GQ USA Nicolas Cage Is Fearless, 2022

WE INVITED GUNNA TO STYLE HIS OWN FASHION SHOOT HOW TO INVEST IN THE SKYROCKETING WATCH MARKET A NEW WAY TO THINK ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE NICOLAS CAGE IS













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CONTENTS April GQ World Behind the Scenes With the People Who The Flyest Sustainable Clothes to Buy Now. .. .. .. 21 PAUL HARNDEN, Fashion’s Most Make GQ Reclusive Designer. . .. .. .. . . . .. .. . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 24 3 Funky Swiss Watches From the ’60s.............. 30 Contributor Redesign Your Routine for the New Abnormal. . . . 32 JASON NOCITO Features Photographer Cover Story: NICOL AS CAGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 “Being in the moment is how you create a The New Art of Watch Collecting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 compelling picture,” says New York–based GUNNA’S Greatest Fits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 photographer Jason Nocito. For his first-ever The Razor’s Edge of a Warming World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 shoot with Nicolas Cage, Nocito and GQ JUSTIN H. MIN, Understated Superstar. . . . . . . . . . . . 78 decided on a sprawling Louisiana quarry, where he found a particular haystack that felt right for a striking cover. On set, all Nocito had to do was capture Cage and a 12-foot python named Sir Hissalot and boom—compelling moment created. → CHE KURRIEN ← JASON NOCITO AND OFFICE GRAILS: COURTESY OF SUBJECTS. On the Cover Photograph by Jason Nocito. Styled by Simon Rasmussen. Jacket, $375, and pants, $225, by Diesel. T-shirt, $42 for pack of three, by Calvin Klein Underwear. Belt (price upon request) and belt buckle, $3,750, by Kieselstein-Cord. Boots, $1,295, by Nick Fouquet x Lucchese. Sunglasses, $418, by Prada. Ring, his own. Grooming by Kumi Craig using Dr. Loretta at the Wall Group. Tailoring by Laura Shrewsbury. Prop styling by Chere Theriot. Snake provided by Milliken Farms. Produced by Hen’s Tooth Productions. Special thanks to Averett Ranch. APRIL 2022 GQ.COM 9

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CONTENTS April For our cover story on Nicolas Cage, see page 38. STYLIST, SIMON RASMUSSEN. Jacket, $6,795, hoodie, $895, pants, $1,190, sunglasses, $450, and ring (on right pinkie), $350, by Balenciaga. Necklace, $85, by Vitaly. Ring (on left index finger), $7,100, by Chrome Hearts. Ring (on left ring finger), his own. Rings (on right ring finger), $180 for pair, by Clocks + Colours. 12 GQ.COM APRIL 2022 PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON NOCITO







CONTENTS April For our story on Gunna, see page 60. ST YLIST, BOBBY WESLEY. Jacket, $6,900, by Bottega Veneta. Shirt, stylist’s own. Pants and jewelry, his own. His own sneakers by Nike. His own sunglasses by Palm Angels. His own bag by Goyard. 16 GQ.COM APRIL 2022 PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRISTIAN CODY

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Enter Nicolas Cage in the Mandy, 2018. Cageaissance L A S T N O V E M B E R in Hollywood, Nicolas Cage If you haven’t seen it, Mandy walks that weird tightrope of and his wife, Riko Shibata, arrived early to our is very heavy metal. The film is wrenching and ridiculous that annual GQ Men of the Year party. I welcomed more heavy metal than most Cage alone seems capable of the couple heartily (if you’re throwing a party, heavy metal. It is extreme metal. pulling off, film after film. who better to arrive first than Nick Cage?) and complimented Cage on his suit. He said that I gather from Gabriella In this case, it turns out Gianni Versace had made it in the 1980s, and Paiella’s excellent cover story that the screaming vodka that he thought the night was a good occasion to (see page 38) that, for many scene is not a culmination but bring it back out. I didn’t argue with him. He people, the defining film of this a beginning: The rest of the looked great. ¶ I told Cage that while I love a ton new era of Nick Cage—marked movie is Nick Cage going of his work, there’s one film in particular that by his return to indie films, Full Cage. Over the next 50-plus knocks me out. Mandy, from 2018. “Ooh, yeah,” and to increasingly unabashed minutes, an increasingly Cage said. “That one’s pretty heavy metal.” acclaim—is last year’s Pig. For mutilated and blood-splattered others, it will undoubtedly be Cage, armed with a crossbow Cage and wife his new movie, The Unbearable and a hand-forged battle ax, Riko Shibata Weight of Massive Talent, in goes on a cocaine-and-black- which we reach the inevitable acid-fueled rampage. At one at GQ’s Men of meta moment where Nicolas point, he lights a cigarette the Year party Cage plays Nicolas Cage. But on a burning decapitated head. for me, it is and always will be, There are several scenes so in 2021. definitively, Mandy. grotesque that it’s impossible not to laugh. There are several Directed by Panos Cosmatos, others so grotesque that it’s GQ MEN OF THE YEAR PARTY: KRISTA SCHLUETER. MANDY: COURTESY OF RLJE FILMS. Mandy pours fantasy, horror, actually impossible to watch. action, and drugged-out B-movie insanity into a bottle, One of the very last shots stuffs a dishrag in it, and of the film is an unforgettable lights the rag. What explodes image of our hero, vengeance is a two-hour torrent of love, finally complete, driving loss, grief, rage, violence, and back to the empty home where revenge. A full half of the film’s he and his beloved Mandy $6 million budget seems to once lived. His face is caked have gone to smoke machines, in evil-demon biker blood. red lighting gels, and blood. His eyes are popping out, feral and wide. He is gazing upon Both Mandy and its leading the apparition of Mandy. man really kick into overdrive He looks completely unhinged. just after the one-hour mark, It is profoundly terrifying. with a quintessential Cage It is so, so funny. It is perfect. scene whereby the actor— shirt-cocking in a baseball tee For me, that shot is and tighty-whities, having the pinnacle of the present just witnessed the incineration moment’s multilayered of his lover at the hands of a Cageaissance—or it was, until perverse hippie sex cult—has GQ got the opportunity to the opportunity to go full collaborate with him and Nicolas Cage. For a few wild a 12-foot python named minutes, he downs a bottle Sir Hissalot for this issue. of vodka while also dousing booze on his significant Will Welch wounds, screaming like a hellcat in a profound mix GLOBAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR of grief and fury. The scene



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AVERY GINSBERG: GROOMING, MELISSA DEZARATE. FOLLOWING PAGES: LOUIS VUIT TON, COURTESY OF BRAND. ALL OTHER PHOTOGRAPHS: MARTIN BROWN; PROP STYLIST, SHARON RYAN AT HALLEY RESOURCES. These days, the GQ flyest and most World rarefied garments money can buy Drops are upcycled, recycled, and on Avery Ginsberg wears a the cutting edge pair of cruelty-free and of sustainability. recyclable work boots By SAMUEL HINE he designed for his SURF FIT ethical upstart fashion Inspired by the low- brand, Ground Cover. impact and high-vibration lifestyle of surfers, APRIL 2022 GQ.COM 21 Emporio Armani’s wavy capsule collection features recycled cottons, fluorine-free prints, and compostable packaging. T-shirt, $275, and pants, $445, by Emporio Armani Sustainable. Hoodie, $320, boots, $440, and socks, $80 for pack of three, by Ground Cover. PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARTIN BROWN STYLED BY TORI LEUNG

COLLAGE- GARDEN TABIS VIBEY BERET PRINTED The iconic Maison O.G. knitwear artist Dina BUTTON-DOWN Margiela cleft-toe Knapp was creating Young British designer Tabi shoe has a new and handmade crochet Bethany Williams fittingly radical form: accessories, like this is a leader in social a waterproof derby one-of-one tam, since manufacturing, using made out of recycled way before the rise of her colorful upcycled rubber ($615). cottagecore ($800). collection to train underemployed PANORAMIC DENIM DUSTER communities in DUFFEL Sure, Glenn Martens has craftsmanship and The Louis Vuitton turned Diesel into one of donating 20 percent Keepall has been the edgiest and celeb-iest of wholesale profits reimagined by Stephen brands on the planet, but to organizations Sprouse and Takashi his most consequential supporting unhoused Murakami, but the move at the Italian denim Londoners ($810). most iconic version house was to establish might be this stunning the Diesel Library, a landscape bag. Made collection of low-impact with a recycled-polyester essentials intended to be jacquard, it’s one of Virgil worn for a lifetime ($895). Abloh’s standout designs in his penultimate LV collection (Louis Vuitton Men’s, $5,500). RECYCLABLE BELT ECO SNEAKS COLOR-BLOCK Model and designer Giuseppe Zanotti BAGGIES Avery Ginsberg (see knows a thing or two Not only are him on the opening about punching up a Patagonia’s legendary page) founded Ground classic silhouette with Baggies made out of nylon Cover in 2018 when an unexpected twist. from recycled fishing he realized cool vegan In this case, the brand’s nets, once you’ve worn work boots didn’t exist. new Ecoblabber tennis them out, you can send Now the brand makes sneaks are crafted out ’em to Patagonia Worn rugged boots and sturdy of recycled plastic Wear, where they’ll get belts using cutting edge bottles ($595). refurbished for their next cactus- and pineapple- owner ($65). based leathers ($160). 22 GQ.COM APRIL 2022

PLASTIC WRIST CRAZY DARNED PIECE CARPENTER UNDERSHIRT Just about everything JEANS Baserange’s crunchy- that can be made from Based in Fukuyama, sexy basics—like this recycled ocean plastic Japan’s denim capital, organic cotton lettuce- on this Tom Ford Rekrow recycles local edge tee—are helping the sport watch is: from the workwear uniforms brand set the standard case and bezel down into fabric for beautifully for environmentally to the strap and patinated carpenter ethical underwear packaging ($1,495). pants and jeans (Rekrow x (price upon request). Transnomadica, UPCYCLED price upon request). BLOUSE The eccentric universe OLD GOLD CUFFS of downtown NYC label With his new line of Collina Strada is recycled gold and sterling both fun and radically cuffs, David Yurman is serious—founder embracing the next wave Hillary Taymour is of fine jewelry, which one of fashion’s most will be made from metals prominent young harvested from discarded voices advocating for a baubles (top, $9,700, and waste-free future ($324). bottom, $3,600). REGENERATED CONSCIOUS KICKS UTILITY BAG Practically every Thanks to Prada’s material in Salvatore Re-Nylon program, all Ferragamo’s newest of the brand’s nylon now sneaker is eco-conscious, comes from regenerated from the bio-based sources. You’d never thermoplastic sole all the guess the house’s way down to the sewing famously luxurious bags thread, which is made are made out of recycled from post-consumer waste materials ($1,750). recycled polyester ($795). PERFORMANCE SUPERLIGHT COTTON POLO SHELL Ralph Lauren has been One of the outdoor a menswear innovator industry’s dirty secrets for decades, and now, by is the toxic chemicals teaming up with Natural known as PFCs that Fiber Welding, RL has are commonly used for introduced its first waterproofing outerwear. sweat-wicking polo The North Face’s that’s made of cotton top-of-the-line Flight rather than plastic-based Lightriser running shell synthetics ($168). is light as a feather, breathable, and, best VINTAGE of all, water-resistant FLANNEL(S) thanks to a PFC-free Beloved by style heroes finish ($129). like A$AP Rocky, Needles’ one of a kind remixed APRIL 2022 GQ.COM 23 vintage flannels launched upcycling into the menswear mainstream when they debuted back in 2012 (Rebuild by Needles, $300).

GQ World SearchingFashion for Fashion’s Most Reclusive Designer PAUL HARNDEN: EMILY MOT T; PRODUCER, PAOLA MORET TI. Somewhere in Brighton, a mysterious man named Paul Harnden is making handcrafted leather shoes and clothing using old-world techniques. And he has garnered a cult following that includes fashion die-hards and a few A-list celebrities who get it. As the fashion industry attempts to become more sustainable, it might learn a thing or two from Harnden’s slow approach. That is, if he can be found. B y L O U S T O P PA R D 24 GQ.COM APRIL 2022

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GQ World Fashion about eight years ago, the actor Jeremy Strong, who posts. Some excitedly inform fellow plays Kendall Roy in Succession and who is known for obsessives of new drops of Harnden his esoteric, romantic tastes in clothes, found himself stock. Some bemoan the fact that the in Brighton, a seaside town on the south coast of mainstream—celebrities, press—have England. Brighton happens to be home to the secretive caught on. Others mock the bemoan- shoemaker and fashion designer Paul Harnden, whose ing as lame in itself. Does it “ruin the vintage-looking, vaguely Dickensian pieces are made fantasy of ‘I’m a Victorian chimney by some of England’s oldest mills, in traditional tweeds, sweep’?” goads one post. There is or silks or sturdy Ventile. Strong decided to use the much gossip, much theorizing, much occasion to track Harnden down. He tried an LLC address, gushing. One user supplies a photo- tried Google Earth. He did everything he could, he told me, graph purporting to show Harnden “in the hopes of getting a pair of coveted P.H. boots, but in the flesh, in a pub in Brighton. to no avail.” Harnden was undiscoverable. “The trail went “Bloody legend,” a user called Silver cold. A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, writes. Another quotes Harold Pinter, made with extreme care and artistry,” Strong said. talking about Samuel Beckett: “The more he grinds my nose in the shit To Strong, this only added to the website has no contact details; just the more I am grateful to him.” appeal. “He is reclusive, un-self- a white page, with a jumble of text: seeking, and committed to the work ^8m*+,J1/4%?@p=~#3Kf. I punched The website’s founder, Eugene exclusively—those values, to me, this into Google, hoping it could be a Rabkin, told me that back in 2006, seem immanent within the gar- clever clue, and found nothing except when he launched the forums, ments,” he said of Harnden, who is a blog post, from 2010, by someone Harden appealed because he seemed known for being intensely specific else complaining about how impossi- to exist “outside of the fashion sys- and controlled. He sells to only a ble it is to contact Paul Harnden. tem.” Harnden’s model—his refusal handful of stores, usually no more to engage with fame or the march of than one or two in each city. He Finally, I tried Instagram, sur- digital—read as a rejection of every- rarely changes his shapes. He insists prised to find that Harnden has an thing that the modern fashion world that his clothing not be discounted account (he follows no one and posts was, in its growth from cottage or put on sale, never loaned for only occasionally: grainy images or industry to fully fledged pop cul- photo shoots, never sold online. “He stills from the often impenetrable ture pillar, coming to laud. “He was is doing something that is almost or spooky short films he creates to really unique at the time; no one else the exact opposite of what Walter showcase his clothes). As I typed, a was doing the kind of 19th-century Benjamin termed ‘Art in the Age of message laced with the breathy des- peasant look, but really expensive,” Mechanical Reproduction’,” Strong peration of someone trying to entice Rabkin said. “It was the opposite of said, citing the theory that replication an ex after being ghosted (“I’d just facile luxury.” can undermine an object’s “aura.” He like to talk”), I realized that social called what Harnden does “ineffable media was probably the least likely “I actually once interviewed Wim and real,” noting that in “a world of channel to endear me to Harnden. Wenders,” Rabkin said, referring to increasing noise,” he is trying to cre- the celebrated German filmmaker. ate his own, clear sound. “Someone Those who wear Paul Harnden “And the first thing I commented on who does that, in any field, is as rare tend to speak about the clothes, like was the fact that he was wearing a as a snow leopard these days and as Strong, in philosophical terms. For Paul Harnden blazer, and he gave me vital,” Strong said. those who do not know: The thing a dirty look, like, ‘You know we’re not to understand is that Paul Harnden’s supposed to talk about this.’ ” Harnden’s clothes are also worn pieces never, ever look new. The toes by Brad Pitt. By Daniel Day-Lewis. By of his shoes tend to curve upward, W H A T W E K N O W for sure about Harden John Galliano, who claimed, in 2010, as if shaped, over time, by foot and is this: He was born in Canada in May to “buy all my stuff from him.” “He’s gait and toil. That is not to say that 1959. Before setting up on his own, very Greta Garbo,” he told WWD. Harnden’s pieces seem merely old he worked briefly for shoemaker “I can’t get hold of him. I believe he or worn—though they always do— John Lobb. He lived in London, then lives in England by the sea.” WWD ran more that they look like relics from Scotland, and now Brighton. His a separate article, “The Mysterious another time. By late January, my brand began in 1987, with shoes, but Paul Harnden,” in which Adrian Joffe, Instagram DMs unanswered, I turn expanded to clothes under the guid- the spouse of Rei Kawakubo and head to StyleZeitgeist, an online hub for ance of his then business partner, of the retailer Dover Street Market, fashion obsessives with a taste for Elena Dawson. That collaboration which sells Harnden’s work, said that the semi-gothic fashion that came to ended a few years in, though the pro- it was “beyond fashion.” prominence in the late 1990s; design- duction of ready-to-wear continued, ers like Carol Christian Poell, Carpe and Dawson now runs her own label I searched fruitlessly for a phone Diem, and Rick Owens. On the site’s from East Sussex. Like Harnden, number, an email address, anything forums, the Paul Harnden thread she works with only a handful of that would lead me to Harnden. His has some 80 pages, 1,644 unique retailers, and her designs are driven by cloth, rather than sketches. “My goal was never just about doing the clothing, it was also about the way in which we did it,” she told me. Press is not a part of her business model, she said, noting that this was her 26 GQ.COM APRIL 2022

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GQ World Fashion fourth interview ever. “The focus reluctant to speak. One former across Harnden’s work around 2003 should be on the clothing,” she said, employee said she could not talk, as at Leclaireur in Paris, and spent adding that, over the years, journal- she had signed a nondisclosure agree- years trying to find him in order to ists have simply stopped asking. She ment. One said she’d need to ask per- buy his clothes. When she finally was diplomatic when speaking about mission from Harnden’s ex-wife and made contact, he tried to talk her Harnden, confirming their former then never wrote back again. “He out of buying too much. “He asked partnership, but saying that she sees just doesn’t give a fuck about the to look at my order form, and kept their work as quite separate now. limelight of it,” said one buyer, before saying, ‘Are you sure you need that stressing, as if he’d just revealed a dress?’ I wanted to order menswear There are rumors, as well as facts. state secret, that his comment had to and womenswear, but he was reluc- That Harnden has a temper. That he be anonymous. tant,” she told me. He eventually has a penchant for fancy cars. That agreed but then canceled her mens- he has a riotous sense of humor. Myung-il Song, the founder of wear order just before delivery. “He But those who know Harnden are Song boutique in Vienna, first came is even more radical than Margiela,” Song added. The buyer Ruth Spence, A rare photo of of Envoy of Belfast, who has sold the enigmatic Harnden’s clothes for over 14 years, designer Paul agreed. “He just doesn’t veer,” she Harnden, in his said. “A lot of designers try and can’t Brighton studio. maintain that, but with him people just accept it.” A few years ago, just before the pandemic, Song visited Harnden’s home in Brighton. He’s not a rich man, she told me, but he lives well. “He has an apple farm. He harvests the apples, he makes cider. And on the other side of his house, he has a space for his collections.” I asked if she considered them close now; friends, even? “A little bit. But I will never know who he is,” she said. “And I don’t want to know.” Deep online, I saw mention of someone who might know Harnden well: an Australian shoemaker, Andrew McDonald, who runs his own footwear brand from Sydney. It was 1988, he told me by phone, when he first met Harnden. McDonald was skateboarding on London’s South Bank and saw an intriguing figure. “I thought, This guy is like a cross between Fagin and Steptoe and Son,” he said, referring to, respec- tively, the Oliver Twist character and a British sitcom about an impover- ished father-and-son duo running a rag-and-bone business. “We just got talking. We smoked a joint. We became friends. He made a pair of shoes for me.” McDonald was then working as a photographer, but he retrained as a shoemaker and ended up working with Harnden for a few months in Scotland in the late 1990s, living alongside Harnden and his family in a small rural village inland from Aberdeen. In the day, they would make shoes, at night they would play games or cycle to the pub to drink whisky. They kept in touch for a long while but haven’t spoken for about (continued on page 86) 28 GQ.COM APRIL 2022



GQ World Watches If the Midas is a bit Rollerball, then Wars. Introduced in 1969, the same The Funky, Forgotten Swiss bezel. It looks like it could have been Watches of the ’60s ripped out of the instrument panel of the Concorde, for which Omega Overlooked and undervalued for decades, these three supplied clocks. Even though produc- retro-futuristic timepieces are relatively easy to find—for now— tion was discontinued in the late ’70s, says GQ watch columnist Nick Foulkes. it is thought that a total of around 37,500 pieces were made across four HEN RIHANNA ANNOUNC- brand’s most important and iconic series. Models can now be found for OMEGA, PATEK PHILIPPE: COURTESY OF BRANDS. ROLEX: COURTESY OF SOTHEBY’S. models. Today, the Daytona just about about $5,000—collect them all! W ed her pregnancy in defines the watch market. Along with late January via a photo many other steel sport watches, the The Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse shoot with beau A$AP Daytona has become so popular family offers even more depth for Rocky, she displayed among a new generation of well- someone looking for a rare, inter- her baby bump under a vintage heeled collectors that they are now esting, and relatively affordable Chanel silk coat and an ornate jewel- nearly impossible to buy at retail, and find. Launched in 1968, the Golden studded cross—an outfit rife with are stratospherically expensive on the Ellipse, inspired by the divine pro- meaning if you’re looking for it. secondary market. There’s not much portion utilized in Renaissance art But even more intriguing was her oxygen left for weirder watches like and architecture, is neither an oval choice of watch. She didn’t wear one the King Midas, the original reference nor a rectangle. Upon release, it was of the Rolex Day-Dates in her collec- of which Rolex discontinued in the hailed for its unorthodox shape and tion, or her rose gold Patek Philippe ’70s. But for people who wish to get gorgeous blue-gold dial, a rarity Nautilus. No, instead she wore a rela- deep into the pleasures of watchmak- at the time. Though it would later tively unknown creation from deep in ing and who (much like Rihanna) are be overshadowed by its cousin the the Crown’s archives: a vintage Rolex keen connoisseurs of uniquely stylish Nautilus, the Ellipse became, essen- King Midas. objects, the King Midas represents the tially, a brand within a brand, spawn- Launched in 1962, the King Midas coolest thing in collecting right now: ing spin-off ranges of key rings, cuff embodied the retro-futuristic design a deep-cut masterpiece from Swiss links, money clips, cigarette lighters, spirit of its times: It was a brutalist watchmaking’s wildest design era. and even zodiacal pendants. By the masterpiece, an articulated mana- late ’70s there were 65 different mod- cle of 18-karat gold that looked like One can perhaps appreciate why els of the watch alone, meaning there it could be a prop for the dystopian the King Midas didn’t exactly catch is more than sufficient variety for the sci-fi epic Rollerball. Sadly for the fire with the masses. At the time of aficionado who wants to assemble a King Midas, Rolex introduced the its release, the Midas was the most meaningful and satisfying collection Cosmograph Daytona one year later, expensive model produced by Rolex across one iconic and unorthodox which would prove to be one of the and the heaviest production gold design. In other words: There’s a Golden Ellipse for almost any budget. This rich vein of underappreciated watchmaking might soon be mined. After Rihanna’s announcement, online interest in the King Midas spiked. But even if you’re too late to claim one of these cult-y time- pieces, don’t worry—there are plenty more out-there designs just waiting to be rediscovered. 30 GQ.COM APRIL 2022

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GQ Worldfor thReYeoNdueerwsiRgonutine Wellness STYLIST, BRIE WELCH; GROOMING, BARRY WHITE FOR BARRYWHITEMENSGROOMING.COM. Abnormal The pandemic has permanently changed the rhythms of life and work, and GQ wellness columnist Joe Holder says it’s now on you to create the habits you need to thrive. 32 GQ.COM APRIL 2022 PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARTIN BROWN

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GQ World T’S BEEN MORE THAN space in your mind. Don’t rush to Wellness fill it with news or TikToks or emails I two years since the and Slacks. Some people leave their Holder has his pandemic upended phones in another room, but that home office daily life. And if you’ve doesn’t work in a hotel. So I just put ergonomics and been waiting for your mine on airplane mode before I go hydration dialed, job (and the rest of your routine) to sleep. and so should you. to settle into a new, post-pandemic “normal,” you’re disappointed, right? In the morning, before looking previous page Because there’s no longer a con- at your phone, you want to facili- and right sensus around what normal even tate your body’s natural wake-up means. Some people love working rhythms. I take 10 deep breaths Pants, $1,510, from home. Others hate it. One thing and do 10 twists through my wrists, by 2 Moncler that is absolutely clear? The default ankles, and trunk. I drink tea, but Genius 1952. 9-to-5 is never coming back, and it’s I don’t eat immediately, because I’m Necklace now on you to buckle down on what not trying to pile on what I’ve been (throughout), you can control and figure out your carrying since dinner. An important his own. own best daily routine. concept for mornings is motility— I’m aiming this piece at all of you how well your digestion is working, above who are entering a hybrid part-time which the trunk twists help stimu- office life, but this advice applies to late. (There’s a, uh, natural digestive T-shirt, $100, anyone dealing with uncertainty at process that will give you a good by Off-White x work. That’s something I’ve had to hint.) Once you’ve twisted and hit Jordan Brand. learn to navigate myself: Even before the bathroom, you can let the digital His own pants, the pandemic, my work life—and deluge begin. by Nike. my life-life, frankly—was hectic. I’m Socks, $20, by always on the road. I’m linking up TRANSITION MINDFULLY Jordan Brand. with clients when and where they Shoes, $485, have time to work out. It’s rare that Before the pandemic, commutes were by Dries I have a “normal” day. But I’ve learned just a thing people had to do. Now Van Noten. that instead of relying on anything that they’re coming back, they might external for stability, I can use rou- feel like a waste. But it’s not lost time. 34 GQ.COM tines to ground me in the midst of the It’s a doorway between activities that chaos. And no matter what you do for can help you reset. So whenever you a living, this can help you, too. cross a threshold, whether that’s lit- eral (into your office) or metaphorical DON’T START WITH YOUR PHONE (between Zooms), use that moment to promote emotional and mental The morning is often the phase of the resilience. Take some deep breaths, day when you have the most control. roll your neck and shoulders, and You’ve just slept and cleared some check in with your posture.



GQ World Wellness You should work OWN YOUR WORKDAY back to whatever is near the office. THIS PAGE, LOCATION: INDEPENDENT TRAINING SPOT, SOHO, NEW YORK. out to feel good. Don’t mindlessly take on any bad food Sometimes that No matter where you find yourself habits from your coworkers. means pumping working on a given day, the goal iron (below), is consistency. Start by taking a In fact, resist workplace peer pres- but you should moment to set up your workspace sure in general. If you spent any time also be caring for with intention. I learned this the working from home, you’ve proba- your connective hard way: I was looking at my com- bly developed some idiosyncrasies. tissue (right). puter screen so much that it became You might feel self-conscious about Hoodie, $110, hard to focus. So now, no matter your ergonomic gear or busting out pants (price where I am, I try to set up in front of a stretching routine around other upon request), a window. After an extended period people, but trust me: Your coworkers’ and his own of work, I’ll take a minute to progress joints probably hurt too. They’ll get it. sneakers, by my eyes through different distances Nike. Socks, and depths. That’s just one element, EXERCISE TO WIND DOWN $20, by though: An ergonomic mouse and Jordan Brand. external keyboard are much kinder People love to argue about whether to the tendons in your hands and morning or evening workouts are 36 GQ.COM APRIL 2022 wrists than just your laptop. You better. Physiologically, it just doesn’t won’t always have the perfect stand- matter that much. (You just need to ing desk, but you can set a timer to get moving every day.) But one great remind you to move and stretch. reason to exercise after work is to combat the structureless feeling of I also want you to plan your work- post-pandemic life—to help give the ing meals mindfully. You hear about day a clear end. people overeating, but a lot of us are also undernourished. That’s because We already talked about how when the day gets away from you, it’s to wake up with a good stretch. So easy to grab something fast that’s of now use movement to improve your poor nutritional quality or—just as day. This could mean going hard in bad!—not eat at all. So I’ve started put- the gym, but it could also be a head- ting mealtimes into my calendar. I’ll clearing walk. Above all, it should feel even plan what I’m going to eat. You good. Even if you love your job, there’s don’t have to get obsessed with meal a punishing aspect to working all prep—I just want you to consciously day. Don’t also punish yourself with set aside time to eat and be thought- fitness. Then go home, feed yourself ful about what you’re consuming. a wholesome dinner, and do some- This goes double if you’re going from thing relaxing (you earned it) that will healthy lunches from your own fridge ease you into sleep. And then wake up and do it all again.

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He is one of Photographs by Jason Nocito Styled by Simon Rasmussen APRIL 2022 GQ.COM 39

←← I was 12 years old, because I was a big Bruce Lee fan. And so it’s like other oddities—maybe getting injured by a my uniform to relax in.” samurai sword or something in the process, OPENING PAGES though hopefully nothing too grievous, so His voice is a low, contemplative drawl that imbues every word that I could still tell you about the snakes coat $7,790 with a sense of philosophical magnitude. To hear Nicolas Cage state and skulls and other oddities. sunglasses $545 an opinion about his preferred loungewear is to hear anyone else reflect on the cosmos. What I encountered instead was some- Balenciaga thing more surprising: a human being who “I’m still decorating, so excuse me,” he says, as we stroll through has been to some serious depths, much of t-shirt $350 his home. An imposing mahogany cuckoo clock chimes on the half- it public, much more of it not, and emerged Saint Laurent by hour. Mighty bronze dragons guard the hall. Lacquered arms holding with a new and better understanding of him- Anthony Vaccarello torches sprout from eggplant purple walls, lighting the way. Look self and his life. He has spent recent days this down and you have a Persian rug ripped out of a Lisa Frank coloring winter mostly inside, reading scripts and vintage pants book. Look up, you have a crystal chandelier and an original Creature watching movies and preparing to welcome Helmut Lang from From the Black Lagoon poster. Straight ahead: a prince! Specifically, a a baby with his wife of a year, Riko Shibata. huge photograph of Prince roller-skating in hot pants and a Batman They have the names picked out already: David Casavant tank top. At the heart of the house is a charcoal drawing of his late Akira Francesco for a boy and Lennon Augie Archive father, August Floyd Coppola, who looms over the fireplace, and for a girl. “Augie was my father’s nickname. everything else. And my uncle”—the director Francis Ford belt (price Coppola—“has decided to change his name upon request) Cage moved into this place last summer but settled in Vegas back to Francesco,” he says, excitedly showing me belt buckle $3,750 in 2006. He came for the state taxes (there are none), though he soon the two-month ultrasound on his phone. Kieselstein-Cord learned to love the small-town feel and the ability to drop off the “I think it’s so sweet. It’s like a little edamame. radar. “In some ways,” he says, “this move saved me.” A little bean.” boots $1,295 Nick Fouquet x His best friend rests in a nearby chair, sizing me up. He has the regal We will settle in his sitting room, where, bearing of an emperor, with an elegant mane of gray hair and wise over many mugs of coffee, I will try to square Lucchese golden eyes and a luxurious tail and, okay, yes, he is a cat. A Maine coon the sensitive, self-aware person in front of named Merlin. “He’s so kind and so loving,” Cage tells me, more than me with the fairly ridiculous myth that watch $2,750 once. “Sometimes he puts his arm around me when he’s sleeping, and exists in our culture’s collective imagina- TAG Heuer I think it’s my wife, and I go, ‘Oh, Riko.’ And then it’s Merlin.” tion. And he will, in turn, explain everything to me that is seemingly inexplicable about necklace $17,160 The owner of his favorite local pet store died recently, so Cage Nicolas Cage. Chrome Hearts scooped up some of the leftover animals stuck in limbo. A couple turtles, a fish with a bum eye that he felt bad for. They live in an array First, though, I want to meet his talking ring (on left ring of aquariums lining his kitchen and bar counters (his Oscar is some- crow. His name is Huginn, and Cage says it finger, throughout), where up there, too). “My job is to care for them, make sure they’re was “love at first sight.” He swoops around a happy and safe,” he says as we stop to watch a freshwater turtle wade massive geodesic dome, so we inch up to the his own around. “Eventually, I’ll have to donate him, like I donated my two- edge and peer inside. Huginn has gleaming headed snake to the Audubon Zoo.” black feathers all over, except for his chest, → which is an unexpected shock of pure white. That snake came to him in a dream. Or, rather, he had been He flies up to a perch, where he can scrutinize OPPOSITE PAGE dreaming of two-headed eagles and then the very next day, a guy us at eye level. I hold my breath. called to sell him a two-headed snake for $80,000. After immediately jacket $6,795 taking him up on the offer, Cage learned that to feed it, he had to “Huginn, this is Gabriella,” Cage says. hoodie $895 put a spatula between the heads to prevent them from fighting over “Hi,” Huginn says. their food and this was all way too much to handle, so the snake necklace was re-homed to the zoo, where it only recently died at the ripe old I N T H E S I T T I N G R O O M , I see him clearly (bottom) $575 age of 14. for the first time. He is 58 now. Tall and still slender, with close-cropped dark hair. His Balenciaga These moments can happen with Cage, when you suddenly find face, which we’ve watched in one form or your spirit levitating an inch outside your body, while you’re locked another for practically his entire life, has necklace (top) $85 into a description of a situation that could not have happened to any- been softened by age. It is a kaleidoscope. A Vitaly one else on the planet. And isn’t this what I expected? That I would minuscule change of expression or lighting come to his enchanted lair and talk about the snakes and skulls and and one of his characters will jump out at you: the hotheaded, wooden-handed baker (Moonstruck), the alcoholic screenwriter scraping rock bottom (Leaving Las Vegas), the burned-out paramedic (Bringing Out the Dead), the affable ex-con (Raising Arizona), the other affable ex-con (Con Air), the good cop (It Could Happen to You), the bad cop (Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans), both the villain and the hero, who have swapped faces with the aid of cutting-edge ’90s super science (Face/Off), Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation). Robust eyebrows frame the hardest- working pair of blue eyes in the business. 40 GQ.COM APRIL 2022



“There’s a spiritual conflict in Nick’s eyes and in his face,” Martin to lose control of his persona. First, there was Scorsese told me. “It’s visible, it’s open, and it translates into an over- YouTube, then one social media platform all sense of unease. The conflict is an inner questioning: Will I be after another. When his career and finances redeemed? Have I done enough?” started to suffer around 2010, the internet went into overdrive. His performances— Redemption does seem to have arrived for Cage, at long last. After which, while colorful, were at least mostly falling millions of dollars into debt, and then working tirelessly to tuned to the movies they were in—were dig himself out, he has made many movies—too many movies—that plucked out of context and spliced together only reinforced the idea that Cage was maybe a little insane. And yet, into “Nicolas Cage Freak-Out Montage” or through the 12 years that followed the death of his beloved father, the “40 clips of Nicolas Cage screaming in one turmoil of near-bankruptcy, and the big studios turning their backs minute” or “Nicolas Cage Ultimate Freakouts on him, Cage has stayed committed to delivering flashes of his highly (UNCENSORED version).” Millions of views personal brilliance in smaller projects. Like in 2018’s Mandy, as a later, a life onscreen was distilled into farce. bereaved lumberjack in the woods who’s lost everything he loves. Or last year’s Pig, as a bereaved chef in the woods who’s lost everything He became something of a meme ourobo- he loves. And in doing so, he’s reminded people what they’ve always ros: The platforms would go out hunting for known: Nicolas Cage is one of our greatest actors. Nick Cage being outrageous and they would find him—say, talking about doing mush- It is this moment and context into which past and present and rooms with his cat on Letterman or telling real and fake will all collide in his new film, The Unbearable Weight a reporter about the time he was stalked of Massive Talent. In 2019, Cage received a letter from director Tom by a mime—which would only make them Gormican with a proposition. Gormican and writer Kevin Etten had want to go out hunting for Cage being even just finished a screenplay they wanted Cage to consider. He would be more outrageous. Mandy co-writer Aaron playing a character named: Nick Cage. This Nick Cage is a washed-up Stewart-Ahn told me a story about when action star down on his luck who gets roped into a CIA plot to take they were filming in the Belgian woods in down an international arms dealer. The film uses de-aging technol- 2017. He had asked Cage what he had got- ogy to also render Cage into a second character—a younger, wilder, ten up to over the weekend. Usually the uncannily smooth version of himself who goes by Nicky. answer was that the actor had stayed in watching esoteric world cinema, but in this Cage had some qualms about spelunking into his psyche for this. case, Cage had flown to Kazakhstan for a “Tom always said the neurotic Nick Cage is the best Nick Cage,” Cage film festival. A photo of Cage in traditional tells me. “I said, ‘It’s not all neurotic, Tom.’ I mean, I have very quiet Kazakh dress ended up going viral—and moments at home, just sitting on a couch or looking at CNN or read- then was inserted into hundreds of other ing a Murakami book.” He feared he would be making a joke out of absurd contexts. “Nick was like, ‘Well, himself. And he definitely didn’t love that the character is a narcis- I went to Kazakhstan, and I became a fucking sistic and aloof father. But he was ultimately intrigued by the chance meme,’ ” Stewart-Ahn recalled. “Then he says, ‘Hey, why don’t you take a picture of me right ” Gormican said. now, in this forest, with blood on my face? Post it online, and we’ll make a real meme.’ ” Cage took umbrage when he first saw the photoshopping and the supercuts all those years ago, but then more or less came to accept it. “You can’t go against that which is,” he says, shrugging. In all fairness, the internet lore has, in its own way, made him more beloved than ever. Seldom has an actor inspired such a rabid, reverent following. His fans worship at the altar of the r/onetruegod subreddit and get his face tattooed on their bodies and attend daylong Nick Cage movie marathons, after which they go home to rest their weary heads on multiple versions of Nick Cage novelty sequin pillows. phoned it in. If there was ” (text continued on page 46) 42 GQ.COM APRIL 2022

blazer $6,000 Brioni pants $725 Casablanca boots $1,395 Miron Crosby

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↑ I ask him if he sees Unbearable Weight as a chance to seize control none more than his father, August, a professor coat $2,195 over the meme-fied version of himself and get the last word. How could of comparative literature. “He was always the Emporio Armani anything possibly top Nick Cage playing Nick Cage as the most Nick smartest man in the room when he walked Cage thing to ever happen? “There was an element of that in it. I think into any room,” Cage says. “He knew it, and he t-shirt $68 it was a way of embracing what had happened to me,” he says. He even made sure we knew it.” August spoon-fed his Hanro pushed the envelope further at times. In one scene, Cages young and boy Fellini and German expressionist cinema old make out with each other. “That was Nick’s idea,” Gormican told while raising him and his two older brothers sunglasses $480 me. “He was supposed to kiss him on the cheek, and he was like, ‘Oh, mostly alone. Cage’s mother, a former dancer Kuboraum I’d like to French kiss.’ ” and choreographer named Joy Vogelsang, was institutionalized for schizophrenia and → But even if Cage has grown willing to participate in the fervor, depression for much of his youth. His parents coat $3,745 much of it remains elusive to him. “I still don’t really fully under- divorced when he was 12. Cage would watch Dolce & Gabbana stand what the fascination is with my face or facial expressions that his mother talk to the walls and absorb it as happen in these memes,” he says. The studio is trying to push this surrealistic inspiration. “I could have gone the t-shirt $350 promotional Walmart campaign around Unbearable Weight, he tells other way,” he says. “Instead, I looked at her Saint Laurent by me, photoshopping his face on posters for other Lionsgate movies, and I thought, Well, this is really interesting.” Anthony Vaccarello from John Wick to Terminator 2. “I’m like, well, but why?” Cage says. “Just like, What is it?” If his father was responsible for foment- jeans $1,995 ing a love of film, his uncle’s stature in the Ralph Lauren W H E N H E W A S five years old and still known as Nicolas Kim Coppola, industry exposed him to a fascinating New Purple Label Cage went to visit his composer grandfather, Carmine. He spotted a Hollywood milieu. Hanging out after a tray with a portrait painted on it and asked his grandfather who it screening of Apocalypse Now, he found him- belt $1,150 was. Carmine said it was a composer named Beethoven. “And I said, self face to face with Dennis Hopper in a cow- David Yurman ‘Oh? Was he any good?’ ” Cage recalls. “He said, ‘Oh, he was about as boy hat, asking Cage what kind of music he good as I am.’ I went home and I told my father that. He was furious.” liked. “I said, ‘I like classical music.’ He said, boots $1,295 ‘Oh, you gotta listen to The Love for Three Nick Fouquet x Carmine may not have been Beethoven, but he went on to win the Oranges by Prokofiev,’ ” he says. “He was so Oscar for the score to The Godfather Part II, which his son, Francis, interested in me listening to that music. He Lucchese directed and his daughter, Talia Shire, starred in. (As a kid, Cage also seemed very avuncular to me.” horsed around on that set with his cousins.) Cage came into the world ring (on left in Long Beach, California, to this remarkably erudite and accom- Francis cast him in a few early roles, but, middle finger) $565 plished family that would indelibly shape and influence him. But wanting to shake off accusations of nepo- tism, Cage engaged in his first act of deliber- The Great Frog ate mythmaking. He changed his last name, inspired by the avant-garde composer John ring (on left pinkie) Cage and the Black superhero Luke Cage. $445 As a young man, he had a particular notion of himself that he was determined to prove: Beepy Bella “That I had something, and it wasn’t simply because I was born into a Coppola family. It rings (on right index was because I thought I had a unique way of finger) $3,333 feeling things and looking at things.” and (on right middle He would go on to spend the next 40 years finger) $4,444 of his life on film sets. It can be hard to imagine AI Studios any other reasonable outcome. “Nick is a born actor,” said Oliver Stone, who directed him in World Trade Center and Snowden. “If he wasn’t doing this, I don’t know what he’d do.” “If Nick hadn’t been a movie star, he would’ve been a president,” his Pig costar Alex Wolff told me. “He’s just this magic orb that was supposed to do something magical.” In his early 20s, he did just about everything he could to put himself on the map. While filming the experimental 1988 horror comedy Vampire’s Kiss, about a delusional yuppie lit- erary agent named Peter Loew who thinks he’s a vampire, he famously insisted on eating a live cockroach for a shot. (He feels bad about the bug now.) He infused Peter with qualities from both parents, talking to the walls like his mother but in his father’s mid-Atlantic accent. This is still his favorite movie he’s ever made. So adamant was he on pushing bound- aries that he initially balked at doing Moonstruck because it seemed too safe of a romantic comedy. (To be clear, this 46 GQ.COM APRIL 2022

APRIL 2022 GQ.COM 47

↓ is a movie in which his character is introduced sweatily wav- decades after its release, you can’t throw a coat $3,900 ing around his wooden hand and bellowing, “Bring me the big stone in Brooklyn without hitting a millennial Louis Vuitton Men’s knife!”) “Now looking at it, it’s definitely one of my favorite movies woman horny for Ronny Cammareri. All of his I made,” he says. “Plus, I like the presentation of the Italian American as exaggerated and overblown performances? shirt $5,995 a loving family. Not just always the gangster.” A recent trend piece in The New York Times Zegna pointed out that actors have been eschewing Right before he won an Oscar in 1996 for his raw and intimate naturalism in favor of operatic gusto. tank top $42 portrayal of a man intent on drinking himself to death, in the for pack of three $3.5 million budget Leaving Las Vegas, a fairy godmother by the Perhaps the simplest idea that explains name of Jerry Bruckheimer cast him opposite Sean Connery in Cage is that he is a sincere man in an ironic Calvin Klein The Rock and sent him hurtling along on a run of popcorn movies. world. “There’s not an ironic or cynical bone Underwear “He’s just wonderful,” Bruckheimer told me. “You never quite know in his body,” Pig director Michael Sarnoski what he’s going to do.” Even when the budgets had a few extra zeros told me. Roger Ebert once wrote of his “inner pants $1,150 tacked on for car chases and explosions, Cage would still sometimes trembling,” adding that “he always seems Salvatore try to channel the geist of German silent cinema. Cage laughs while so earnest. However improbable his char- Ferragamo remembering when he first let it rip as Castor Troy in Face/Off: “John acter, he never winks at the audience.” He’s Travolta was like, ‘Oh, we’re going to do that kind of acting.’ ” been telling us all along. Remember his belt $1,595 Oscars speech? “I know it’s not hip to say it,” Chrome Hearts He blossomed into a giant movie star. Our most baroque, sad-eyed he admitted, clutching his golden statue. “But movie star, but a movie star nonetheless. The director David Gordon I just love acting.” → Green, who worked with Cage on 2013’s Joe, told me about a time the coat (price two of them stopped at a roadside biker bar in the South: “A dude rolls Nothing about him feels like an affecta- upon request) up while we were having a drink. And you expect him to say, ‘Hey, man, tion. Not the kung fu suit, not the talking Givenchy I’m a big Face/Off fan’ or ‘Con Air’s the shit.’ And the guy goes, ‘Man, crow. He is a true eccentric holdout in the I just have to tell you how much I loved Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.’ ” increasingly banal landscape of American shirt $550 celebrity. You never see him posting on social jeans $550 With his missteps in the past decade, it is easy to overlook the fact media, flashing his veneers above a faux Saint Laurent by that Cage has often found himself ahead of the culture. Vampire’s Kiss? self-deprecating or inspirational caption, or Anthony Vaccarello Made zero money, but is now a cult classic. Moonstruck? Over three giving pithy sound bites on a red carpet. The man is physically incapable of pith. belt $61,600 Chrome Hearts “He’s such a nice man, such a good man, and I think he also got so much misunder- sunglasses $280 standing,” Face/Off director John Woo said. Gentle Monster “Some people even say he’s so weird, but I don’t think so. I think he’s pretty normal, and he just needs a friend—that’s all.” When talking with people who have worked with Cage in the past couple decades it more or less went the same way: Look, they would say, everybody always asks me for a crazy Nick Cage story, but, on set, he’s as con- scientious and hardworking as you can get. “He’s deeply focused,” Unbearable Weight director Tom Gormican said. “He would ellip- tical from 3 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. every morning and read the rest of the script, and then send me a list of questions, thoughts, notes, and ideas for the day’s scene work.” The movie’s co-writer, Kevin Etten, called him “probably the hardest-working actor I’ve ever witnessed.” “He goes to time-consuming depths, which you don’t see often as a director,” David Gordon Green said. “With him, it’s like, ‘What do you need, and what are you doing on Sunday? Let’s spend time and let’s talk about it.’ ” Green paused. “And he brings his own knife to the steak house, which I think is very cool. You go out to have a steak with Nick, and he unfolds this amazing hand-carved knife to be his cutlery.” O N E T H I N G C A G E wants to make sure you know is that it wasn’t the skulls that did him in. Especially not the $276,000 Tyrannosaurus bataar skull he reportedly outbid Leonardo DiCaprio for and then agreed to turn over when the Department of Homeland Security