GQ USA 12.01 2022

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THE ULTIMATE
DAD SHOE
Debuted in a Justin
Bieber campaign,
the leather-free
Balenciaga Runner
is the latest surreal
smash-hit sneaker from
the smartest house
in fashion ($1,150).

A DIVER FIT FOR THE BIRKIN OF
SAILING SPEAKERS
With its entry-level This speaker set sounds
price and ultra-legit as good as it looks—
mechanical movement, for a rare foray into
the Seiko 5 has a cult tech, Hermès didn’t
following in the watch compromise on its
world. Given the preppy legendary leatherwork
Rowing Blazers ($26,000).
treatment, the beloved
HANDMADE timepiece is even more
LAMP covetable ($495).
Can’t decide on a
new ceramic vase or CROCHET LOGO ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA X LA SPORTIVA, BALENCIAGA, 8 MONCLER PALM ANGELS, SEIKO X ROWING BLAZERS, SAINT LAURENT RIVE DROIT, MONTBLANC, HÈRMES,
a handsome accent POUCH AND GIVENCHY: PHOTOGRAPHS, MARTIN BROWN; PROP STYLIST, SHARON RYAN FOR HALLEY RESOURCES. ALL OTHER PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF BRANDS.
lamp? Barcelona artist Givenchy creative
Marta Bonilla cleverly director Matthew
combines the two Williams might be known
with a hand-built base for his work with leather
and an artisanal raffia and metal hardware,
shade ($1,084). but this season he
used humble crochet to
PERFECT PINK create a bona fide It
PUFFER bag—or pouch (price
The Moncler Genius upon request).
program gives designers
like Palm Angels’ THE FERRARI
Francesco Ragazzi OF PENS
the keys to the storied Montblanc and F1 tire
outerwear house. The manufacturers Pirelli
results—like this dusty share a fanatical devotion
pink puffer with suede to testing and innovation,
detailing—speak for so naturally their limited-
themselves (8 Moncler edition collaborative
Palm Angels, $1,635). writing instrument has
been manufactured
ITALIAN-MADE COFFEE TABLE with super-car levels of
HIKERS CENTERPIECE precision ($2,790).
Two iconic Italian brands, Because you can’t fit
Ermenegildo Zegna Tom Ford’s legacy in savoir faire, so when
and La Sportiva, one book, the designer’s Anthony Vaccarello
joined forces to create second monograph introduced a line of
a hiking boot equally (published by Rizzoli) ceramics he naturally did
at home on the streets chronicles his post-Gucci so with Emaux de Longwy,
of Milan and the trails of career through 416 pages the historic faience
the Alps ($407). of images (many maker established in
previously unpublished) 1798 (Saint Laurent
and personal Rive Droite, $895).
commentary ($135).

48 GQ.COM MOTY 2021

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TIGER-STRIPE RUNWAY-WORTHY WAFFLE-KNIT
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If there’s a more surefire For the third generation By combining youthful
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Statesman’s wavy Samsung, Thom classic forms (cardigans),
cashmere beanies, Browne looked to iconic Supreme has become
a staple of winter USA Olympics uniforms one of the most powerful
wardrobes from Santa of the past and dressed forces in menswear
Monica to the Big Apple, the Galaxy Watch4 in (price upon request).
we’ve not found it ($675). matte white with red and
blue accents ($800).
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With mega-print mash- PRO-GRADE
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ROCKET SHIP HORN HATER FRANK’S
CARRY-ON BLOCKERS FAVORITE SCARF
There are Rimowa For Brunello Frank Ocean’s fashion
suitcases for business Cucinelli’s first-ever brand Homer launched
travel and then there collaboration, the don in August with a playful
are Rimowa suitcases of Dolce Vita linked up pop line of jewelry
for commercial space with Oliver Peoples and these equally fun
travel. This—available to create molto sprezzy luxurious silk scarves
in an edition of 750—is frames available in ($460).
decidedly the latter acetate and ultra-rare
($1,690). genuine horn ($593).

SHEARLING A SEXY SCENT INKY PEARLS
SLIDES The Polo Bar is still one Creamy white pearl
Leave it to Jonathan of the toughest tables necklaces have firmly
Anderson, the man who in NYC, but Ralph entered the menswear
practically created the Lauren’s sophisticated lexicon (more on
market for hype slides, to Ralph’s Club fragrance page 122). Mikimoto’s
craft the next must-have doesn’t require a badass black South
mules (Loewe, $790). secret handshake to Sea cultured pearl
apply ($110). necklace is the next
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adornment ($23,900).

50 GQ.COM MOTY 2021

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GQ World
Fashion

How the
erstwhile
superhero—
and perpetual
seeker—
fashioned
himself into
one of
Hollywood’s
finest actors
on his own
soulful terms.

By SAM
SCHUBE

GROOMING, DANA BOYER AT THE WALL GROUP FOR DYSON. TAILORING, SAMANTHA
MCELRATH AT CAROL AI STUDIO. SET DESIGN, JACOB BURSTEIN FOR MHS ARTISTS.

54 GQ.COM MOTY 2021 PHOTOGRAPHS BY KATIE MCCURDY
STYLED BY MOBOLAJI DAWODU

When you choose paper products, you’re playing a part
in a circle of caring that shows nature some heart.

When you choose paper products, you create a healthy market for forest products, which in turn
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From the Makers of Paper and Packaging © 2021 and ® Paper and Packaging Board. Please recycle your paper and boxes.

GQ World
Fashion

T ’ S N O T that playing themselves and reveal who they are and charming and game, so he previous page
to themselves and to everyone, and quickly began booking parts on tele-
I Spider-Man wasn’t fun, to have it witnessed by a group of 90 vision and then in films. He blew up Vest, $805, and
Andrew Garfield says. dudes, some of whom are hard-core seemingly in an instant, making an turtleneck
No, playing Spider- motherfuckers,” he says. He loved it. impression not just with audiences (price upon
Man—which he did in Particularly the chance it o≠ered to but with Hollywood’s most discern- request) by
two films, preceded in his red-and- shed his celebrity, to just be Andrew: ing arbiters of talent too. “Certain Prada.
blue spandex by Tobey Maguire another guy trying to figure out who actors, with very little time or e≠ort,
and followed by Tom Holland—was he was, and who he wanted to be. are able to create a ‘relationship’ with this page
great. It was all the stu≠ that came the audience—like empathic symbi-
along with being Spidey that he This propensity for searching—for osis,” David Fincher, who directed Coat, $4,250,
couldn’t stand. trying on di≠erent perspectives and Garfield in 2010’s The Social Network, shirt, $2,150,
Before he even agreed to star in new approaches—first found expres- wrote to me in an all-caps, frequently and pants,
2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man, he sion, for Garfield, in the U.K. theater bolded email. “The people watching $1,990, by
worried about this—about the way scene of his youth, where he discov- are immediately embroiled emotion- The Row.
the job seemed certain to transform ered that acting might be a vehicle ally—but it’s not a learned trick, it’s Shoes, $850,
him into a public figure and upend for communing with a kind of higher a miraculous gift.” Garfield’s friend by Christian
his life. But he said yes anyway, and power. Today, still boyish and earnest Laura Dern puts it this way: “As an Louboutin.
then watched with mounting panic as at 38, he describes the theater as the actor, it’s an incredible thing to work Necklaces
the role basically consumed his life. place he feels “most alive, and in line with another actor whose Richter (top), $2,800,
Garfield was shooting his second with what I’m supposed to do on this scale for honesty is so pure.” (bottom),
Spider-Man film, in 2013, when he earth at the time being.” $8,000, and
realized he had reached a breaking Dern and Garfield got to know each ring, $2,950,
point. It felt excessive—the money, But he didn’t stay confined to the other while making an independent by David
the fame, the attention. They were theater for long; he was handsome Yurman.
filming in New York City, Spidey’s
ancestral home. Garfield and his
costar, Emma Stone, were dating at
the time and had become a tier-one
paparazzi magnet. He felt an urgent
need to get his feet planted firmly on
the ground.
He happened to reach this obser-
vation about the corrosive qualities
of fame while sitting at the bar of
the since-shuttered Tribeca branch
of Nobu, the celebrity-beloved sushi
chain. (“Like a fancy fucker, oh, gosh,”
he says now, laughing.) As a sort of
protective balm for his psyche, he’d
gotten into the work of Michael
Meade, a scholar of mythology. “It’s
all about calling and soul and des-
tiny,” he explains. “Living true to the
self.” There at the restaurant, reading
one of Meade’s books and thinking
about the ways his career seemed to
be getting in the way of his life, he
decided a new approach was called
for. So he signed himself up for the
annual men’s retreat Meade held in
Northern California.
A few months later, Garfield
found himself piloting a rental car
down a “long fucking road into the
wilderness,” losing cell service and
staring down the barrel of six days
in the woods with 90 men he didn’t
know. What happened next, he says,
was exactly what he’d been looking
for. “People start to really dive into

56 GQ.COM MOTY 2021



GQ World adaptation of Larson’s autobiograph-
Fashion ical musical Tick, Tick… Boom!

Inhabiting the sordid psyche of
Bakker wasn’t simple; it was “the big-
gest stretch I’ve ever had as an actor,”
Garfield says. And the role of Larson
tested him in di≠erent ways: For all
Garfield’s theatrical experience, he’d
never done a musical. But he had a
year and a half to prepare before
shooting, and he assured Miranda
that he could learn how to sing.

But as Miranda tells me, learning
to sing like Larson presented a unique
challenge. “Composers sing their shit
in a di≠erent way than musical the-
ater performers, for better or worse,”
he says. “We certainly don’t sound as
good as the people we hire to sing our
songs, but there’s a di≠erent kind of
commitment. There’s kind of a full-
body thing, because we’ve had to play
this shit for backers’ auditions. We
have to throw everything we have at
it.” Garfield needed to develop the raw
singing ability—and then, as Miranda
puts it, sing it like the person who
thought those words up.

For months, Garfield took singing
lessons: “Just kind of in a room, freak-
ing out,” he says. The funny thing, he
adds, is that learning how to sing isn’t

above film around the time he was finish-
ing up with Spider-Man. They’re still
Sweater, close—Dern fondly recalls a road trip
$1,550, and up California’s Highway 1 spent lis-
shirt, $690, tening to Cat Stevens and John Prine,
by Saint and she occasionally goes to Garfield
Laurent by for parenting advice, despite Garfield
Anthony not having children—but at the time,
Vaccarello. she was struck by the way he was
Rings, $1,350 thinking through his post-Spidey life.
each, by “I just think it speaks to his integrity
Bernard James. that he was like, ‘Whoa, this is one of
those moments where people can find
right or lose themselves, so I’m going to sign
up for the finding journey,’ ” she says.
Coat (price
upon request) B E C A U S E H E W O R K E D so hard to
by Amiri. remove himself from the machinery
Sweater, $450, of celebrity, it’s with some trepidation
by Paul Smith. that Garfield is stepping back into the
Pants, $630, public eye this fall. He’s playing the
by Dries disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker in
Van Noten. The Eyes of Tammy Faye. And then
Boots, $460, he’s portraying Jonathan Larson,
by Grenson. the creator of Rent, in Lin-Manuel
Miranda’s directorial debut: the

58 GQ.COM MOTY 2021

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GQ World really about learning how to sing. “It’s Jonathan Larson,” Miranda says. “You deepened that conviction. “There’s an
learning how to release your voice, to have to understand: Jonathan Larson acute awareness of just the ephemeral
Fashion be able to reach notes and be able to was the kind of guy who would write nature of this. And that is what gives it
control it. Open it up—peel away the himself existential questions, and all meaning. I think the consideration
Blazer, $1,550, layers of the onion, basically, so that then write songs as the responses of what’s going on behind everything
and pants, your voice is liberated.” to those existential questions. How is the only thing I’m interested in.”
$550, by Winnie. do you measure a year? emerges as
Tank top, $42 As Larson, Garfield is liberated. ‘525,600 minutes.’ I think Andrew That’s what makes this latest
for pack of two, The film centers on the composer found a kindred spirit in that, because stretch seem so treacherous. Garfield’s
by Calvin Klein before he’s written Rent, with his Jonathan became a way for him to ask years of self-work might ensure that
Underwear. worries of unfulfilled potential man- those big questions too.” this process won’t rearrange his soul
Shoes (price ifesting as a ticking sound in his the way Spider-Man did, but getting
upon request) head. Garfield’s Larson is all hair and Garfield has found that sort of these films out into the world is none-
by Fendi. elbows and big belting voice in his work to be the thing that helps give theless beginning to dredge up all the
Necklace, attempts to quiet it down. It’s a showy his life meaning. “I find spiritual pur- stu≠ that used to drive him crazy. The
$320, by David part, but one that also allowed him suit to be the only pursuit, really, for fact that people keep asking if he’s in
Yurman. to get at the deeper ideas he’s long me,” he says. “And that’s with my work the new Spider-Man, despite his con-
tackled in his work. “Andrew Garfield and otherwise.” He lost his mother stant denials, doesn’t help. (“I am not,”
as a searcher has met his match in not long ago, and her passing only he tells me.) He hasn’t worked inten-
sively since 2018, and he’s become
comfortable not working: He’s been
renovating his home in London,
turning the basement into a sort of
minimalist zen chamber. He’s been
swimming and practicing woodwork-
ing. He isn’t sure how this reentry into
the world of celebrity is going to go.

“A lot’s changed since then,” he
says. “Like losing my mum, and my
psyche being totally rearranged by
that. And life taking on a completely
di≠erent hue and texture and color.
And my inner being totally di≠erent.
Tasting things di≠erently. Hearing.
Smell. It’s all di≠erent. Nothing’s the
same.” So now he’s this newly formed
person—one we haven’t met before,
but about whom we presume to know
plenty—reemerging into the world.

Underneath all of this is, of course,
the work. The possibility, however
rare, of submitting to something
shaggy and weird and altogether
consciousness reordering. The
possibility—available from the the-
ater, but even from Spider-Man too—
of a life-changing interaction with a
piece of art. “That thing of when you
read a great piece of literature and
you feel the author reaching their
hand through and putting it on yours
and saying, ‘Me too’—it’s that feeling,”
he says. When everything else seems
a little too big, a little too bright and
loud and pointed in the wrong direc-
tion, there is still, at the end of the
day, this.

It’s why you put up with all the
other stu≠, he says, growing expansive
and speaking rapidly. “That existential
anxiety dissipates, and you suddenly
remember your belonging,” he says.
“You suddenly remember you deserve
to be here. There’s no such thing as
‘deserve,’ actually. Deserve is a con-
struct. We’re here. And we’re meant to
be here. And so let’s be here fully.”

sam schube is gq’s deputy
site editor.

60 GQ.COM MOTY 2021



GQ World Top: Golding enjoying PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF HENRY GOLDING.
a pre-red-carpet
Watches meal wearing a Cartier
Tank. Middle and
Watches bottom: Showing off
Worthy of his “flashy” Patek
a Leading Philippe Nautilus 5711.
Man
It’s really bad to say this, but some-
Henry Golding, who blew times it is a power move to wear that
his first big paycheck on a watch. If you’re going to these big
Cartier Pasha, is looking meetings with CEOs, your watch is
for the next excuse to add a statement. But taste in watches is
to his collection. much more powerful than the price
of a watch. So for me to rock up to
O S T W A T C H enthusi- these crazy hedge fund guys and I’m
wearing my Nautilus, I feel like it
M asts get creative when garners more attention than having
they have to travel with a blinged-out diamond-studded crazy
their timepieces. On thing on your wrist.
a recent afternoon,
Henry Golding brought his growing You also have a Cartier Tank, which
collection to a Venice, California, is arguably one of the most classic
co≠ee shop rolled inside ankle socks, designs of all time.
which were stu≠ed in a Tumi toilet- The Tank goes with everything. You
ries case tucked inside an Arc’teryx could wear it casually or you can
tote bag. Not entirely surprising, wear it with a tuxedo—it’s just time-
considering the 34-year-old actor less. This one I got for the Crazy Rich
was once a travel-show host whose Asians premiere. I’d always wanted
timepieces had to hold up to treks this particular watch and an occasion
up the Mekong. In fact, the host gig to wear it. It’s not too audacious, it’s
fueled his nascent watch obsession— not too in your face. It’s a gold watch,
Golding spent an entire season’s pay- but it doesn’t say, Hey, look at me.
check buying his first luxury watch, I got a gold watch on. It’s classic.
a Cartier Pasha. “I wasn’t too proud
of that at the time,” he says. And then What do you think about how a
he got his big break, a starring role lot of men are now wearing steel
in Crazy Rich Asians, and bought a sports watches to formal events
Cartier Tank. — C A M W O L F like red carpets?
Yeah, that’s a big no-no. There are only
You have a very Cary Grant–esque a couple sports watches you can get
persona, and all of your watches away with wearing to a fancy event.
strike me as leading man watches.
Were you conscious of that when So you’ve got the holy grail
building your collection? watches covered with the Tank,
You know what that is? It’s classic- a Rolex GMT, and a Nautilus—
ness. We’re talking about a day and To be honest, these are the ones that
age where leading men were stoic, you want.
brave, manly, but not toxic. Refined.
Then in terms of the watch choices, And then you have a relatively
these are the ones that will stand the accessible watch in the Tudor
test of time, that I will still be wearing Black Bay. What’s the story there?
in 30 years. I mean, the flashiest watch It’s one of my favorite watches because
I own is the [Patek Philippe] Nautilus. my wife gave it to me on my wedding
A lot of people see that and are just day. At the time I was still a travel
like, “Eh.” But the watch collector is host, so I needed something that I
like, “Oh, shit.” could go through the jungles with,
I could go diving with. This was six
Do you have to think about the months before Crazy Rich Asians,
connotations of wearing a Nautilus so this reminds me of a time when
before putting it on in the morning? things were somewhat simpler, in a
weird way. This represents another
62 GQ.COM MOTY 2021 lifetime for me. So whenever I wear
it, it grounds me and brings me back.

You consider trudging through the
jungle to be a simpler life?
You would imagine it wouldn’t be, but
it was very di≠erent.





Created by the editors of ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST, PHOTO BY PAUL RAESIDE

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PRODUCED BY CONDÉ NAST FOR

™

Twelve explorers go gonzo on the Harley-Davidson
Pan America™ in six breathtaking rides through six countries.
Their common mission: stomping terra—and chasing thrills.

Follow the adventure on Instagram @hdpanamerica.

Harley-Davidson, H-D, Harley, Pan America and the Bar &
Shield Logo are among the trademarks of H-D U.S.A., LLC



MORE THAN A DECADE BEFORE he becam odds, alleviate the heat (we’re on target to r Harley-Davidson, H-D, Harley, Pan America and the Bar &
known to the wide world as the impossibly addled degrees Fahrenheit this afternoon), we hea Shield Logo are among the trademarks of H-D U.S.A., LLC
author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter riding through Red Rock Canyon, a multic
S. Thompson wrote a letter to a high school friend array of sandstone peaks where people of o
who had asked him for some advice on navigating another—the word “indigenous” would hav
the sticky wicket of life. “Beware of looking for goals,” six different meanings here—have been living for more
Hunter answered. “Look for a way of life. Decide how than 10,000 years. And then we head south to the
you want to live and then see what you can do shadeless expanse of the Mojave Desert, feeling the
to make a living within that way of life.” hot wind rush through us as the asphalt unfolds long,
rolling ribbons as far as the eye can see.
Thirty-three years after Hunter wrote that letter,
I was reinventing how I wanted to live and chose to The story here becomes long, and our time here
make my living working with Hunter as his assistant is short. Suffice to say that we find our way into an
occasionally his bodyguard and confidant, his friend abandoned gold mine next to a sandlot filled with
and eventually his editor. “Buy the ticket, take the ancient airplanes and husks of long-ago cars. (In that
ride,” Hunter famously wrote—and he wasn’t kidding abandoned mine, our only light a candle torch, we met
In his company I experienced the visceral power—an an old man who asked us, with a wizened eye: “You
the occasional sheer terror—of living life without know what they say about Vegas?” We simply stared
boundaries, rules, or limitations. Living it, in short, back. “The desert—it solves a lot of problems.” We
exactly as you wanted to: not easy, perhaps, but free. quickly excused ourselves and left the mine.) We strum
guitars in haylofts and are chased by a rattlesnake
The way of life I’m interested in pursuing at the in the yard of an old house nearby, which harbors a
moment, though, is one which sees me riding the
heat-stricken streets and boulevards of Las Vegas,
where Hunter conjured his most famous work out o
the raw materials of the city, on a Harley-Davidson
Pan America™. I call up my running buddy Damon to
see if he’ll join me, and thank God: Damon is the kind
of musician who writes his best songs when pushing
horsepower down a highway, and he’s down to ride
Vegas with me—but he’s more interested in pushing
the quest forward than looking backward. Where does
gonzo live in 2021, and how can we grab onto its tail?
We stomp terra, Hunter was fond of saying—a wild-
eyed and supremely American update of the staid and
somewhat shopworn carpe diem.

First, though, those ghosts: Damon and I pull into
Vegas’s Neon Museum, where the city’s legendary
electrified signs—after serving as siren songs
for decades of hopes and dreams and lusts and
yearnings—find the sort of afterlife they deserve. I’ll be
honest: stalking these towering and iconic pieces from
legendary casinos of yore—if you’ve ever seen a period
movie set on the Las Vegas Strip, you know these neon
signs—sends a chill up my spine, particularly when
Damon and I, after a long, brooding silence, say the
same thing to each other at the same time: “If these
signs could talk…”

It soon becomes apparent that the only solution
is to flee—far, fast, and quick. Thinking (idiotically,
it soon turns out) that leaving Las Vegas and its
neon and its electrical grid will somehow, against all

ADVERTISEMENT

freezer full of more rattlesnakes, and we chase each reserve of ice water from somewhere, and pours it over
other through sinuous winding roads, and we return his head.
to the city in darkness and in triumph, parading down
Las Vegas Boulevard’s sea of neon like conquering “I’m not sure what we were looking for, and I’m
heroes returning from a great battle just as chain not sure if we found it or not,” he said, back in the
lightning charges the sky behind us. air-conditioned bosom of Las Vegas. I beg to differ: I
think we absolutely found it. We stomped terra. We did
A funny thing happens, though, before we find our it by rolling toward nothing so much as the horizon;
way back: Damon suddenly veers left off the highway we did it by escaping from something and escaping
and into the ditch—I follow him instinctively. There to something, and it was the getting there and the
is no sign, no posted rules, no official entry point. getting back—and the tales told back at the bar—that
Instead, in front of us are 20 square miles of caked forged a path of our own making. Mostly, though,
and cracked dirt on a dry lake bed that call out to us: it was that dry lake bed, heat be damned: Put that
Ride me. Wordlessly, Damon and I grip it and rip it,
spewing up rooster tails of dirt and feeling our back United States should be Don’t fence me in.
wheels dance. We’d probably still be there now, in fact,
had the surface temperature not read 130 degrees. BY COREY SEYMOUR
Damon eventually leaps from his bike, digs out some

THE RE
AC

OFF
FIELD.

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THE

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GQ World Fashion is back! So are the
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Style SANDERS

Washington, D.C.,
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After the planet’s
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74 GQ.COM MOTY 2021

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76 GQ.COM MOTY 2021

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London, September
The bow tie, the
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80 GQ.COM MOTY 2021



MUSICIAN
OF THE
YEAR

How Lil Nas X conquered PHOTOGRAPHS BY
one-hit-wonderdom to become PARI DUKOVIC

a master of attention. STYLED BY
MOBOLAJI DAWODU
BY JEREMY O. HARRIS

82 GQ.COM MOTY 2021



JEREMY O. HARRIS: I feel an affinity like, the best option. I’m not sure how
for you. Because part of the reason comfortable Nicki would have felt with that
my play Slave Play got so popular was video or whatnot.
because I worked outside of the normal
bounds of what people do in the theater. Who have you been dating?
LIL NAS X: I got to check it out. Boys. Boys. Boys.

On the internet they call me an So, no girls. I thought you were dating
“influencer playwright,” and that’s their girls?
way of diminishing me and what I do. I stopped dating girls.
What’s wrong with “influencer,” though?
Why does influencer have such a Because I’m older than you, I can give you
bad connotation? dating advice. The first thing I thought
when I listened to “Montero (Call Me by
Why do you think it does? Your Name)” was it’s a really sad song.
Really? I was not in the space that I needed
L I L N A S X — Montero, Monte, or Nas to the Because there’s a new age of celebrities, to be in for “Call Me by Your Name.”

friends he still has—knew before I even and I don’t think a lot of people are I worried about you, especially when you
said, “I only fuck the ones I envy.”
arrived at the San Vicente Bungalows in comfortable with it. But I think it’s great. I wanna fuck the ones I envy.

West Hollywood that he was where he was I feel like it’s knocking down the walls. That song is sublime and I think it’s one
of the clearest articulations of queer
meant to be. No one had to tell him who I I feel like anybody can be a celebrity. I yearning I’ve ever heard. People don’t
think about how sad it is.
was. The universe had informed him, as he know a lot of people see that as a bad thing, It was so desperate.

arrived and saw his lucky numbers—7 and but people have to work harder to stay in It was also about falling in love with a
straight boy.
9—on the license plate of the car in front of this place. I feel every single gay person’s fallen in love
with a straight person.
him, that his future depended on him being
One hundred percent. But it happens
here, right now. I’m sure you felt that when your album, in that time frame between 17 and 24.
And then you wake up and get out of it.
His detractors thought he was going to Montero, didn’t go No. 1. I understand exactly what you’re saying. I’ve
definitely jumped out of that. I don’t even
fade away after “Old Town Road.” And yet I did feel like that, then I got out of it and like talking to DL boys anymore, you know?

Lil Nas X has been, for both hip-hop and pop all I thought about was how blessed I Gay on the low. Gay, gay, gay. Gay on
the low.
culture, a destabilizing force—a “trickster,” if am. About where I was three years ago. Gay on the low.

you will—who has changed the face of how Nobody even thought that I would be here. Are you an Azealia Banks fan?
I actually am.
we do what we do, and who gets to do it, for- Everybody was like, “One-hit-wonder this,
Put her on a song.
ever. Never before has there been a pop artist one-hit-wonder that.” And now it’s amazing Azealia shits on me too much, though! And
I think it’s funny in a way. I still love Azealia
who is so far from the “powers that be” who that my competition was Drake. Banks’s music.

has, through both will and ingenuity, placed You said that you’re having a good day.
What’s made it a good day?
themself squarely in the center of those Your competition was fucking Drake. I’m just excited for the future. Just
setting habits for myself. Handling things
powers. Lil Nas X is reminiscent Drake, with this huge album differently. You know, I love self-help books.
They genuinely help. I’m setting systems
of Bugs Bunny, of Brer Rabbit, of ←← and the most first-week sales of for myself instead of goals. Working out
more and whatnot. Trying to improve my
Papa Legba, of Anansi—someone PREVIOUS PAGE, the year. Plus, Drake’s my idol. stamina onstage. I’m back to drinking this
water. In the studio a lot. Always trying
who conjures chaos and uses it to LEFT There are too many other wins to experiment and try new things and never
command our attention. And few to be upset. try to make the same song over again. Yeah,
things have commanded as much dress (price all of that.
attention as Montero, his first stu- upon request) When you were working on the
dio album and arguably the most Dior Haute Couture album, how many times did the
important piece of art produced people you reached out to for
this year. earring features say, “No thank you”?
$65,000 for pair I don’t usually ask for features
When I arrived, Nas was like that. But for every feature
wearing an all-black sweat suit Thelma West

necklace
(price upon request)

Gucci High

ensemble that telegraphed to me Jewelry I did ask for on this album,

that he wasn’t concerned with bracelet like every single one of them

trying to impress. I immediately ring worked…besides Drake and
admired this and greeted him (prices upon request) Nicki [Minaj].
with a smile, and he embraced
Chrome Hearts

me. “I—I’m treating this like my PREVIOUS PAGE, Wait, you asked Drake and

first date with you,” I said before RIGHT Nicki?
I could stop myself. Yes.
tuxedo $5,990
“So this is our first date?” he shirt $795 What songs would you want
asked, smiling. My heart began them on?
to flutter. “Yeah. Get it over with. bow tie $270 I didn’t ask them directly. I
We’re on a date,” I said, finding cummerbund $490 wanted Nicki on “Industry Baby”
my footing, my confidence, again. and I wanted Drake on “Dolla
Tom Ford Sign Slime” with Megan [Thee
“Nice,” he responded just as Stallion]. Yeah, but you know, I
a waiter arrived and asked us watch $63,850
for our drinks. A water for him. Rolex

earring $2,400
bracelet (price
upon request)

An Aperol spritz for me. And so Chrome Hearts feel like things always work out.

we began. ring, stylist’s own Jack Harlow ended up being,

84 GQ.COM MOTY 2021

dress (price
upon request)
Tomo Koizumi

Couture

earring $2,665
Maria Tash

necklace (price
upon request)
Louis Vuitton

bracelet (price
upon request)

Bulgari

ring $1,100
David Yurman

So, changing systems.
And boys.

Let’s get to the boys. So, I know what it’s
like now to become a respected gay in a
very quick amount of time where, all of
a sudden, you’re a blue-check gay who
everyone now knows. And all of a sudden
the DMs look different.
My DMs are all out of order. Which is lucky,
because I do get horny and I’m like, “Let’s
see who’s the hottest person in this thing.”
But you know, luckily I don’t really do that.
I only did that once, maybe.

Was that a Grindr? Or was that a DM?
No, I can’t do Grindr anymore. I’d get
murdered. I’d literally probably get murdered.

Have you dated anyone properly since?
I did. I started actually dating my last
boyfriend this past year, who I’m still on
really good terms with. I love him to death.
He’s the best. I feel it was the most serious
relationship I’ve ever had.

What happened?
It’s a responsibility. I’ve been wanting
somebody for so long and wanting
somebody to love for so long, but it’s a
real responsibility. And you have to
give this person your time. And I like to
go missing for like a week to focus…not
talk to anyone and focus on myself.
And I’m more in love with what I’m doing
than people.

The idea that right now you’re most in I don’t think I have been lying much lately. to the music industry, and this is going to
love with your work, but you do still have I mean, at least not the past year. ruin everything for me.”
this yearning to be affirmed and loved by
someone else. Do you feel those things are You created a whole fiction around not Being gay or being behind a Nicki
going to be in conflict for a long time? running a popular Nicki Minaj fan account. fan account?
I feel I still want to hang out with guys every That’s probably the last lie I’ve told publicly. Both. Mainly being gay. That was the main
now and then. I don’t want anything that’s— thing I was most afraid of.
not to be a whore or anything—but I don’t What did it feel like when you saw
want anything that’s like, “I need your time people figuring that out? Were you like, Something seems to be happening
right now.” Oh, they’re going to know I’m gay? where you’re hearing what people are
It was so much anxiety. Like I literally responding to in your art, and then you’re
Sometimes when you get sad or whatnot, felt like, “Oh, my God, this is like a setup. like, “Great, let’s use that—this is more
you just want to go with somebody and And I’m going to die soon.” It was fuel for the fire.” There’s a troll aspect to
cuddle and kiss and hug. And I love to do much darker in my head than people your work.
that. But ultimately, I feel I’ve gotten to a were probably seeing. And it was It’s like a blessing and a curse, you know?
place where I have enough love for me also like, “Damn, I’ve been working hard, ’Cause sometimes, those [negative
that I can focus on myself. And when the like not sleeping, and I just made it responses] can take a toll on your mental,
time comes [for love], I’m not going to force
it or anything. There’ll be somebody, and
I’ll say: “Okay, I want to make this
person a priority.”

Do you like creating fictions online?
I love creating fiction in everything that I do. It
makes things fun.

For you, what’s the best thing that you
dropped into the world as a fact that is
maybe a lie?

86 GQ.COM MOTY 2021

“When I feel
like I shouldn’t

do it, I feel
like that’s
when I should
definitely go

for it.”

LEFT You are an atheist.
I was. And 66 meant, like, “You need to
jacket ground yourself, spend time with family,” and
shirt stuff like that. And I’m not going to lie, I had a
pants plan that was like, “Okay, I made it. Now I can
focus fully on being what I have to be, and
bow tie I’ll send my family stuff every now and then.”
(prices upon But I wasn’t making plans to go and see them
and hang out. So I started making calls. I was
request) like, “Okay, I want to set up a family reunion.”
Atelier Versace
After that, I started seeing the number 79
shoes $1,095 everywhere. I kid you not. I call for an Uber,
Christian and every single license plate has 79 on it in
Louboutin front of me. Every single one. I felt lifted, like,
“Oh, this is definitely divine.” That’s when
earring (price I felt like my spiritual journey started, and
upon request) that’s the reason why I came out.
Giorgio Armani
High Jewelry So it’s 7 or 9 now. And you looked down
at your phone and—
RIGHT It’s always going to appear. When I got
here and I pulled up, the car right in front
suit of us had a 7 and 9. It’s like right place,
shirt right time.
(prices upon
request) Does that mean this interview is a
Dolce & Gabbana good omen?
Alta Sartoria It just means I’m in the right place at the
right time.
boots $1,250
Jimmy Choo Was it a hard decision to bring your family
into your music? Specifically mentioning
earring your mother in a song.
$2,150 for pair It was a difficult decision because initially,
David Yurman when I came into the music industry, I never
wanted anything about my family life or home
especially if you’re already in a bad mood. When did 7 or 9 become your numbers? life to be out there. But then as the pandemic
But you can also take it and create art The most magical thing ever happened. was going on, I was kind of thinking, “We’re
with it. And that’s like the best position It was like around the time of “Old Town all human beings. We all have similar
to be in, because I get to take all this Road” and I kept seeing the number 66. experiences. I’m sure there’s somebody out
shit and make something good out of it. I kept seeing a number 66 everywhere—66, there with the exact same situation as me.”
66, 66. I was in an Uber, the license plate So I might as well open up my life. I want to
So like in a lot of mythologies, especially in front of me is 66. I get up for a breakfast build a fan base of honesty and authenticity.
Western African mythologies, there thing: This guy in front of me had a shirt And I was like, I have to go there. When I feel
are these trickster figures. Deities that that had 66 on the back. I motherfucking like I shouldn’t do it, I feel like that’s when
create a little bit of chaos. And I feel like get the bill for what we just paid for: 66 I should definitely go for it.
you’re a manifestation or reincarnation behind the decimal. Sit at the table, 66 for
of one of those trickster figures. the table number. And I’m like, “What the You should. For me, the rule I gave
I feel like that’s definitely possible. I feel fuck, is somebody pranking me?” myself is write to be canceled. Right?
like the universe is definitely using me as
an instrument for a lot of shit. But it’s still And then I genuinely get scared for a
honest. I mean, it’s been crazy. Like, 7 or 9 second. I looked it up like, “What the fuck
are my numbers… does 66 mean?” I’ve always been an atheist.
I was an atheist—

MOTY 2021 GQ.COM 87

Don’t write to be safe because safety mention of shit that’s actually happening something. Also, because I wasn’t willing
is the death of anything interesting. with my family. to open up about that. If that would have
It’s the death of art. happened at that time, I don’t feel like I’d be
Boys of separated parents, especially here right now.
Because it’s so much better to fail in the South, are put into situations
after frightening yourself than to win where your primary caregiver was your I’m so interested because I feel like
being safe. father. And I think a lot of men don’t so much of your high school world is
That’s why I feel like this year is probably know how to do that in their fullness, peppered throughout the album.
the most important, or feels like the right? Because men are only taught I was such a poseur.
best, because it’s real. It wasn’t safe. I’m how to be half of a dad.
so used to being safe on everything. I feel like my relationship with my dad is What do you mean?
closer now, but growing up, it just wasn’t I was still myself, but I was such a poseur
When have you been safe? When have you there as much. Nothing like where I feel too. I would fit in, get into the crowd of the
been the safest in your career so far? like I can open up to him or anything. very dudes who would shit on me if they
My entire first EP. I was like, “Okay, knew my secret.
let’s do a bunch of stuff and not anything You think part of that fear of opening up
too crazy.” I even have a song named was that he kind of knew you were gay? Were these the rap boys or the music boys?
“Family” on the EP. It’s like a pop/rock song I think he probably definitely had his Rap boys.
or whatever. And there’s not one actual moments of “He’s definitely gay” or
Would you sit in a circle and just freestyle
coat with people?
shirt I would do that sometimes. It was fun.
Those guys are still my friends. Well, not
tie all of them. But they’re still my friends,
tie bar and I still appreciate them. And I try to
(prices upon remember sometimes we’re all raised in
request ) ways that really shape how we see people.
Balenciaga Couture And I’m always trying to be forgiving of
people and understand that they treat
glasses (price people a certain way because they think
upon request) they’re doing the right thing.

Balenciaga I think you really are a part of the
hypermasculine breakdowns that have
earring (price been happening in hip-hop recently.
upon request) I think that’s certainly true. I’m not going
Giorgio Armani to lie, I feel bad for DaBaby. I hope he
High Jewelry grows from it. I hope he’s able to. But I
don’t know. The whole landscape is very
ring $1,100 hypermasculine. It’s so great and so amazing
David Yurman that all these female rappers are breaking
through. And, in a way, female rappers are
the biggest rappers right now.

That’s another reason male artists are
going crazy and feeling broken, right?
For the first time ever, there’s not just
one Lil’ Kim. There’s seven Lil’ Kims and a
Missy Elliott. They can’t keep up. Because
none of them are Jay-Z or Kanye, and they
all know that.
I don’t want to shit on anybody. I don’t know.
Jay-Z wasn’t always a Jay-Z. Kanye wasn’t
always a Kanye. I do feel like this newer
generation of rappers who are coming in,
and the ones who are here, are going to have
to reshape their thoughts. Because change
is happening. There’s going to be so many
gay rappers. There’s going to be more trans
people in the industry and whatnot. Ten
years from now, everything that I’m doing
won’t even seem like it was shocking.

jeremy o. harris is a writer, an actor,
and a playwright.

photographs LEFT
captured on
Samsung Galaxy S21 dress (price
Ultra 5G. hair by upon request)
@staceykutzlive. Fendi Couture
skin by grace pae
using dior capture earrings
totale crème. $80,000
manicure by kimmie necklace
kyees for the wall $350,000
group. tailoring Tiffany & Co.
by tatyana sargsyan
and yelena travkina. rail link
set design by bracelet
wooden ladder. $22,000
produced by julia chain link
epstein-norris at bracelet
circadian pictures. $19,800
Shay Jewelry

RIGHT

tuxedo $5,990
shirt $795

bow tie $270
cummerbund $490

Tom Ford
shoes $650
Paul Stuart

earring
$14,400
for pair
Dior Fine
Jewelry
ring (on left
hand) $21,200
Jacob & Co.
ring (on right
hand) $1,100
bracelet $950
David Yurman

MOTY 2021 GQ.COM 89

BY OLIVER FRANKLIN-WALLIS

SUPERHERO OF THE YEAR

Tom Holland was 19 when he first PHOTOGRAPHS BY
appeared as Spider-Man and became his SHARIF HAMZA
generation’s biggest leading man. Now he
holds the keys to the Marvel Cinematic STYLED BY
Universe—that is, if he still wants them. MOBOLAJI DAWODU



“ T H I S I S G O I N G to sound like complete so for now we’re talking over Zoom. It’s an Marvel’s increasingly byzantine cinematic
bullshit, but I swear to you that this is true,” unusual time for the actor, a rare pause. Since universe with Sony’s own equally convoluted
Tom Holland says. “Have you ever heard of he landed the part six years ago, Holland has Spider-Verse (currently comprising Tom
cognitive dreaming?” played Spider-Man in five movies, of which Hardy’s Venom movies, plus the forthcoming
four have made more than a billion dollars Morbius and Kraven the Hunter), thereby
We’ve been talking for a couple of hours at each. In the past year or so he has starred in planting the seed from which years of sequels
this point, and conversation—as it tends to, three films, taking on the o≠beat dramatic and limited series and sundry other subscrip-
after long enough—has drifted onto the sub- roles of a priest-murdering orphan in The tion-generating content will surely bloom.
ject of dreams. I’ve been having nightmares Devil All the Time and a heroin-addicted
lately, I tell him. Anxiety. This is something bank robber in Cherry, and finished shoot- Holland, however, is not signed up for any
Tom Holland knows all about. He is a terri- ing two more. Still somehow only 25, Holland of that. No Way Home is, at the time of writ-
ble sleeper; a sleepwalker; a sleep undresser, has ascended to a tier of stardom few actors ing, the last film on his Spider-Man contract.
even. (“Four out of 10 sleeps I wake up com- ever reach, and rarely so young. “There are As we’re talking, in early October, he says
pletely naked.”) As it happens, he has a trick very few actors working now who are versa- there are still a few shots to pick up, some
for dealing with nightmares, and because tile in the way that he is,” says Spider-Man additional dialogue to record, the small mat-
Tom Holland is Tom Holland—the actor who producer and former Sony chairperson Amy ter of a global press tour, and then… nothing.
put the friendly back into your friendly neigh- Pascal. “And he’s the hardest-working person “It’s very strange,” Holland says. “The last
borhood Spider-Man and is just famously, that I know.” six years of my life, I always had a job to go
energetically, irresistibly nice—of course he’s to.” After so long in the superhero business,
happy to help. “Since I got cast as Spider-Man, I haven’t Holland is readjusting to life without a mask
really taken a break,” Holland says. So he’s on. “It’s kind of terrifying, but it’s also really
“Okay, so I’ll tell you how you do it. enjoying some state-enforced time to him- exciting,” he says. You see, lately Holland has
Essentially, when you’re asleep, your brain self. “I find myself ringing my dad [Dominic, been thinking about dreams, and wondering
is working way faster than it is when it’s a comedian and author] for stu≠ that I should if those he once had—the future he once saw
awake. Jon Watts [Holland’s director on definitely know how to do,” he says. “ ‘Dad, for himself—are still his dreams after all.
three Spider-Man movies] told me this, and how do I put the washing machine on?’ ” Last
it has worked. If you’re in a dream and you night a skylight broke in bad weather, flood- T O U N D E R S T A N D H O W Holland became a
read something, say, a stop sign, and you turn ing his kitchen. The outside world has a way multiple-tentpole-movie-carrying action
around, when you look back at the stop sign of forcing itself back in. hero, it’s simplest to start with ballet. Holland
it will have changed. So what you do is—and grew up in Kingston Upon Thames, an
this is where it sounds stupid—you set an The next few months promise to be hectic upmarket town just south of London. There,
alarm for every hour of the day when you’re even by Holland’s standards. In December age nine, he was spotted at a dance class by a
awake. When the alarm goes o≠, you read he’ll star in Spider-Man: No Way Home, West End choreographer, who suggested he
something. So I’m reading—” a film that Holland himself has called “the audition for the Billy Elliot musical. Holland
most ambitious stand-alone superhero practiced ballet for two years to land the
At this point Holland looks around his bed- movie ever made.” Then there is February’s part, “just doing pliés and tendus and rele-
room, which is sparse, an unmade bed and a Uncharted, a slick, Indiana Jones–y adap- vés. Développés—I hate développés so much.”
half-open wardrobe behind him, low fall sun tation of the best-selling PlayStation fran- (That’s the one where you extend your leg up
streaming in the window, and alights upon a chise. “This is that moment of, like, ‘Can Tom and out until you look like this: Y.)
packet of pistachios. “—Roasted and salted. Holland stand up on his own and be a leading
You turn away, you look back at it: Roasted man?’ I know that makes me sound like a dick Finally, Holland was chosen to play Billy.
and salted. Okay, I’m not dreaming. What for saying that,” says Holland. “But for me it His parents invited everyone they knew. Only,
happens is when you do it for a long time, is, ‘Can I do it without the Lycra?’ ” the day of his debut, Holland came down with
you start to do that in your sleep. Sometimes, tonsillitis. Not wanting to disappoint anyone,
if I’m having a really bad dream, I’ll look at The stakes for No Way Home are even he didn’t say anything. “I was like, ‘I can’t
a sign and go, ‘Oh, I’m dreaming.’ And then higher. For several movies, Marvel has been miss this, because all of these people are com-
you have free rein to do whatever you want.” establishing Holland as the new center of ing,’ ” Holland says. He delivered a flawless
Marvel’s world. “Tom is stepping into the performance, and nobody even noticed he
So you can influence your dreams? role that Robert Downey once occupied for was sick until the following morning, when
“Yeah. The last time it happened to me, Marvel, which is the favorite character, and in he was taken to the doctor and given the rest
I was flying around the Golden Gate Bridge. a lot of ways the soul of the Marvel universe,” of the week o≠.
It was awesome.” says Joe Russo, who, alongside his brother
Holland is at home in London, waiting out Anthony, has directed Holland in four mov- “I got the nickname Sick Note, which
a government-mandated travel quarantine, ies, including Avengers: Endgame. What’s frustrates me to my core, even today,” says
more, No Way Home will finally collide Holland. “I was too young to do that show.

“Being Spider-Man is more of a
responsibility than just having a
job. There are kids out there who are
bullied at school who don’t fit in,
and Spider-Man is their go-to guy.”

92 GQ.COM MOTY 2021

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sweater $1,350
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pants $4,100
Gucci

boots $995
George Cleverley

watch $6,450
TAG Heuer

ring $2,630
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shirt $1,430
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94 GQ.COM MOTY 2021

sweater $3,200 I was incredibly underdeveloped as a kid,
shirt $330 and I would get sick, or I would be tired, or
I would get injured, and I’d need to take a
pants $1,150 break because you’re doing three shows
Thom Browne a week, rehearsing every single day. Now as
an actor I push through everything, because
boots $670 I’m not going to be Sick Note.”
Common Projects
When Holland started making it in
hat $230 Hollywood—a debut in 2012’s The Impossible,
Begg x Co. followed by small parts in Wolf Hall and
In the Heart of the Sea—he leaned in to his
ring $1,950 balletic talents, literally throwing himself
Cartier into every job. (This approach is written in
the subtle S-bend of his nose, which he has
broken twice, once on the set of The Lost City
of Z, and again on Chaos Walking.) “I’m like
a Duracell battery. I’m the bunny,” Holland
says. It’s that energy that comes through
onscreen, whether he’s doing backflips as
Spider-Man, or pulling on fishnets and grind-
ing to Rihanna on Lip Sync Battle: determi-
nation bordering on desperation. “Anytime
I’ve ever watched him work, he does it 150
percent,” his Spider-Man costar Zendaya
says. “It’s incredible to watch.”

“One of my biggest faults is that I’m an
impossible people pleaser,” Holland says. “I
don’t like the idea of people not liking me.
So I will do whatever I can do to make that
not the case.”

In 2015, Holland beat thousands of other
young actors for the role of Spider-Man in a
multi-film deal between Sony (which owns
the rights) and Marvel. “He had a vulnera-
bility and a wit, and an immense likability
that felt to me like Peter Parker from the
comics,” Russo recalls. Unlike his predeces-
sors, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire,
Holland’s Parker was still a child, burdened
with a responsibility that he finds over-
whelming. Holland could relate. While most
kids his age were still sitting exams and ask-
ing around for a prom date, he found himself
in a full-time job, only his coworkers were
Robert Downey Jr., Michael Keaton, and
Jake Gyllenhaal. Nonetheless, he figured
out a way to infuse his nerves into his per-
formance. “I was given this piece of advice
as a kid that was really helpful, which is:
If you think about the actual physical feeling
of being nervous, it’s the same physical feel-
ing as being excited,” Holland says. “So I’ve
just convinced myself all my life that when
I’m nervous, I’m really excited.”

It was from his older peers that Holland
learned both his craft and how to navigate
fame, which arrived not in a slow accumula-
tion but in one disorienting rush. Suddenly
he was studying for a master’s degree in
how to stay on the rails, from actors who in
some cases had fallen o≠ and found a way
back. Holland latched on to every potential
mentor, sucking everything in. “Some told
me, ‘You should go out and buy a Ferrari
and live in Malibu and live the high life.’

MOTY 2021 GQ.COM 95

says later. “There are kids out there who are
bullied at school who don’t fit in, and Spider-
Man is their fucking go-to guy, you know?
And at the moment I’m that guy.”

Some [would] say, ‘I wouldn’t do interviews “Having her in my life was so instrumental T H E D A Y A F T E R Holland emerges from quar-
with chat shows if you don’t want to,’ ” he to my sanity,” he says. “She is so good at being antine, we meet for dinner at the Chiltern
says. “I’ve kind of found a middle ground.” the role model for young guys and girls. Firehouse, a luxury hotel in Marylebone, a
(He bought an electric Porsche.) He said When anyone comes up, like, ‘Can I have a neighborhood in central London. Holland
yes to everything—the press tours, the TV picture?,’ it’s never a bad time. Whereas my likes it here; it’s discreet. There’s a scene
appearances, the YouTube stunts. By 21, he initial reaction was: ‘Why are you talking to in Uncharted where Holland’s character,
had his entire career arc planned out, in me? Leave me alone.’ ” Nathan Drake, works behind a bar, and so
2017 telling Interview magazine in response Holland would come in to do shifts with the
to questions posed by Zendaya, “The 20-year Zendaya taught him that fame is work sta≠, learning how to mix cocktails, practice
goal is to be a film director. The 15-year goal too. So he learned to smile for every pic- trick pours, toss bottles around. We’re shown
is to win an Oscar.” ture, hug every fan, do the meet and greets to a table called the Snug, a space barely six
at Disneyland. To always be on. An example: feet square, with a sofa, a privacy curtain,
In the middle of all that, he was growing Just recently he was walking in London, and its own tiny open fire—in other words,
up, trying to be a normal person, or as close when a group of guys started following him the make-out table. Holland is unbothered.
to normal as one can be inside the strange and taking pictures. “Something had hap- He squeezes into the space, wearing pin-
crucible of fame. “The ages between 15 and pened in my life and it really put me in a bad stripe pants and a shirt the color of cara-
21 are when you figure out who you’re going mood,” he says. “I was just trying to keep my mel, his hair falling on his forehead in kinks.
to be,” he says. “When everyone’s telling head together, and I turned around and told It seems ridiculous, but after seeing him play
you that you’re the best thing in the world, them to get lost.” A reasonable person might teenagers onscreen for so long, it’s startling
you can grow up and believe that.” He found think this a fair response to being stalked to see Holland as a man. There’s a heft to
companionship in actors his own age, by strangers. But after a few yards, Holland him in person. His posture is incredible. His
particularly his Spider-Man costars Jacob turned around and apologized. “I have to skin is luminous. His biceps are like suspen-
Batalon and Zendaya; Zendaya, in partic- remind myself that being Spider-Man is more sion cables. On Uncharted, Holland worked
ular, became his guide to his new reality. of a responsibility than just having a job,” he with Mark Wahlberg, who is notably, in
Holland’s words, “an absolute unit.” (British
for absolutely humongous.) “I saw him
walk onto set in his costume and I was like,
‘Fuck, he is twice my size,’ ” says Holland.
“After the [COVID] lockdown, we had five
months o≠, and I just ate and trained and
ate and trained. When I got back on set, the
first thing he said to me was”—here he puts
on his best Wahlberg—‘Wow, somebody has
been training.’ ”

As a young actor, Holland obsessed about
his height—he’s 5 feet 8, although his physical-
ity is such that you don’t really notice—going
so far as to wear lifts in his shoes. “I’d do this
thing on red carpets where I would stand
closer to the photographers than the people
behind me [to look taller],” he says. He has
since learned to focus on what he can con-
trol. “I cannot do anything about my height,”
he says. “I can put on more muscle.” For his
debut as Spider-Man, in 2016’s Captain
America: Civil War, the costume department
put him in a muscle suit. Over six movies the
suit has gotten smaller and smaller: “Now
I just have a penis cup,” he says.

Holland may only be 25, but lately he’s
started to feel the toll of years spent flipping
and swinging around on wires. “I was going to
the gym in the morning like, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve
must have torn something in my leg,’ and the
guys were like, ‘You haven’t, you’re just tired
and you’re getting older.’ ” His intense sched-
ule meant he had only three days between
finishing Uncharted in Berlin and starting
work on No Way Home in Atlanta. “I never
realized how lucky (continued on page 141)

96 GQ.COM MOTY 2021