Tom Ford Interview! A Single Man Opens in NYC! Ford Talks Gayness, Movies, Fashion & Jon Hamm

Tom Ford: Looking good, as always.

A Single Man, the directorial film debut of fashion magnate Tom Ford, opens in NYC today. The film is based on the classic 1960s novel by Christopher Isherwood, and follows a day in life of a late 40-something gay professor living in Los Angeles who is longing for his late lover and trying to figure out how (and if) to get on with his life.

The film is a gorgeous, stylish and poignant portrait of a man of a certain age, with Colin Firth in the title role of George Falconer. Julianne Moore plays George’s best longtime gal-pal Charley, Nicholas Hoult plays a handsome student who wants to know George better, and Matthew Goode plays George’s lover Jim in impactful flashbacks.

The movie bears Ford’s gift for sexy visuals and sleek impeccable stylishness, but it’s also full of warm moments, wry humor, intense sadness and sterling performances throughout. Oscar buzz is inevitable. In fact, Colin Firth has already scored some Best Actor nods in film fests worldwide.

I attended a press event this week for the film, wherein Ford and his three leading cast members (Firth, Moore and Hoult) all fielded questions from the press. What follows here is a bit of what Ford had to say about making his first film, telling a story of gay love and longing in these political times, why this story spoke to him, and also about a voice-over cameo that’s top-secret (only, not really).

Enjoy the interview with Tom Ford after the jump!

As a gay man of a certain age, what spoke to you about George?

Tom Ford: I read this book when I was 20 years old and at that time what spoke to me was the character of George. It’s so beautifully written. And he seemed so real and I was living in L.A. as a young actor and I did meet Christopher Isherwood not long after that. A friend of mine was living with David Hockney and I spent a lot of time there. I also did some drugs and shaved off my eyebrow in the same house. So that came from my life; that little bit.

But anyway, I then read everything Christopher had written. Fast forward to the future I was looking for something to make as my first film and first I had to figure out what I wanted to say. I knew what I was as a fashion designer, but why did anyone need to see a Tom Ford movie? What is that? What does it mean?

So it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to say and I had optioned a couple of books and I was developing those projects and I’d read every screen play in town and because I’m a fashion designer people sent me very superficial, slick, beautiful, but not a lot of substance things and nothing was speaking to me. And I realized one day driving to the office, I was thinking about this character George. I thought about this book often for 25 years [I figured] I should pick it up and read it again. It spoke to me in a totally different way.

Now being in midlife, reading a story about a man who can’t see his future — I had just left a career, I left Gucci, I left fashion, something I had put so much energy into; and all of the sudden I didn’t have an identity. I didn’t have a voice in contemporary culture. I was struggling. That’s what resonated with me.

And also, I’ve always been a very spiritual person, and I neglected that side of my life for a certain period of time, as I think certainly in the fashion business one can tend to do, living in the future, but all of us as a culture. And I’ve been part of it so it’s hard for me to criticize that. As a culture materialism is fine as long as we keep it in perspective. The book is so spiritual. The first line of the book is “Waking up [unintelligible] and now,” and that’s the first line of the film. It’s about living in the present, appreciating the small things in your life and really trying to take them in and make connections with people.

We have so many eyes in this film, because we have this guy who has been going through the last eight months of his life not even looking at people. All of the sudden on this last day, he’s looking at people, and he’s connecting. People were responding to him in a very different way too by the way. It’s about connections. It’s about a lot of things that, for me, are eternal and timeless. And that’s why it spoke to me.

Nicholas Hoult, Julianne Moore, Tom Ford & Colin Firth at A Single Man premiere in NYC

Why was it essential for you to make a film? What was it that you were seeking that you didn’t find elsewhere?

Tom Ford: Fashion and film are two totally different forms of expression for me. I love what I do as a fashion designer but I’ve always thought of what I do as commercial art, not my art. Some fashion designers are artists and they create things because they have to create them. I enjoy creating something that has to fit in the box and be worn and sold. That’s one type of expression.

For this, I just felt I had to make this movie. And I’ve always thought I would be a good story-teller and that I have a lot more to say than what I can put in a fashion ad or on a runway so it was very important for me to do this and I hope I’m lucky enough of keep doing it every two or three years for the rest of my life. So it’s something I am really serious about.

Ford & Firth

The theme of visibility and invisibility came up a couple of times during the movie. What does that mean to you and why is that important?

Tom Ford: I think that George talks about minorities and being invisible and I think George’s character, who is a gay man in this particular moment, had to be invisible. It wasn’t anything that you could necessarily let the world know. It’s a bit of a key word when Jim says to George early on, “you’re always saying we’re invisible” And then he tries to kiss him and George is like “No, they might see us” so invisibility I think is what that particular minority and some minorities today still have to endure.

Ford and a slightly famous fan.

What are your thoughts on Rupert Everett’s comments that actors should stay in the closet if they want to have a big career, because straight actors can play gay people but gay actors are not usually hired as the leading man?

Tom Ford: I would love to hope that that’s changing but I don’t know. I guess maybe because I live in the rarified world of New York, L.A. and London, that I don’t actually ever think about gay or straight. If you ask me ten words to describe myself, oh yeah, I guess I’m gay. I don’t think about that.

I would love and hope that we could come to a moment in time where that wasn’t defining. I don’t know. It’s probably a hard question ask. You have to ask actors who are struggling with this. I would like to think this is not true, but it probably is still true.

Ford speaks.

The original novel, A Single Man, is dedicated to Gore Vidal. I was wondering, did you show the movie to him already?

Tom Ford: I didn’t. I am a huge fan of Gore Vidal. I sat next to him at a dinner once and he was so mean to me. So I realized Gore Vidal and I are just not going to be friends. So no, I dedicated my movie to Richard Buckley who I’ve lived with for the past 23 years.

Ford on the set, with men in plaid.

For the big phone call scene, did you put John Hamm on the phone as a 1962 in-joke?

Tom Ford: No, it’s so funny because I’m not allowed to mention the person on the other end of the phone’s name because I was sitting next to this person at a dinner party and I know him. I said I’m looping something tomorrow and your voice is perfect, would you come in and do it? And then his agent ripped me apart like you can’t imagine. So, all I can tell is I don’t know who’s voice that was in the film.

Nicholas Hoult, with his fashionable mentor.

How do you feel about the Oscar buzz building for the film?

Tom Ford: Live by the buzz, die by the buzzsaw. It’s wonderful to hear that people are responding to the film.

I love the movie, I’m so proud of it and it would be silly for me to tell you that I didn’t care that people were talking and saying nice things about potential awards. Anyone who says that to you is probably lying. But I’m really proud of the movie and that’s the most important thing to me.

In a flashback scene, Matthew Goode as Jim and Colin Firth as George.

I love the relationship between George and Jim. I thought it was one of the enviable relationships I’ve seen, be it gay, straight, whatever. Can you talk about how important it is for audiences to see that nowadays, with gay marriage issues being so prevalent?

Tom Ford: It’s very important and it was one of the reasons that I wanted to portray the relationship like that. Most of those scenes are not in the book because in the book we never really see Jim. The scene lying on the sofa with the dogs, that’s right out of my life, that’s me and boyfriend. I have to pay him to walk the dog and I have to pay him twenty bucks. I had to go back and make it $5 because we were in 1962.

But I still to this day, occasionally have a friend that will say something to me about my lifestyle. And I’m like, my lifestyle? I live with somebody that I love. We’ve been together for 23. We make dinner. We have arguments. He has to talk walk the dog. We go on vacation. So I don’t know. I think that it was important to just depict that. It’s love. Love is love for me.

A Single Man opens in select theaters on December 11th.