Photographer Andy Gotts.
Courtesy Andy GottsBritish photographer Andy Gotts has a way with contrasts—he photographs celebrities in grainy, black-and-white photos with dramatic lighting. But their personalities shine through. He shoots them as their silly, character-filled selves.
Gotts’ Icons, which traces his 30-year career as a celebrity portraitist, will be published in September. Since he got his start in the 1990s, he has photographed stars like Kate Winslet, Naomi Campbell, Elton John, and Al Pacino, among hundreds of other famous Hollywood faces.
The new book coincides with a new exhibition at Maddox Gallery in London, which opened Thursday. On view are more than 50 portraits of celebrities, alongside contact sheets, and never-seen-before photos of stars like Pierce Brosnan, Robert de Niro and Kate Moss, among others.
From his Mayfair studio in London, Gotts, 50, spoke about his humble beginnings, his no Photoshop rule, and that time George Clooney wore a pirate hat.
George Clooney, by Andy Gotts.
Courtesy of Maddox GalleryPENTA: How did you build your career early in the 1990s?
Andy Gotts: I was trying to build a name for myself, so I only aimed for big names during press junkets. I only had 10 minutes to set up, shoot, and break down my equipment. That mindset stuck with me for years. When I worked as a photo assistant, I worked on long shoots, big productions where you saw boredom set in. I didn’t want that for big movie icons. So I thought: I’m going to have no assistants, just me and the celebrity.
How do your shoots normally go now?
My shoots are still only 10 minutes, even if the celebrity stays all afternoon. I get there, we hang out, 10-minute photo shoot, then we hang out. I get to hang out with some of the biggest stars in the world, it’s a perk that comes with the job, I suppose.
How do you know when you have the right shot?
I’m a huge Clint Eastwood fan and imagined the exact shot I wanted, when I closed my eyes. I wanted the tough guy pose from his 1971 film Dirty Harry, but he sat down smiling like the happy grandfather he is. In shot three, I got the shot. I always have an idea of what I want to do. I can get it in the first 10 shots, but experiment for the other nine minutes.
You bring out a side of these stars that they maybe aren’t known for, from silly to serious. How do you do that?
I have thought about this before, how I shoot the way I shoot. If you think about Harrison Ford, if he is going to be on the cover of Vanity Fair, he’ll be squeezed into a tuxedo and styled to look magazine iconic. That’s not my job. Whether it's Brad Pitt or Morgan Freeman, they’re still human beings. I want to capture them being them. I don’t want to shoot an idealistic version of them, but rather the person who gets up, makes a coffee and sits down at the kitchen table. Boom. That’s the person I want—the honesty of what a famous person looks like.
But silly is not usually a side we see of celebrities, right?
I’m giving them the opportunity to embrace their inner child. Like my shot of George Clooney laughing while wearing a pirate hat. He can be funny and quirky, let it out. It’s about letting people get out of themselves through their emotions. I don’t direct people like Alfred Hitchcock, I let them do what they want to do.
Kate Moss, by Andy Gotts.
Courtesy of Maddox GalleryHave celebrities embraced the raw realness of your photo lens?
Yes, I shot Scarlett Johansson in Paris and she had acne on her forehead. I asked her if she wanted to wait until the pimples went away. I don’t retouch my photos. She said, “No, this is reality, so when a young girl sees this photo of me, they’ll see I have flaws.” That was beautiful. Someone famous embraces how they look. That’s what I try to get out.
What are celebrities really like off camera when you meet them?
When people show up to my studio, it’s just Andy and the camera. That’s it, no assistants, nothing. That takes everyone by surprise. It allows us to bond right away. I try to make our introduction as fun as possible, we have champagne, a few laughs. I never ask a celebrity about their upcoming projects, I’m not a reporter. When Harrison Ford came to my studio, I knew he was into old aircrafts, so I talked to him about old planes. You could see his face light up.
How did you photograph George Clooney wearing a pirate hat?
The night before our shoot, George Clooney had a dinner party at his Lake Como home. The theme was ‘silly hats.’ When I arrived, we went to the only room with a white wall for a clean background. It was the spare bedroom of his home. In the middle of the bed was a pirate hat. He explained the silly hat party. I asked: “Should you put it on?” He started goofing around and explained how stupid he looked. I don’t bring props to photo shoots. I can’t plan it. It’s quite organic. Nothing would have prepared me for George Clooney in a pirate hat. Things happen off the cuff—that’s what makes photography beautiful.
What do people often want to know about your work?
They ask: “How do you get such great shots?” It is 80% luck. It has to be. You can’t pre-plan a portrait. You don’t know how people will smile, laugh, wheeze, or cough. You don’t know. I have this great shot of Helena Bonham Carter yawning. I didn’t tell her to yawn
What is the story behind the Boy George photo, where he is covering his face with his hands?
He was having a comeback after being out of the limelight for quite some time. He was in the UK to promote a new version of Boy George. I know he has been shot a lot. They all look the same. I told him that. Every singer and actor has their go-to pose. “Why don’t we do something different?” I asked. He put his hand over his face. In this shot, you can see one eye. It’s a moment of serendipity.
Michael Caine, by Andy Gotts.
Courtesy of Maddox GalleryHow did you get such an iconic shot of actor Michael Caine?
What drives my photos is that I love movies. Michael Caine is the best British actor of all time. There are many photos of Caine from the 1960s shot wearing Harry Palmer glasses. Since I got friendly with him, I phoned his wife Shakira and asked if he still had those glasses. She said yes, they were at his bedside table. I asked: “Could you put them in his coat pocket tomorrow and don’t tell him?” She did that for me, bless her. When Michael arrived at my London studio, I asked him to look into his pocket. “You’re such a sod,” he said. We ended up taking 10 or 15 photos with the glasses. He was laughing. We got the serious shot shortly afterwards. It’s so 1960s but he was an 84-year-old man at the time.
What is the focus of this exhibition and book?
It’s a selection of celebrities who are icons. People have asked “Why isn’t Lady Gaga in there?” or Jack Nicholson ? They are icons but the people in this book and exhibition are icons to me. Over my entire life, these people gave me entertainment and joy. It should be called “Andy’s Icons,” really.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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