#british esquire

[hoosbandewan]

Ewan Mitchell + 🐔

[ncutincuti]

Ncuti Gatwa’s Favourite?

Food spot in London: “I've just found a new one in Greenwich called Angle Ninety – it does high-style Nigerian food. The jollof bangs. The suya bangs. The lamb cutlets bang. It's just a little spot that does great food, and I think they do events there too. But also, honourable mention to Borough Market.”

Food spot in Scotland: “My mum's kitchen.”

Art gallery: “I like the National Portrait Gallery and I like the V&A.”

Museum: “The Natural History Museum. I need to go back there. I've only been there once and it was f****** amazing.”

International holiday destination: “Rio de Janeiro. I love Brazil and Rio is an incredible place.”

Staycation: “Maybe Devon? I like Devon and I like Cornwall. They're beautiful places: colourful houses; beautiful scenery. I just shot a film in Devon called The Roses and I definitely want to go back.”

Pamper spot: “I've got to give you three: 1) Ama Hair Salon, 2) for massages – OK now we're going boujee – The Corinthia, and 3) Omorovicza [The Spa at Liberty]. I like to pamper myself! We've all got to look after ourselves!”

Concert venue: “Principality Stadium in Cardiff – I went to see Beyoncé there twice. Other than that, I do like a night at Ronnie Scotts.”

Cinema: “There's one in Notting Hill where they've got like sofas and they've got a chandelier. That place is nuts. What's it called? That's it! Electric Cinema!”

Park: “Hilly Fields. And then head up to Blackheath.”

Any destination in the past: “Ancient Egypt.”

Any set in entertainment history: “Maybe The Matrix. To see all the pods.”

Year: “I would want to go 200 years into the future. I would want to see how we've done. I would want to see if we had sorted out climate change. I would want to see if we have sorted out all the world conflicts. And I would want to see if we've kept AI under control.”

Read More:

[maasaiaura]

"It lets you tan while keeping your shirt on."- Esquire 1936 x Lil Nas X in British GQ 2019. Source

[jerryhabibisource]

Actor and Musician Jerry Habibi for D Magazine June 2024, 50th Anniversary:

"THE HARDEST WORKING MAN IN SHOW-BIZ"

He is the first Middle-Eastern (MENA, SWANA) individual profiled for D Magazine in their 50th Anniversary Issue.

[babesoftheuk3]

Laura Haddock

[bdsmsub67]

George MacKay - Esquire Singapore Photoshoot - 2019 added by DarkSarcasm

Photographed by Charlie Gray for Esquire Singapore, December 2019.

[ride-a-cow-boy]

Harry Kirton for Esquire Magazine Hong Kong.

[photopeablr]

EWAN MITCHELL fawning over Aemond Targaryen with British Esquire

[nynnph0]

my bioshock headcanons (and canons) pt.1

(should have clarified this, the ages they are all at the time of 1960, or the time they died. so grace, gil, delta, sinclair are not as old as i think they would be by the time bioshock 2 takes place.)

andrew ryan

jewish - belarusian - russian

6'0 · 54 · 1906/01/26

bisexual (heavy f lean) neutral

sander cohen

jewish - american - czech

5'9 · 53 · 1907/07/12

homosexual ally/phobic

brigid tenenbaum

jewish - belarusian - german

5'4 · 32-35 · 192(5-8)/08/08

asexual aromatic lesbian ally

j.s. steinmann

jewish - american - german

6'1 · 49 · 1911/04/30

heteroflexible ally

frank fontaine

american - italian

5'8 · 42 · 1918/03/15

heteroflexible neutral

sofia lamb

british

6'3 · 48 · 1912/09/23

asexual aromatic ally

(deems love stupid)

augustus sinclair, esquire

panamanian - british - cuban

5'6 · 46 · 1914/07/28

pansexual ally

yi suchong

korean

5'6 · 52 · 1908/12/16

homosexual phobic

gilbert (gil) alexander

polish - romanian

6'4 · 36 · 1924/11/05

homosexual ally

grace halloway

brazilian - american

5'8 · 33 · 1927/11/07

heterosexual ally

anna culpepper

argentinian - caribbean

5'5 · 26 · 1933/09/09

heterosexual ally

reginald (reggie) furey

american - irish

6'3 · 53 · 1905/08/19

heterosexual neutral

jökull (johnny) sigrúnsson

icelandic - finnish

5'9 · 37 · 1923/06/23

bisexual ally

jack

jewish - belarusian - russian - dutch - swiss

6'4 · 4 · 1956/??/??

asexual aromantic ally

mary-catherine (jasmine) jolene

dutch - swiss

5'6 · 30 · 1929/04/30

heteroflexible ally

[ilikethisacompletelynormalamount]

When Andrew Scott and Jessica Gunning met on the set of British comedy drama Pride in 2014, little did they know that a decade later they would both be celebrating Emmy nominations – Andrew for Ripley and Jessica for Baby Reindeer. Nor did they anticipate that they would remain such great friends. “The film really bonded us together,” grins Andrew, as he joins Esquire and Jessica to discuss the film’s 10 year anniversary. ...

Friendship is at the heart of what Pride is all about. Written by Stephen Beresford and directed by Matthew Warchus, it tells the uplifting and boisterous true story of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), an activist group founded in 1984 in London to raise money for the Welsh miners. The film shows how both LGSM and the miners overcome mutual prejudices through a common goal of solidarity, at a time of raging homophobia and class division.

[hoosbandewan]

EWAN MITCHELL breaks down 'House of the Dragon' season 2 scenes & Aemond's journey with Esquire UK

[denimbex1986]

'Before his life-changing call from director Christopher Nolan, his sensational performance as the father of the atomic bomb in Oppenheimer, and the well-deserved Oscars buzz following the film’s release, Cillian Murphy spent nearly a decade portraying working-class Brummie gangster Tommy Shelby in Steven Knight’s British crime drama, Peaky Blinders.

Inspired by the real-life gang of the same name, the six-season series followed the Shelby family’s business dealings, relationships, unsavory acts, and pursuits of power in Birmingham, England, 1919. Thanks to compelling writing, word of mouth, a Netflix streaming slot, and standout performances from a stacked cast — especially Murphy’s — what started as a small show on BBC Two in 2013 grew into a global phenomenon.

Oppenheimer’s immense scale and widespread acclaim may have solidified Murphy as a household name, but in the years leading up to the monumental project, Peaky Blinders allowed him to meticulously refine his craft, wholly inhabit a character, and take his acting prowess to the next level. A decade after the riveting series premiered, Tommy Shelby remains one of the actor’s most indelible roles — a truth even more impressive when you learn that Murphy wasn’t Knight’s first choice for the Peaky protagonist.

That’s right. The 47-year-old Irish actor nearly lost the role of Tommy Shelby to Jason Statham, but a text sent to Knight post-audition, which read, “Remember, I’m an actor,” changed everything. Ahead of Peaky Blinders’ final season, Knight told Esquire he “never forgot” Murphy’s show of confidence. Despite the clear departure from his appearance and past roles, the actor was sure he could embody the physically imposing, virile gang leader. And he was right. “It’s a cliché, but no one else could have been Tommy Shelby,” Knight admitted later in the interview. “It would be absurd. It was as if Cillian was always waiting.”

Since Murphy first rode through the gritty Birmingham streets on horseback sporting a fresh undercut and a razor-trimmed cap pulled over his eyes, the role felt as bespoke as one of Tommy’s signature three-piece suits. On the surface, Murphy nailed the Birmingham accent, convincingly knocked back lowball glasses of whiskey, confidently handled a gun, and seductively smoked thousands of cigarettes on set. But his abilities to access and expose the deeper complexities, contradictions, and PTSD of the broken World War I veteran were particularly profound.

As the leader of the tight-knit Shelby clan, Tommy was a commanding, ambitious, fiercely intelligent force; an enigma who routinely committed despicable acts, but possessed enough potential for good that he repeatedly gained empathy from viewers — with help from Murphy’s charisma and authentically pained portrayal. Haunted by flashbacks of France and fueled by booze for a majority of the series, the Peaky Blinders leader perpetually grappled with a restless mind and stained soul, while guarding a heart capable of immense love. He was, all at once, completely unafraid of his own death and terrified of losing others. And since business was always personal, his family became his greatest strength and most sizable weakness.

A fraternal feeling and the sheer weight of familial responsibility shone strongest in scenes with Paul Anderson’s Arthur, while Tommy’s intimate relationship with Helen McCrory’s Aunt Polly — which deepened and shifted on the daily — peeled back his layers and offered glimpses of vulnerabilities. Tommy’s shell was undeniably softest with Grace (Annabelle Wallis), the woman who made a tea drinker, father, and eventual fortress out of him. Through small talk and genuinely sexy sex scenes, heart-to-hearts and heartbreak, and the brutal gut-punch of unexpected mourning, Murphy tapped into the full range of human emotions to convey and process the love and loss of Tommy’s wife. He never fully recovered from her death, but devastating breakdowns after the loss of Polly and his daughter Ruby proved he was still able to feel.

Murphy effortlessly exuded swagger, showed subtle humor in moments like the famous “no fucking fighting” scene, and slipped into pure panic at the drop of a hat. He loudly expressed grief in palpable scenes, such as Tommy’s brush with death in the Season 2 finale — when he almost had (and lost) “fucking everything” — or the bone-chilling final seconds of Season 5, when he hopelessly held a gun to his head, emitting a guttural scream born from insufferable trauma and fury. But despite the grand outbursts, so much of Tommy’s emotions were expressed without words; through Murphy’s facial expressions, jaw clenches, silent spirals, and intense gazes from his deep-set ice-blue portals.

Whether Tommy was strutting through smoky streets in solitude, leading grand shootouts with adversaries like Luca Changretta (Adrien Brody), digesting Alfie Solomons’ (Tom Hardy) verbal acrobatics, recovering from ruthless beatings, chomping on a leaf with his toddler, or battling his inner demons, Murphy’s performance was mesmerizing. Over the course of Peaky Blinders’ run, the actor brilliantly resided in the middle-ground between hero and villain, light and dark, and savior and sinner. And without fail, he flawlessly found his way back under the multi-faceted character’s skin after substantial filming gaps and major projects like Dunkirk and A Quiet Place Part II. In the 36 hours we got to spend with him on-screen, Murphy delivered a career-great performance, crafting an incredibly lived-in character, while masterfully evolving alongside him.

A decade after Peaky Blinders first premiered, it remains a razor-sharp series that boasts Knight’s brilliant storytelling; captivating characters; stunning set design, wardrobes, and haircuts; a killer soundtrack led by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand”; and a cast that was firing on all cylinders. The series’ legacy is as strong as the Shelby family in their prime, and when the credits roll on the dark final season — one made considerably more challenging by COVID-19 and the real-life death and mourning of McCrory — you’re reminded again that no one else could have been Tommy Shelby; that Cillian Murphy, as promised in his post-audition text, is one hell of an actor.'

[taz-ma-raz-skylar]

Taz Skylar on training his body and cooking skills ahead of One Piece Season 2!

Taz Skylar was met with an overwhelmingly warm welcome from One Piece fans at the 2024 MEFCC

By Sarah Kuleib ( February 15, 2024 )

Every pirate crew needs a cook. With a captain like Monkey D Luffy, whose ship seems to sail to the sounds of his stomach, finding a cook who could whip up the most delicious bowl of fried rice to join the Straw Hat Pirates was pretty high on his priority list. Luffy finds his cook in Sanji, and Netflix’s smash hit One Piece finds their Sanji in Taz Skylar.

When the Spanish-British-Lebanese Olivier Award-nominated actor was announced to be playing the romantic chef, Sanji, in Netflix’s live-action adaptation of One Piece, Skylar was catapulted to international stardom.

Skylar and his co-star Iñaki Godoy (Luffy), were recently in Abu Dhabi for the 12th edition of the Middle East Film and Comic Con (MEFCC), where they were met by thousands of passionate fans in straw hats queuing up for hours to take photographs, get autographs, and witness the pair’s charming interactions at panel discussions.

Esquire Middle East sat down with Taz Skylar at the MEFCC to discuss his intense stunt training, Season 2 of One Piece, and what’s in store for the rest of 2024.

–

ESQ: You’re a man of many titles: actor, screenwriter, thrill-seeker, professional surfboard creator. What drew you to each of those things and how do they come together to inform one another in your career and life?

TAZ: I was a really shy kid and I never used to leave home much. Thrill-seeking, I used to see it in movies and I thought “Oh that would be cool!” Surfing was the first thing that I did. I remember the first time I got in the water with a surfboard and a wave hit me – it wasn’t even very big but I was little, and I was like “Ahhh!”, and I got out [of the water]. The guy who was teaching me – he was called Juanito, and he’s still my friend today, 15 years later – was like “What are you doing man? Get in!” He grabbed me, put me back on the board, and pushed me out and that changed my life that day. That was the gateway. I got into other scary stuff and I would get angry at being scared. So if I was scared I would be like, “Cool, now there’s no choice, now you gotta do it.” That kind of spiraled and now it’s just a thing that I do.

Writing and acting… well, acting was an accident.

ESQ: A happy one?

TAZ: It was a happy accident! I’m very happy about it! I only like acting when I like the thing I’m acting in; nobody likes acting when they don’t like the thing they’re acting in! So, I only act in things that I like – at least now, I’ve definitely made that choice – and I always like what I’m writing. I want to make films, I want to make shows. Being in them is a cool part of it, but I want to make stuff. In a world where financial security is there, I don’t find much point to life other than leaving a legacy I can be proud of, and I think that can achieved by making stuff.

ESQ: There’s a different joy in filmmaking and writing.

TAZ: Yeah, yeah! You feel resolved in what you’re doing and connected. You have some sort of choice over what it can say or what the outcome can be. One Piece in particular was really cool because Matt and the whole team were really good to us in terms of saying “What do you want to do with it? What do you want to bring to it?” and that’s not always the case. When I do a writer’s room with other writers, my thinking is like: What do you like? Do you want to sit on a chair? A yoga mat? Do you want to bob around on a skateboard? What makes you most creative? Because whatever it is, do that thing. That’s the kind of environment I want to create and be a part of. When a film or show or play has been made in that way, you can feel it, you can feel that it’s been made very rag-tag.

ESQ: On the topic of One Piece, how did you prepare for the role of Sanji – mentally and physically, I know you did all of your own stunts – and with season 2 confirmed, is there anything you learned that will inform or change how you prepare for season 2?

TAZ: Ooh… yeah I did all my own stunts! Part of how I prepared for it… I really went psychopathic on it. Like, let’s throw absolutely everything we possibly can at the wall because we don’t have much to stick right now, we’re starting from zero.

It was 4 hours of training in the morning, then I’d cook a dish we needed to do for the show, repeat that dish over and over again, another 4 hours, then we’d go to the sauna and stretch, they’d pull on my legs and push on my back. That made me improve really quick but what it also did was decimate my legs. I have scar tissue on the inside of my ligaments and it took me about a year to feel like I could land on my legs without pain – I used to duct-tape my legs! I had to be quiet about it so they’d let me do my own stunts.

There was no real way of improving whilst not hurting myself because of how far we needed to go. Whereas for the second season, because I’ve maintained my level and haven’t stopped training ever since– I trained this morning with Iñaki at the UFC gym [in Abu Dhabi]! Iñaki came with me to a kickboxing session and he’s gotten so good at tricking in between the seasons too! So, because we’re kind of at a level that we’ve maintained, the second season for me is about how much quicker I can be. There are not many new kicks or moves to learn, so it’s more about how great we can make those moves. Part of it is going: instead of training 8 hours today, I’m going to train 4 and focus on choreography. Or maybe today I’m just going to do 2 and then stretch, because the less injured everything is, the quicker everything moves.

So for season 2, I want to enjoy it more, and I want to make what we had a lot better… and I want [to do] the party table kick.

ESQ: Was there a specific stunt that was the most difficult to do?

TAZ: Yeah! So there was this one where we jump over a pool, kick the Fishman mid-air, and land on a little rock. And that was all practicals! It was so difficult to do because he was underwater and they had to time pulling him out of the water at the exact same time that I jumped, and landing at the same place so that I could kick, and then there was another wire pull that took him to the other side of the pool. That must’ve taken an hour and a half which doesn’t sound like that much, but we were up against time. I remember thinking: “If we don’t get this, they’re going to cut it. They’re going to cut the stunt and this stunt will never exist.” It was the last take where we just managed it and they all looked at it and went “Cool, we got it! We can keep it!”, and we just started cheering. Isn’t it mad to think that there’s a world in which half an hour would’ve made the difference between it existing and not existing?

ESQ: Now, I must ask… how do you really feel about Oregano?

TAZ: [Laughs] Ha! I love it! I put it on salads! It’s not for savages! It’s nice – have oregano it’s good for you!

ESQ: Who and what are some of your personal influences as an artist?

TAZ: Florian Zeller is my favorite writer. Rappers are my favorite poets. I like old films. Keanu Reeves in Point Break made me want to skydive and surf and jump out of planes. I love Bond. My dad loves Bond, we used to have a box set. I love the way those films are made. I just worked with Martin Campbell who made two of my favorite Bond films.

ESQ: What’s in store for Taz Skylar this year?

TAZ: I’ve got four TV shows in development, with different production companies. One of which is called Seesaw which made a lot of Florian Zeller’s films that I’m really excited about! I don’t have that much time until we go shoot [One Piece] again. There’s a book I’m trying really hard to get the rights to and adapt, so I’m chasing the author about that. I’m going to try and see if I can get all of those things done before I go shoot again.

https://www.esquireme.com/culture/interviews/taz-skylar-on-training-his-body-and-cooking-skills-ahead-of-one-piece-season-2

[destinyc1020]

The closest that we got to a partially clothed photoshoot of Tom was his Prada campaign. That's one of the reasons that fans want him to do another Prada shoot. And Z posted a pic of that campaign on her IG stories so she's ok with Tom looking hot for the public. I'm reminded of Tom being super-uncomfortable reacting to mild thirst tweets during Uncharted press

https://youtu.be/5xXnuMABX1I?si=L3Rft8yWvNLIA892

We also have hope for him to do a Men's Health Magazine shoot, probably for Uncharted 2 which should be a fun movie where he's supposed to be very fit, so a Men's Health shoot would be appropriate (please Dom go on a retreat when Tom is asked to do it. He has talked against those Men's Health topless shoots)

Thanks Anon 🥰

Yea, another Prada shoot would be *chef's kiss"!! 🤌🏾

I still think that some of his sexiest photoshoots were the British GQ and Esquire shoots he did a few years ago. 😍

I would love for Tom to do a Men's Health shoot! That would be awesome. 😁😃

I don't see anything wrong with actors doing Men's Health magazine shoots. It's just a magazine shoot lol. It's not like it's PlayGirl or smthg lol 🤭

[kylofrk]

Some Adam pics from British Esquire-ꜱɪᴍᴏɴ ᴇᴍᴍᴇᴛᴛ- for the Esquire UK September 2015 issue. Courtesy ADA Media.

[barbieaemond]

which issue of Esquire are they going to be in, or is it just online or not in print, do we know?

You can buy it here

This is the American version that features Tom and Ewan. From what I gathered on Twitter, the British one with Andrew Scott on the cover does not have their interview in print.