I had been reading rumors lately that when Carine Roitfeld outgrows Vogue Paris she hopes to move into filmmaking next. Bonne idée ! Then I read in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche that Carine stated specifically that were she to leave Vogue Paris, she wants to make “a well-made film about fashion. It’s a world that’s a lot more fun than the one Robert Altman painted in Prêt-à-Porter.” Perhaps this is related to the fact that her cohort and chum Tom Ford just released his debut film, A Single Man, at the Venice Film Festival. Hey, put Mario Testino in charge of cinematography and maybe they are on to something... I imagine this fashion dream team could conjure up any number of memorable and inspiring moving images.
Ford's debut as a director is based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood and looks at the life of a gay English professor who must go about his life after the sudden death of his partner. Set in Los Angeles in the 1960s—a time when same-sex bonding (and bondage) was considered more controversial—Ford says that the film is "not about being gay… it’s really a film about love and isolation that I think all of us feel so it is very universal. When I see someone who sees the film who says ‘it’s a gay story,’ I don’t even know what they are thinking, it just seems to me a human story." The film opened to stellar reviews and awards; lead Colin Firth won Venice Film Festival’s Coppa Volpi for best actor and Ford captured the Queer Golden Lion for movies with gay themes.
When asked about the transition from fashion, Ford said, "Fashion is a very fleeting and commercial art… This [making films] is pure expression." C'mon, Carine—pure expression. Don't you want it? Everyone else is doing it, just try it... Another bonus: Julia has been taking acting lessons, so she and Vladimir can act in the films as well!
Tom Ford and Julianne Moore photograph © 2009 WireImage.com. All Rights Reserved.
Derek Blasberg recently conducted a fascinating interview with Tom Ford for V Magazine.
Another brilliant interview with Tom Ford, this time by Gus Van Sant for Interview.