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Andrew Garfield, Tessa Thompson, Jared Leto, Leslie Odom Jr. & More Featured in W Magazine’s 2022 Best Performances Portfolio

Posted on January 13, 2022

This week we continue to celebrate W Magazine’s 2022 Best Performances Portfolio, honoring the stars at the forefront of cinema. Curated by W’s editor-at-large, Lynn Hirschberg, the Best Performances Portfolio features profiles with Andrew Garfield, Tessa Thompson, Jared Leto, Leslie Odom Jr., Simon Rex, Renate Reinsve, & Suzanna Son, photographed by Tim Walker and styled by W Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Sara Moonves. The portfolio also includes Dakota Johnson, Kirsten Dunst, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ruth Negga, Anthony Ramos, Alana Haim, Saniyya Sidney & Filippo Scotti.

Andrew Garfield

On how he felt about singing in his role for Tick, Tick…BOOM: “I had never sung before, and I needed to get my voice to the place where I could sing like Jonathan, to the back of the galaxy. His voice was a clarion call to remind us that life can have great meaning if we remember that it’s ephemeral.”

His thoughts on Stephen Sondheim: “I fell deeply in love with Stephen Sondheim’s work. Sondheim was a mentor to Jonathan. And I think Jon got Sondheim stoned for the first time in his life! He gave Sondheim his first joint at a party, which is hilarious.”

On the age she knew she wanted to act: “Zero old. Nothing old. I couldn’t wait. I grew up on sets. My parents were always working with these amazing artists, and I just loved it. I wanted to be a part of it.”

Tessa Thompson

On “passing” as white and if she’s been tempted: “No. I don’t think I could pass. But there are small ways in which you pass—like being in certain spaces as a light-skinned Black woman maybe doesn’t feel as threatening as it would be if I had darker skin. My Blackness, to me, has always felt beautiful. But depending on how much you don’t want to be otherized, you might be compelled to soften your edges a little bit, so that you can move through space with more ease. And that I understand, especially in Hollywood.”

Discussing the superhero skills for her upcoming role as Valkyrie: “She has weird skills, to be honest. She can sense when someone is close to death. And sometimes she can revive people. But when she revives people, she ends up in their body. Sometimes it can be quite erotic!”… “And she has superhuman strength. She is, essentially, god”

Jared Leto

On his first day on set with Al Pacino “On the first day of shooting, I showed up in character.”… “I was deep in Paolo Gucci, and on set, I saw my father, Aldo, played by Al Pacino. I went up and said, “Papa!” He looked at me and had no idea who I was, and basically said, “Fuck off,” and walked in the other direction. I said, “Maybe he’s playing the cold, distant father!” I went back up to him, and he brushed me off again. Then someone leaned into him and said, “Al, it’s Jared.” Pacino turned around, hit the floor, and raised his hands. He said, “My son! My god!” It was so touching. I thought, If he can look at me and see and believe in that character, then we’re off to the races.”

His favorite Al Pacino performance: “Dog Day Afternoon. But he never disappoints! In one scene in House of Gucci, he let me have it, and I’ll tell you, it’s ferocious. He made me shake with fear, but it was beautiful”

Leslie Odom Jr.

On his costumes for The Many Saints of Newark : “The clothes were all very tight, very hot knits. They were all vintage, and it was sometimes tough to fit in them, because our body types are different now. That amount of period detail is almost like cheating: You step on a set, and you’ve got the cars and the buildings and the wardrobe, and you have to use very little of your own imagination.”

On the soundtrack he created for his role: “Music was hugely important: I wanted to listen to what I thought he might be listening to, and I thought he might be a bit sophisticated. I was listening to lots of Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. The music gave me something of a bop in my walk.”

Simon Rex

On running naked in the street for his role in Red Rocket: “It’s funny! I mean, someone’s got to do it!”

On getting bored living in the desert: “Boring people get bored, and I’m not a boring person. But it is very slow out there. That’s the point.”

Renate Reinsve

On winning Best Actress at Cannes Film Festival last year: “I’m still smiling. It was surreal. Before this film, I had decided to quit acting forever and ever. Then, the next day, the director, Joachim Trier, called me. He said he had written this role for me, and that it was “the worst person in the world.” I said, “Perfect!”

Her cinematic crush growing up: “I was very, very nerdy. My crush was Viggo Mortensen in The Lord of the Rings. I saw that film maybe 13 times. Then I moved over to David Lynch. I saw Mulholland Drive 20 times. But there wasn’t anyone to fall in love with in that film!”

Suzanna Son

How it felt to act without clothes “Acting naked was freeing. Singing naked made me feel vulnerable. That was hard”

On her Instagram handle, @thestrawberrybutcher versus her nickname Strawberry in Red Rocket: “My Instagram username came from a serial killer name generator. And this was before the movie. My name came up as the Strawberry Butcher. I just thought it would be funny and creepy”