June 05 Henry Cavill at Shortlist Magazine

A new interview with Henry and another magazine cover and a gorgeous new photoshoot! Click the image for the rest of the photos

When he found out he was to play Superman in Man Of Steel, he reacted the way any of us would. Now, as the world waits to see him in the suit, Andrew Dickens meets Henry Cavill.

Superman: faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! The latter sentence describes the impact Henry Cavill’s casting as the cowlicked Kryptonian in Man Of Steel had on some cape-loving cinemagoers. This, after all, was a public school-educated Channel Islander with a reputation for getting his 16th-century kit off in The Tudors and a solitary leading role to his name (in Immortals), completing a British hat-trick of major superhero roles alongside Christian Bale’s Batman and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man.

The first sentence, however, does not describe Cavill’s journey to stardom. Often described as ‘the unluckiest man in Hollywood’, until a couple of years ago he was most famous for nearly being James Bond, nearly being Edward Cullen in Twilight – nearly being famous, basically.

He was even nearly wearing the cape in Bryan Singer’s 2006 film Superman Returns. So, when he finally earned his Spandex, he must have felt like leaping over a very tall building in a single bound.

Most obvious question first: how did you feel when you got the part?

Clearly excited. I mean, it’s one of those things where you look at yourself in the mirror and you’re going, “I don’t believe it. I’m Superman.” And you keep repeating it. It’s so surreal that you need someone from Warner Brothers just to call you and say, “Hey, it’s real.”

How does this differ from past Superman films?

The one major difference from movies and TV shows past, is that this is very much grounded in reality. This is a real world – this is today’s world that just happens to have an invulnerable superpowered alien living in it – and that’s the great thing about it. It’s about a realistic setting with something unrealistic slammed in the middle of it, and how everyone reacts to that.

Did you gauge the response online?

Of course I did. People were saying, “You’re the most looked-at person on IMDB,” and I’m like, “What? You’re kidding me? I’ve got to go and check that out.” I certainly checked fan response throughout the movie to see how they felt, and to let me know if I was on the right track. If I’d had a really bad feeling about the movie, I wouldn’t be checking that stuff, but things felt like they were going well, so I thought it was fine to go and have a little look.

A couple of your compatriots, Christian Bale and Andrew Garfield, have also been cast as big-name superheroes. Did you seek advice?

I didn’t, actually. I did briefly speak to Chris Hemsworth at Comic Con, who played Thor. I just walked up to him and said, “Mate, I wanted to say hi, my name is Henry, I’m playing Superman. What’s it like?” He said “Don’t worry about it. The fans are a lot more supportive than you think. They’re behind you the whole way, so just enjoy it.” He’s a really nice bloke.

You came close to a couple of other roles – James Bond and Edward in Twilight. When you don’t get a role, does it hurt or motivate?

First of all, I want to set the record straight; with the Twilight thing, I think Stephenie Meyer was keen on me playing the role, but I was never approached with a script. The Bond thing is true, but when you get close to big stuff, your name is put in Variety or Empire saying you’re ‘the unluckiest guy in Hollywood’, and it’s actually a huge bonus – it gets you a name, and to land lead roles in Hollywood you need a name. I’m glad I didn’t get Bond, as Daniel Craig is the perfect guy to tell that story, and I don’t think I could’ve done it at that age [Cavill was 22 when he auditioned for Casino Royale]. He nailed it and is continuing to nail it.
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March 20 Henry Cavill featured on Shortlist Magazine: “My Wardrobe”

Henry Cavill is one sharply dressed man.

If he were any sharper we’d be missing an eye as we greet him on a chilly airfield just outside Exeter, where the Hollywood star has arrived to be shot for the latest issue of ShortList MODE.

This time around, our biannual fashion glossy takes its cues from luxury travel and adventure, so it’s not long before our cover star is disembarking a private plane, wrapping his hands around the steering wheel of a Rolls Royce and generally looking and acting how a movie star should.

Don’t be too fooled though, Cavill is flesh and bone just like the rest of us. He’s not from Krypton, he’s from Jersey, and knows all too well the sartorial dilemmas that can beset the modern man in day-to-day life.

So given his next film, Guy Ritchie’s big screen remake of The Man From UNCLE, will see him playing a dapper spy, we thought it apt to quiz him on his own wardrobe…

When’s the last time he dressed to impress? What clothing would be never throw in the rubbish? Have his muscles ever ripped anything he’s owned? You know, all the normal stuff…

Can you remember your first tailored suit?
I know it was Dunhill. I worked with Dunhill for a couple of fragrances, so they did my first suit. I can’t remember the details, but I remember being extraordinarily proud of it because it was Dunhill – a lovely English company.

What’s your most treasured piece of clothing?
Most treasured piece of clothing? This shirt (a navy and green check), by the way, I love. It’s made by a shirt-maker called Anto in LA. I wear this all the time. I love it, it hardly ever wrinkles and you can wear it for anything. Yeah, this is definitely a regular item. I would be very sad if I had to let it go. Otherwise it’s my Tom Ford jacket, which is really warm. A sort of beaver fur jacket, suede. Very heavy, very luxurious. It’s the kind of thing which, if you take it on the piss with you, you have to keep it over your arm the entire time, because people will spill stuff on it. You don’t want that.

What clothes do you like to travel in?
That varies enormously. I do like travelling in this kind of stuff [jeans and a blue checked shirt] because it’s comfortable and you can get photographed in it. That’s the thing. When you’re getting off a plane, when you’ve got hundreds of paparazzi, you’re looking like crap anyway. If you get photographed wearing a shirt and tie, you’ve clearly made a lot of effort in between stepping off the plane and walking through customs. So this kind of stuff is comfortable, it’s my everyday gear. You could sleep in it.

Choose three travel accessories to take on a trip.
What kind of trip?

Let’s say you’re travelling from London to LA.
I’m trying to think of gadgets [ShortList: skincare stuff?] Not on the plane, I’m so worried it’s going to get robbed by security. I travel really light. I normally take my Microsoft Surface with me, so I can work and read books and scripts. So, Microsoft Surface, travel adaptor and… headphones. A good pair of headphones, for watching a movie or listen to your own music or just shutting the world out. Or you can pretend you’re listening to music, so nobody bothers you.

When was the last time you dressed to make an impression?
Well, there’s the obvious things like BAFTAs, but that’s a given really. You’re probably talking more personally, like if I was to impress someone. Problem is, I’ve been living out of a diminished wardrobe for so long now because I’ve been travelling. I’ve only just got back and I still don’t have all my gear back yet from storage. And my house is being refurbished, so I don’t have that space. I’m living out of one suitcase. So if anything, I would normally say, ‘Okay, I’m going to wear my nice jacket today’. I’ve got a lovely Tom Ford jacket. I guess that would be dressing to impress? But I don’t have much in the way of options right now. It’s not like I just throw a suit on to go to dinner with someone, because these days, if I was to throw a suit on to go to dinner with a girl, she would probably think I was a weirdo. Or she would feel horribly underdressed.

Have your muscles ever ripped anything you’ve owned?
[laughs] Yes. Yes they have. Who wrote that question?

This is from our online editor.
Is that a he or a she?

He.
Yes, actually, at the end of Man of Steel, I had a suit tailored for the Immortals premiere. At that stage, I was at my very leanest. It was just after shooting my shirtless scenes. At the very end of the movie, I put that suit on again for a photoshoot we were doing and I ripped the seams, the inside seams, just because my thighs were that much bigger.

Budgie smugglers or swimming shorts?
[laughs] Definitely, definitely swimming shorts. More like a parrot smugglers. A Macaw or something. Perhaps a large bird of prey. Bald eagle. There you go.

What’s your biggest fashion faux pas?
I make them all the time. There was this one time I got this brown suit. Brown and pinstripe. I thought it was going to work. And it probably would have worked if it was fitted properly, but because it wasn’t fitted properly, and looked a bit boxy, I just looked like a really bad gangster. But then someone might read this and think, ‘No, what about that other thing he wore?’ and I’ll be like. ‘I loved that!’

Do you ever buy the same item more than once?
Sometimes jeans, but I’ll buy two in the beginning. I recently found 7 For All Mankind jeans fit perfectly, and I’ll buy two of each jean. Because once you wear a pair of jeans like three times, you then have to wash them to get them back to their original shape, otherwise they’ll be all baggy, and I’m not a baggy jean kind of guy.

What do you wear to bed?
Hmmm. What do I wear to bed?

Superman pyjamas?
Yeah, a cape. Honestly, it varies depending on where you are, how hot it is. In hotel rooms, it’s always good just to have a pair of jocks on just in case. You know, the fire alarm goes off, the cleaning lady comes in…

Finally, give us one piece of fashion advice.
Don’t try to be fashionable. Wear what you like.

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The Man From UNCLE is out in cinemas from 14 August; ShortList MODE is out this Thursday

March 20 Henry Cavill talks Fashion and Film for Shortlist Mode

Henry Cavill is featured on the new issue of Shortlist Mode and it has a brand new fashionable photoshoot, which I uploaded in the gallery, the article is below:



MODE cover star Henry Cavill talks to Andrew Dickens about the joy of polo necks, the fun of guns and the wardrobe issues of being Superman

For a man who’s used to getting changed in a phone box, swapping clothes in the offices of a private air charter company must seem positively luxurious. Mind you, Henry Cavill needs the space.

Only weeks after he wrapped up filming the latest Superman film, with shoulders you could drive across and biceps like prize hams, he’s still sporting a superhero physique that can make us mortals feel simultaneously fat and skinny.

He’s also just wrapped MODE’s jet-setting cover shoot. His look, as he swaggers around an airfield just outside Exeter (giving rise to “Is it bird? Is it a plane? Yes, it’s a plane” gags), has a dash of Sixties styling, which is a nod to the next Cavill film to hit cinemas: Guy Ritchie’s take on the classic TV show The Man From UNCLE. Cavill, it transpires, loves clothes, loves dressing up, but thanks to those muscles, his passion has problems.

“It’s bloody expensive,” he says, now dressed down in a checked shirt and jeans, and digesting a sausage butty. “I’m buying new clothes every year. I’m bigger than I was in the first Superman film (Man Of Steel), so I don’t fit the same clothes I did then. And when I was doing The Man From UNCLE, I was smaller, so it’s a constant shift in body size and shape. It’s fun, but you’ve got to have a big closet, so you can leave stuff in there and go, ‘Oh, back to that size again – I can wear that sweater’.

“But I never throw stuff away because I’ve changed size. Things I’ve loved, I’ve worn so much I’ve had to get rid. I’ll love something so much, I still see it the way it initially was, and then a friend will say, ‘Why do you dress like a homeless person? Look at your f*cking clothes, mate.’ And then you realise that the T-shirt you adore has four holes in it. And that pair of jeans no longer has a fashionable rip, it’s just your knee hanging out.”

Cavill’s character in The Man From UNCLE is Napoleon Solo. Or, ‘the one played by Robert Vaughn’ for those of us who spent childhood Saturday teatimes being entertained by TV repeats – always featuring men in roll necks – from this strange, colourful decade our parents banged on about. Solo, a postwar art thief-turned-Cold War agent, is the dapper playboy – who Cavill describes as “an arsehole with a heart” – working alongside Soviet spying machine Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer in the film, David McCallum when it was on TV). It’s Solo’s look that inspired the shoot. Cavill likes this.

“I really do,” he says. “I was looking at some photos of myself in The Man From UNCLE, and I thought, ‘Those are really great.’ I love wearing classic suits. And the great thing about the Sixties is that they had a little bit of flair. You can go big flair, or just a little bit, and I like a little bit. I’m more of a classic guy; I’m not outspoken, so it’s nice to wear something that looks so sharp and has a bit of colour.”

And your feelings on polo necks?

“Polo necks are great! There’s this attitude towards polo necks, where if you wear one, then all of a sudden you’re a dickhead. And it’s not fair, because polo necks look really good. It’s just a matter of people opening their minds to it. We can wear all sorts of stuff these days, so why not a polo neck?”

Why not, indeed? And it wasn’t just the polo necks Cavill enjoyed about the film; he claims Ritchie is “the best person I’ve ever worked with. He makes great movies, but doesn’t sacrifice any fun or enjoyment in the making – if I could do every movie in the future with him, I would happily do it.” This, of course, won’t be the case. For example, Ritchie isn’t directing Stratton – the film for which Cavill’s currently preparing. Based on the John Stratton novels by ex-SBS commando Duncan Falconer, it’s something of a passion project for Cavill, whose brother Nik is in the Royal Marines, and he’s co-producing the film with another brother, Charlie.

“I’ve always been a huge supporter of the Royal Marines, and therefore the SBS is largely – not entirely – drawn from the Marines,” he says. “It’s my chance to be the Marine I never got to be, and draw some attention to them, hopefully raise some money. I’m an ambassador for the Royal Marines trust fund. And I like the guns and stuff. I do. It’s fun.”

Nor did Ritchie get his hands on the biggest film of Cavill’s career to date, the currently titled Batman vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice. Next summer’s clashing of the capes – and cause of Cavill’s enormous wardrobe requirements – sees his Man Of Steel take on Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight. A major salvo from DC in the war with Marvel for comicfilmiverse supremacy, it’s a subject of anticipation and hope. What can he tell us about it?

“I can’t tell you anything.”

Not even from a fashion perspective? Surely there was some costume envy. With all that black, Batman has a much more chic look. And external underpants have never caught on.

“I’m incredibly loyal to my character,” says Cavill, with genuine conviction. “I love him. I’m protective of him. Superman’s the dude. He’s an absolute ledge. I’d never say, ‘I’d prefer to be that superhero.’ I’m Superman.”

The Man From UNCLE is at cinemas nationwide from 14 August

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