Tom Ford knows fashion. The out fashion designer has been in the spotlight for years selling everything from suits to colognes. But now the handsome designer is focusing his career on Hollywood. He directed the new film A Single Man, based on the Christopher Isherwood novel and starring Colin Firth.
Set in the early 1960s, the film takes place in a single day. College professor George (Firth) distraught over the sudden death of his longtime companion Jim (Matthew Goode) is planning to go out with a bang—literally. He has a gun and he is getting his affairs in order, which includes an intimate, yet distant, evening with best gal pal Charlotte (Julianne Moore), before getting on with the task at hand. But life has other plans for him, including the unexpected interest of student Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), who is more than a little hot for teacher.
Ford spoke with Watermark about his new career path and his film that debuted earlier this month.
WATERMARK: What was it about Christopher Isherwood’s book A Single Man that made you want to make it into a film?
Tom Ford: I first read this book when I was about 20 years old and I was living in West Hollywood as an actor in the early ‘80s. What spoke to me about the book then was the character of George, which is so beautifully written by Mr. Isherwood that he really seems real. And, of course, he was real, because he was really Christopher Isherwood. I met Isherwood a couple of times. I don’t think I made a great impression. We didn’t become great friends. But I was impressed and I began to read everything that he had ever written. Five years ago I was going through a bit of a midlife crisis after having left Gucci and thinking, at that time, that I wouldn’t be going back to fashion. I was having a very hard time seeing my future. I knew I wanted to make movies and I thought, “Well, this is the perfect time.” One day, driving to my office I realized that I was thinking of this character George. This book has stayed with me for 25 years.
What was it like to read it again?
Reading it from midlife was an entirely different thing for me. It spoke to me in a completely different way. George is a character who cannot see his future and he is struggling to live in the present. The book is very spiritual. The first line of the book is “Waking up begins with saying am and now.” And that’s also the first line of the film. The themes of the book were universal and timeless, in a sense, and also very timely for the moment we were living through.
Do you see Hollywood embracing an Isherwood revival?
I would love to see an Isherwood revival. He was a great writer. He predicted, in the book, the dumbing down of culture. I think a lot of young people don’t know his work. Also, his depictions of gay life were so matter of fact, so straightforward, that they were revolutionary at the time.
Right, because was writing in a pre-Stonewall era.
Absolutely! The way he depicts the relationship is very much [like mine.] I’ve lived with the same guy (Richard Buckley) for 23 years and it’s very much my relationship. It’s about love. It’s about two people who are together. I still have friends to this day who occasionally say to me something about my “lifestyle.” And I’m like, “What lifestyle?” The scene where George and Jim are lying on the sofa with the dogs is a scene right out of my life. That’s my lifestyle.
Have you always wanted to be a filmmaker?
I’ve been obsessed with film for so long. I would say that it was really 15 years ago that I decided that this was something that I definitely wanted to do. I told Harvey Weinstein that one night when we were standing in London at restaurant after the opening of a play. I said, “I really want to make films” and he encouraged me. He didn’t laugh at me, he didn’t giggle. He said, “You should. You would be a great filmmaker.”
Was Colin Firth your first choice for “George?”
Yes. At first I wasn’t going to be able to get him and so I moved on to another actor. I was at the Mamma Mia! premiere chatting with Colin. I was looking Colin up and down and I was so upset. It was so clear to me that he had to be George. About a month later, the actor that had been attached had to pull out and suddenly our schedule had moved forward and Colin was wrapping his project. I FedEx-ed him the script and within 24 hours, he e-mailed me back that he loved it. A month later we started shooting.
How did Julianne Moore, who plays “Charlotte,” become involved?
I love her as a person and as a friend. I love her as an actress. I wrote that part, which is very different than the character in the book, hoping that she would respond to it. She was the very first actor to say yes. The fact that she attached herself immediately was a real help in lending credibility to the project.
How did you know Matthew Goode was right for “Jim?”
I just felt it. Every time I saw Matthew on screen in anything I loved him as an actor. He’s straightforward, he’s honest. He’s very, very American, in all the good things that America stands for: very moral, very up front, very straightforward, very determined, very sure of himself. I thought Matthew would be the perfect actor to play that. Matthew also has a lot of sensitivity.
It’s getting to that time of year when people are assembling “best of” lists and there is lots of buzz about the Oscars and other awards. Are you gearing up for what’s to come?
I’m very proud of the movie. For me, it was a great accomplishment. I’m very happy with it and it has so far received really terrific response from most people that have seen it. That’s made me enormously happy. I don’t like to count my chickens before my eggs hatch. I’m going to just be very happy with where we are.
