a migrant worker as a leading character, and subsequently sparked discussions about their lives in the city, often scrutinised by human rights groups for their poor living conditions and poor wages.

8. Fist of Fury (1972), directed by Lo Wei

It would be impossible to look at Hong Kong cinema without recognising the presence and impact of its phenomenal martial arts films. An important part of the film scene in Hong Kong, Fist of Fury is recognised as one of the 70s most profound and influential Kung-Fu movies, starring the legendary Bruce Lee as the lead protagonist Chen Zhen, on his quest to avenge the death of his martial arts teacher.

7. A Simple Life (2011), directed by Ann Hui

While Hong Kong cinema is a scene that is dominated by male directors, that is not to say that there aren’t remarkable female directors who have contributed some of its best and most influential films. Ann Hui is one of the best examples of this, as one of the most celebrated directors in the country. A Simple Life stands as one of her most legendary features, based on Hui’s own experiences, following a film producer called Roger and his relationship with his family retainer Ah Tao after she has a stroke. Estranged from most of his family, a maternal relationship emerges between the two, all while balancing a subtle balance between drama and comedy.

The film also won Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards.

6. The Wild, Wild Rose, directed by Wong Tin-lam

The 1960s The Wild, Wild Rose directed by Wong Tin-lam who was born in Shanghai but spent much of his life residing in Hong Kong, is perhaps one of the most significant musicals within the history of Hong Kong cinema. It’s script and plot derived from the classic opera Carmen, the film tells the story of a club singer who seduces a piano player and then falls fatally in love with him. Through his masterwork, Tin-lam has undoubtedly become an incredibly important figure within the Hong Kong film scene and his works are adored nationwide – The Wild, Wild Rose is no exception.

5. Comrades: Almost a Love Story, directed by Peter Chan

Peter Chan’s 1996 romance, Comrades: Almost a Love Story, tells the tale of two Chinese-mainlanders who after living in Hong Kong form a close relationship, which as the title implies turns into love – but not without obstacles. Starring Maggie Cheung and Leon Lai this love story is one to watch.

4. Homecoming (1984), directed by Yim Ho

Awarded best film at the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1985, at which Yim Ho also won best director, Homecoming, follows the life of a young woman played by actress Josephine Koo. After living in Hong Kong for ten years, the young woman returns to visit the small mainland-Chinese village in which she was raised. Through this journey the films heroine is forced to contrast her life in Hong Kong with the simple family life she once lived back in China. A great coming of age film in Hong Kong cinema.

3. A Better Tomorrow (1986), directed by John Woo

A reformed gangster attempts to reconcile with his estranged brother, who also happens to be a policeman. Although the two brothers take different paths, family ties stand strong, but links to crime also prove difficult to break. Establishing a template for the heroic bloodshed genre, A Better Tomorrow was a profound influence on the Hong Kong film scene as well as internationally. The film is also frequently referenced as one of the greatest gangster films of all time, bringing national attention to Hong Kong cinema.

2. The Love Eterne (1963), directed by Li Han Hsiang

An adaptation of the classic Chinese story ‘Butterfly Lovers’, The Love Eterne is the musical film of the Huangmei opera that stands as one of the defining Hong Kong films of the 1960s. Masterfully blending the musicality of folklore with the mania of modern existence, Hsiang brought new life to the musical genre with this groundbreaking film.

1. In the Mood for Love (2000), directed by Wong Kar-wai

A classic tale of forbidden love respun for a contemporary audience, In The Mood for Love ranks number one on our list. Frequently referenced as one of greatest films of world cinema, the film caught the attention of critics internationally for Kar-wai’s profound and moving tale of an affair in an exiled Shanghainese community in 60s’ era British Hong Kong.

Shot entirely on film, the movie is also praised as an aesthetic masterpiece, with Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung’s performances also gaining mass recognition for capturing the perfect balance of lust and love and fear and shame for the two leading character’s complicated romance.

The post The Glass guide to the top ten films by Hong Kong directors to watch while in self-isolation first appeared on The Glass Magazine.

Reminiscing over her early exposure (or lack thereof) to film and TV, it’s easy to see where her skepticism of genre-pigeonholing comes from. The appropriately unexpected source? Victor Borga. “I had a super strict upbringing. So I didn’t really watch any popular movies, and I wasn’t allowed to watch TV… I didn’t really know what I was missing. My mom was very particular about what we were taking in, so I learned that just because something is on TV, it doesn’t mean that everybody should watch it. I think the knowledge that there’s a difference between art and industry has really helped preserve my artistic spirit as I’ve gone through my career.”

Janina Gavankar, shooting The Way Back with Ben Affleck

While classmates would head home to watch Saved by the Bell, Full House, and Seinfeld, 39-year-old Illinois-born Gavankar made do with PBS, and specifically, variety performer Victor Borga. “He was a classical pianist, but he was also very, very funny. He was this guy from Denmark who was a comedian, and a pianist, and a painter, and a conductor… This was the kind of thing we watched.”

Aside from playing piano Gavankar studied classical voice as a teen, and wasn’t drawn to acting until an “out of body” experience altered her trajectory. “I was in my public school musical and honestly it changed me forever. We were performing West Side Story and I was in rehearsal … I was Maria – every brown girl’s dream – and I had this emotional moment as my character. I felt her life for a second. And it was so different from my own life that it felt like I had time-traveled or something. I have no idea what that feeling was, but I’ve been chasing it ever since. It was an out of body moment. I know a lot of people talk about this kind of moment, and we all just kind of hope that we can get it back at least once or twice…”

Although she’s still heavily involved in music (“I play percussion on various projects, and I make music videos for other artists… it’s just a part of my identity”) it was another extracurricular High School activity that gave Gavankar the edge in scoring a role in The Morning Show. “I’ve watched [my sister] work for my entire life, and she was on the morning announcements in my high school… which, obviously made me want to do the same because I look up to her, so I’ve been able to read from a teleprompter since I was 14 years old. These little things that you end up doing… When you look back you realise, “wow, I’ve actually been doing some version of this for my entire life.””

Janina Gavankar in The Morning Show with Desean Terry, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Nestor Carbonell

Gavankar’s sister is still reading the news (Sonya is a well-known broadcast journalist), and, like any younger sibling worth their salt, Janina is still mimicking her. In The Morning Show she plays Alison Namazi, a news anchor caught up in the fallout of a workplace sexual harassment scandal, mirroring countless real-life post-MeToo revelations. “It was a long time coming! I think the thing that a lot of people don’t know about The Morning Show is that the concept was sold to Apple before the MeToo movement began. Of course, it adjusted accordingly.”

The show has been praised by some and critiqued by others for its nuanced study of workplace sexual misconduct. Gavankar tells me, “I mean, the thing that I appreciate most about [The Morning Show creator] Kerry Ehrin’s work, is that it allows you to play in the gray area of complicity and really question: what happened at that network?

“Nobody’s hands are clean, including my character. She decides she’s somehow fine with it, or at least she tells herself that … but everybody knew something was going on. Some people are more involved than others, but most everybody looked the other way, either to save themselves or to save someone they care about.”

Janina Gavankar in The Morning Show with Desean Terry

The casting of Steve Carell as the perp in question immediately raised eyebrows – someone so irrepressibly likable is inevitably going to invoke empathy for his plight, and, understandably, people don’t want to empathise with a fictional workplace creep that resembles so many real-life workplace creeps the world over. “But that’s how they get away with it! Jennifer (Aniston) calls him charming Narcissus. And obviously, it’s not only this business – almost every business and almost every industry deal with abuses of power and people just like that. These charming narcissists fall into power because they believe they should, and we let them… and it happens over and over and over again, going back to the beginning of time.”

Another warts an all examination of modern masculinity, The Way Back, caps off arguably the biggest 12 months of Gavankar’s career. “The script is beautiful, the characters are beautiful, you know, reading the script I was just Incredibly moved. [Director] Gavin O’Connor was someone I always wanted to work with. It’s a studio film, but it’s the most indie experience that I’ve ever felt working for a studio. They really let us build a little bubble around ourselves, and just create…”

It’s a redemption drama with Ben Affleck as the co-lead opposite Gavankar, and it cements O’Connor’s position as a Hollywood leader in dissecting what it means to be a man in the 21^st century. With Warrior (2011) he subverted expectations by making a Mixed Martial Arts movie that was incredibly human, showing the soft underbelly of a hyper-masculine world. It remains one of the finest combat sports movies ever. This time round high school basketball provides the backdrop.

“I can tell you that Gavin [O’Connor] is a lion-hearted man… you feel his heart just beating out of his chest when you’re with him. He’s made a name for himself telling stories that include men like [Affleck’s damaged alchoholic] Jack Cunningham. And I think we’re better for it. Because when we talk about masculinity, you’re not immediately thinking about vulnerability, raw emotions, addiction, struggles… you’re not thinking about those things right away. So when an artist like Gavin O’Connor exists, in an era where masculinity should be looked at, it’s valuable.”

Janina Gavankar, front of camera in Stucco

After ticking off sports drama from her ever-expanding resume, Gavankar is taking her own short film on a festival tour. Her directorial debut, Stucco (which she also wrote, produced and stars in), is an exploration of agoraphobia and fear of the unknown, told through a bitesize art-house horror.

“The reason that I love art-house horror specifically is that it often tells stories analogically. What makes it unique as a genre is instead of humanizing a subject, you can ‘monsterize it’, and really look at it from a new perspective,” she tells me. “My artist’s mission statement is to look at the things that we’re not proud of, really examine the parts of ourselves we’re not proud of, and you can do that unabashedly in art-house horror.

“I love Neon Demon (2016) because it deals with ageism and beauty. I love It Follows (2015) because it explores the intangible dread of connection in adolescence. Get Out (2017) is all about appropriation. The Babadook (2014) is about grief … you know? These are all very clear analogies that are rooted in something that is universal … and human.”

Janina Gavankar, behind the lens on Stucco

One imagines that whatever project follows Stucco will be both surprising, and not much of a surprise at all, such is the random precision of Janina Gavankar’s career choices. In this sense, she’s really a rare breed. “A lot of artists don’t feel empowered enough to be the captain of their own ship. And I have always kind of tried to do that.”

by Charlie Navin-Holder

The Way Back is out now in the USA, and opens on April 24 in the UK

The post Glass interviews American actor Janina Gavankar first appeared on The Glass Magazine.

The London-born, 27 year old Turner then starred alongside acting legend Patrick Stewart in 2015’s Green Room and in 2016 was picked as part of a stellar ensemble cast, including fellow rising British actor Lily James, in the BBC’s jaw-dropping production of War and Peace. Having launched the careers of the likes of Helena Bonham Carter, Keira Knightley, Idris Elba, Rachel Weisz and countless other Hollywood names, BBC dramas have a long-held reputation of being the benchmark for talent-spotting, making this role a special mark of honour.

When Turner arrives for our photo and interview session, his London accent is in stark contrast to the received pronunciation of his Prince Anatole Kuragin in War and Peace, or his American characters from the 207 Netflix hit Tramps and recent movie The only Living Boy in New York, in which he leads a car including such names as Jeff Bridges, Kate Beckinsale, Pierce Brosnan and Cynthia Nixon.

He is friendly, funny and extremely likeable. He has something of a carefree Jack the Lad charm which is tempered, his interview reveals, by a deep love of artistry and quest for creativity. He immediately asks for a speaker so that he can put on one of his playlists – a surprising mix of retro soul, modern rap and ’90s rock ensues, a combination almost as multi-faceted as Turner himself.

Callum Turner. Photograph: Neil Kirk

How do you feel about “Hollywood’s Next Big Thing” label that’s been assigned to you?
It’s nice and exciting because it means you’re doing the right thing and heading in the right direction. But if you’re asking if that makes me feel a pressure or anything, not really. I just enjoy working with people who are going to push me and I try to look for that.

Does the label mean anything to you?
Yeah. It’s nice because it’s recognition, in terms of a path and being seen. There’s only been one thing in Hollywood Reporter that said that. But I don’t really pay attention to that sort of thing – it doesn’t really come into my mind. For me, it’s not about that, it’s about the work and judging yourself on the work and the things you do. That’s what excites me. When I’m on set with someone I have watched for a long time, or a director that really excites me, or if the Director of Photography is amazing and is doing wonderful things then I am learning from it. They push their boundaries and in turn yours.

Callum Turner. Photograph: Neil Kirk

It’s nice that you recognise people like the Director of Photography, because there are so many people behind the scenes that are not as recognised. They may not become household names but their role in making an amazing film is just as crucial.
Absolutely. Filmmaking is such a team game. The set design, the costume, the sound design, the CGI – you’re just one piece of a jigsaw. You want to be working with all the people who are exciting. You want to work with the best costume designer, the best sound maker – even though it’s the director who chooses them. But you want to be in that realm. When I did Tramps it was really exciting for me for many reasons, but Nicholas Britell created the music. He composed the soundtrack and he made it all himself – and that is an artistry. He did Moonlight and Tramps in the same year. It was really amazing to see the two differences, and how he and Adam Leon [Director of Tramps] worked together. Adam and I talked about that a lot during that process, and how the soundtrack makes the movie.

In the same way, I think Ashley Connor is an amazing Director of Photography. Adam gave her the room to be free, and that was a real collaboration. It was exciting to be out in front of that. We did a two-and-a-half-minute scene where we were in an overground subway and our characters ran down, and first it’s close up and the camera goes in, then zooms out and then back in again – and that’s cool That’s filmmaking. That’s what’s exciting. That’s what gets me going. The truth is in the work – always.

Callum Turner. Photograph: Neil Kirk

How was it been a newbie going into making The Only Living Boy in New York (2017) with Jeff Bridges?
It was amazing. It was an incredible. Jeff Bridges is an icon of cinema.

Were you nervous going into that?
When I first met him, we both arrived at the director’s apartment in New York at the same time. He was getting out and I think I was like, “Hey man, can I take your bags”. Like, what do I do? Then we were in the elevator together and I was thinking, don’t say anything, or should I? I was so nervous I couldn’t think of anything to say.

What’s Jeff like to work with – did he give you any words of wisdom?
Jeff’s amazing. The best thing Jeff said to me was actually after we shot. We were getting ok reviews, we weren’t getting spectacular ones and there were a couple that weren’t great. He was upset by that, as we all were. But he was like, “I’ve done so many of these movies. You go and you pick the thing you want to do and you work the people you want to work with and you have a good time, and you make some friends if you’re lucky. And then if the movie is good, that’s a bonus. If it’s not well received, you keep going.” It’s not about whether or not you’re a star, or you’re hot shit. It’s about having fun and doing the actual work. It’s easy to forget that, when you’re looking at the future and you want certain things. But the fun in its purest form is when you have the job, and you’re working and collaborating with people. That’s it, and that’s what I want to do.

Callum Turner. Photograph: Neil Kirk

I read that you wanted to play for Chelsea originally, as a footballer.
I still do! (he laughs)

When did you decide that acting was a good idea?
I gave up football when I was 17. Throughout my life, my childhood, I watched films all the time. It was just always there, for some reason, in my mind. And then I started doing it, and it wasn’t until about two years in that I realised that I wanted to do it properly. Before that I wasn’t really invested. I just thought it was quite fun. I was 23 when I started working with my acting coach – who I still work with now. That was when it took off for me, when I started taking it seriously.

I read in an interview that you grew up on the “less shiny side of Chelsea”, as you described it. Could you tell me about where you grew up?

Well there’s a shiny end and there’s a not shiny end (he laughs). I grew up in a really beautiful place, a beautiful part of the world. Central London, Chelsea. I grew up on an estate. I had a beautiful childhood. I was an only child, but there were so many kids – probably 20 of us that would play out all day. There was nowhere we couldn’t really go as long as it was on the estate. It’s so funny as your world expands. I remember that feeling of “you can’t go past the estate lines.” There were a few estates together and a road called Edith Grove that surrounds where I grew up, and then there’s the Kings Road, so we were in an island. I remember looking out, and seeing the road, I’d go as far as that at six years old and think “I am not allowed to go out there”. Then as you get older, your world gets bigger.

As a kid from an estate in Chelsea, was it very surreal for you when you were filming War and Peace and walked onto a set with such an incredible cast of actors like Jim Broadbent, Gillian Anderson, Paul Dano and Stephen Rea?

I’m trying to think what I had one before that. Green Room I had shot before that, and Tramps before that. I had a little bit of it on Queen and Country – it was the first film I had that surreal feeling on. David Thewlis was in the film and I love David Thewlis so much. That performance in Naked, but just David Thewlis in general –  he’s incredible. That was a real pinch yourself moment, working with him. I had a lot of scenes with him But War and Peace was the one with the big cast. I wasn’t nervous, I was more excited, because I knew it was going to be good and it was going to be special. Tom Harper is very cool. The way he directed, I could tell it was going to be something good. But Paul Dano, I’ve watched There Will Be Blood and Twelve Years A Slave just for is performances, just to look at what he does and where he goes. He’s one of the best ever. I only had one little scene with him which was annoying. I would’ve liked to have done more with Paul because he is just so good. That felt like something. I really appreciated that, being such a fan of someone.

Callum Turner. Photograph: Neil Kirk

The character you played was extraordinarily confident and sure of himself, but also not very likeable.
The character was amazing to play. I sort of combined a house cat, a really beautiful one with that energy, with a really beautiful woman because that was the confidence that he had. But underneath this was a dust of man who dies. You have got to find the essence of someone who you know is going to die soon, as soon as they go to war. He’s not a hero. The truth of the man is that he is a bit of a pussy. But power is funny, and money is funny – and people have that over others.

You don’t have an Instagram account which is pretty unusual for a young actor – why is that?
Because I am already addicted to my phone now and I just make playlists.

Not even Facebook? You don’t feel a pressure to build up your public persona? You don’t care about how many followers you have?
I don’t look down on it, it’s really just that I’m already addicted to my phone. By removing myself from that, I spend less time looking at it. I’ve got an app that tells me how much time I spend on my phone, and on a good day it’s two hours. Two hours! That’s mad. That’s lost time. It’s getting better now, because I deleted my Twitter. It’s just another numbing app – just another addiction. On your phone you’re not living in the present moment. You’re escaping your feelings, you might as well face them.

Would you consider yourself a celebrity yet?
No.

Do you think you ever would? What would it take?
(He thinks for a moment then laughs). It would take me going on Takeshi’s Castle for me to be a celebrity.

What has been one of the best moments for you so far?
I don’t know, I’ve had some really cool moments. Like me, my best friend, Jeff Bridges and his friend got a helicopter from upstate down to New York City. It was cool because we all pretended we could take the helicopter, and then when we got in and it started taking off we were all giddy and we were all filming. We all reverted back to being nine years old, all of us, while I think the pilot just felt embarrassed for us. The funny thing was that someone saw a picture and texted my friend asking, “is that Kurt Russell?” hahaha.

What would you last meal be?
My mum’s cooking – because that means I get to see her as well. I’d have a Sunday roast and sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream. That’s the best.

by Nicola Kavanagh

Callum Turner can be seen as Shaun Emery in the BBC One TV Series The Capture

From the Glass Archive – Glass Man Magazine, Decade, Issue 39, Spring 2019

To make sure you never miss a copy of Glass or Glass Man, subscribe here

Photographer: NEIL KIRK
Stylist: NICOLA KAVANAGH
Groomer: JODY TAYLOR AT PREMIER
Fashion assistant: FREYA BROOKE
Special thanks: MARRIOTT COUNTRY HALL
Talent: CALLUM TURNER

Look 1
Jumper, trousers: CERRUTI 1881 
Watch: CHAUMET

Look 2
Jacket, jumper: ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA

Look 3
Jacket, shirt, trousers: SAINT LAURENT BY ANTHONY VACCARELLO
Watch: OMEGA

Look 4
Jacket: LOUIS VUITTON
Jumper: GIEVES & HAWKES
Trousers: BOTTEGA VENETA
Watch: HUBLOT

Look 5
Jacket, Shirt: GUCCI
Watch: OMEGA

The post Glass meets rising star, actor Callum Turner first appeared on The Glass Magazine.