David Thewlis - author portrait
July 2021
Author David Thewlis
What a pleasure is was to get to meet and photograph David Thewlis
This shoot was for an article in the Observer New Review about his new book ”Shooting Martha” - yes he is an Author as well as a talented actor. This is his second book and is about a film director in the aftermath of a personal tragedy, as he tries to finish a masterpiece by hiring a look-alike of his dead wife to stay at his French villa. She that acts the part of ‘loving spouse’ while they have scripted video calls.
I love how meta this all was and also a little bit like a Sophie Calle project.
We were doing the shoot in his quite amazing central london flat (a former board room for a bank, I think, with a viewing balcony), that was full of old paintings, guitars and a collection of old typewriters. He had actually written both of his books on typewriters rather than on a computer, as he liked the sound and physicality of it. So I chose to do one of the portraits of him at the typewriter - acting the role of an author at work... performing a roll for the camera, as all actors tend to do on photoshoots. I liked the layers of this, but maybe its just as cliche as a portrait of an author with books behind them.
He was very open and happy to chat, and the conversation jumped from one random anecdote to another.
I noticed one of the paintings on the wall, a portrait of an old man which ended up being used as the cover of his previous book. David said that after the book was published the actual man in the painting received some notoriety and fame even though he had nothing to do with the story. I quite liked the circularity of this, as actors often get associated with the characters that they play, even though the words or story are not their own - this man in the painting and now the cover of a book, was being confused and associated with a fictional character that an author (who is also an actor) created for him….
Back to the meta again.
