What’s your favourite thing about working with Dior?

For me, it’s become a personal partnership, a collaboration. I’ve been working with them for a while now. Of course, you develop a personal relationship with folks and keep close to them. They stuck with me through every single second, and that ups the stakes quite a lot for me: they trusted me, they believed in me, and they continued.

They are … man, it’s Dior! Of course, they’re a class act, but they’re actually truly a class act. I mean, that’s strength, that’s class, that’s brave, it’s courageous. Dior will always mean much more to me than just Sauvage.

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What seduced you when you first smelled Sauvage?

I do remember the first time I smelled Sauvage. They presented the first samples in little vials. It was exciting, like smelling a fine wine that’s been aged. You get various notes that are difficult to identify at first. I remember smelling a woody scent, like a strong base note. The scent hung in the air. Then the various other notes appeared; the personality of the fragrance came alive.

Do you wear Sauvage daily?

Oh, yes! Sauvage has become a part of my daily routine, as much as getting dressed basically. It is a scent that obviously I feel close to, and it is something that I have had the honour, the pleasure and the privilege of being part of. I feel like I found my signature scent.

How do you put it on and when?

I have always used aftershave. I remember using Aqua Velva and I remember using Brut or Old Spice or whatever, but I fell in love with this stuff. That stuff, after you shave, smacking it on to your face, that has been with me for a billion years.

What about Sauvage connects most with you?

The thing that I most enjoyed about the process of making the [promotional short] films, is that there’s an air of something unspoken. It’s interesting imagery and thought representing a spirit or a way of being, I suppose. And this sort of natural, primal rhythm. When Jean-Baptiste Mondino wanted to do that for the first one [Dior: Sauvage, 2015], I thought it was the most amazing way to represent a fragrance. Also, for me, it’s a different kind of work, but I really appreciated very much what we were doing.

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Jean-Baptiste was not in any way afraid to be abstract, because sometimes you have to be, in order to tell a story that you know is abstract. There’s imagery, there’s subliminal stuff. But what I enjoyed about the process is that it’s all very deep and it’s all very thought out with him. And it’s always absolutely on the money, correct. It was like freedom for me, shooting things like that, because it doesn’t follow a formula, it follows thoughts and imagery.

Do smell and fragrance help you get into character?

Absolutely! I have a friend who’s made fragrances for me for various characters for years and years. It probably started about 10-12 years ago or something. It works because the character now has his own scent, his own something that I can use as a sensorial device, really. Sometimes you pick up a fragrance and you smell your mum’s cologne or perfume. That obviously brings up a memory, and you’re directly somewhere else. Instead of using all of your senses to help you travel to a place, you can relive these moments simply by scent, by smell. It’s like travelling in a more honest and organic way.

Is it the same with music?

Well, music for me has always been by far the fastest, most effective way to a feeling, to an emotion, to thoughts and situations that you’ve lived. And if you apply those things to your work, you know that you can live inside the moment that you experienced 30 years ago, or you can apply various memories to things. So music has always been super important, it was always somehow connected with that lonely blues guitar. The beauty of it for me, was that it was automatically rock 'n' roll, but at the same time, it’s Bach. It’s Mozart as well.

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Sauvage is about wide-open spaces. Where do you feel most yourself in the world?

Well, that is an interesting question for me because obviously my life is a little bit different than other people’s, in the sense that I long to be able to go out into the world and experience stuff, see stuff, go to a store, bookstores. But it does not work that way for me any more. So the things that we have done together with Dior – Jean-Baptiste Mondino and myself – represent these “wide open spaces”, these “possibilities”, every possibility that is out in front of you. There’s a sense of solitude, but not a lonely solitude. It’s a kind of Zen-like solitude that I feel in those little films. You do not quite understand the reason behind certain things, but it makes perfect sense if you just accept what is happening – like the wolves [for the 2021 campaign], for instance. That was magic, I thought.

Where I feel the most myself in this world, and where I go to feel absolutely normal, I suppose, is my place in the Bahamas, because it’s an island and nobody’s looking at me. You’ve got to have some sanctuary, a safe place where you can escape the scrutiny and the interest of others, a place where you can just sit on a beach, read, paint, meditate or whatever, that’s freedom to me. That’s the only real freedom.

What about your feelings about the ocean?

The idea of being under, just free in the ocean, with the wind pounding against you, the sun pounding down on you, and the shimmery ripples across the water, sparkles everywhere … It cleanses your mind. The thing that intrigues me most is the most basic, the simplest way of living. I don’t have a decadent lifestyle. Yes, everything boils down to real simplicity for me. When you’re on the island, you’re not at some swanky hotel. It doesn’t look like the Four Seasons or anything. It should look like what it is. It should look like a simple island house. Nothing grand, nothing. Just simplicity.

Sauvage portrays a man unaffected by the passing of time – how do you feel about that idea?

Everyone is going to be affected by the passing of time, but I understand that in terms of the idea behind it, which is to say that I’ve always felt better in myself by sticking to my guns about choices that I’ve made. The racket that I’ve been in for all these years is quite a competitive racket, and I’ve never felt the need to be competitive with anyone. I hate the idea. It’s about who wins what, who gets what, who’s better and who’s worse, and who makes more, and all that … I don’t care about any of that stuff. If you care about any of that stuff, man, I just think it’s counterproductive to the actual work that you’re doing as an actor.

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An actor should do his best, be conscious of the things around him, very conscious of the available things that are around. When I finish a film I say goodbye to the character, and I don’t watch other people. Most of the time – not out of disrespect to the filmmaker – the less I’m aware of any “who’s hot, who’s not, who’s f***ed up, who’s this” … the better it is. I prefer ignorance to knowledge in that field. (Laughs) I feel that I’ve been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to present some characters over the years – characters and scripts that I felt really had something, and I felt like I had something to add to them.

Do you have a beauty routine?

No real beauty “routine” (laughs). But, when you grow older and you gain a bit of knowledge, you understand the way things work. It’s like you should take care of your body at least as well as you take care of your car [laughs]. Have some respect for this mortal coil!

How did you enjoy directing Modi?

I directed a film before [The Brave, 1997], but the experience wasn’t the same, it was a very dark film, and the problem was I’d written it with my brother and I’d also had to act in it because that was the only way that anyone would give us the money. That’s not something I would recommend to anyone.

So, I thought after that film, I’m never directing again. That was dumb. With this new project Modi, Al Pacino – when we did Donnie Brasco together, we got tight and have been very close, to this day – had this as a project he was going to direct back in the Nebraska days, then everything went other ways.

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Maybe a year and a half ago, Al called and just said, “Hey, John, remember that Modigliani thing? You know what I was thinking, man? What about you direct it? I would like for you to direct the thing. I’ll play a part!” And I just thought, “Great. I don’t have to be in it … if I don’t have to be in it, sure!” All I have to do is put together a cast that can deliver and just capture the moments that they give me and put it together in a cutting room. It’s a lot easier when you don’t have to look at yourself, your own mug on the screen.

What are you passionate about?

Since I was a little kid, my escape from reality was a piece of paper and a pencil. So I was always drawing, getting in trouble for it, even in school, and getting yelled at by the teacher in first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, for just drawing: drawing Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy and Wolf Man. And weirdly, dark things, like sort of universal monsters. So drawing has always been a part of my life and painting as well – I started painting a long time ago now, but never thinking that I was going to display paintings or anything. It was just something for me to do and keep my brain occupied really. It still doesn’t make me any good, but it’s a nice outlet.