Photographer Julian Ungano on a Hollywood Reporter’s Skin Photo Blog

Hotel Julián Ungano is hidden by a corner table in the Martínez lobby restaurant. It’s noon and the 39-year-old actor is here to relive the dizzying filming schedule of the Cannes Film Festival’s brightest stars.

Ungano joined the hollywood reporter Provide an updated photo diary during the festival May 17-28 featuring portraits of Marion Cotillard, Alicia Vikander, Ethan Hawke, Harry Dickinson, Lee Jung-jae, Rebecca Hall, Joseph Kosinski and Isabel Huppert.

While the skin is always tight, for someone like Ungano, who has worked as a filmmaker, photographer, creative director and award-winning visual storyteller, the task is almost always creatively rejuvenating. In Unango’s hands, it was also revealing, as he wrote diaries detailing the stories behind the images (Beer and talk to Ethan Hawke! Less than 1 minute to shoot Marion Cotillard!).

“There’s something really cool and special about recording this kind of content,” said Linzmann, who was born in Vermont, grew up in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. “And often, within hours, the images appear in the world.”

What was your vision for this set of portraits?

The reason I wanted to do this as a diary and not just a portfolio of celebrity portraits was because I wanted to tell a single story and not just photographs of celebrities. My story combines them. As soon as you shoot some objects, you start to realize that we are all in the same cycle, to some degree. most people came [to Cannes] Maximum 24 to 48 hours. You will find a few people here and there who are here throughout the festival as they have a lot of projects here.

The narrative, which is noticeable in each scene, is that they’re all worn out and they’re all flat-backed. It’s very exciting and you’re running here and there to catch them all, and it can be difficult because of the weather. I had 45 seconds with someone the night before. I never did this, but I got used to working very quickly. He’s very chaotic, very demanding, but also very funny.

Just 45 seconds is enough to blink. What’s the best time you’ve had with someone?

I had a day last year.

And this year?

Between half an hour and 45 minutes.

How do you try to find out who someone is when you have so little time?

You really have to feel the room. Some people aren’t thrilled to take a picture, whether on this stage or on the campaign field. Working with actors seems a lot easier to me because if all else fails, you can offer a character to play. This is a language they understand more easily. When you tell an actor, “Be yourself,” it can be difficult. They can easily understand the direction and concept if you say, “We are here, in this place, we are playing this role, and this is the mood.” Almost every session is a bit of acting practice. ᲛHome [directive] It’s that you want everyone to be comfortable and confident that they’re okay. I’m never here to make someone look stupid. You might think this is really obvious, but there are so many different presses and so many different photographers who are just looking for celebrities and it can be a challenge to know if anyone is cool.

So time is a challenge and relationship is a challenge. What are your other challenges here in the skin?

It’s obviously tense and you’re in another country, you’re never 100% sure what the scenario will be when you go downstairs to shoot someone. You walk into a hotel room and you never know if you’re facing the sea or facing another building. How is the wallpaper? How are you going to create something when variables are always changing? This is probably the biggest challenge for me, aside from the technical aspect. Also, my mom was born in France about 10 miles from here and she always makes the journey a little emotional for me in a weird way.

What was the biggest surprise this year?

I couldn’t say I wasn’t surprised by anything yet. Well, except I ended up on the red carpet. Top Gun: Maverick Premiere. I filmed Luis Pullman and the film was directed by Joe Kosinski, which was amazing. Joe gave me a ticket and I had to go with them, it was crazy. I grew up with ears best weapon And I’ve seen that movie a thousand times. It was amazing because most of the time you work and you can’t do anything fun.

It was the biggest moment of the first week when the fighters and Tom Cruise landed the unexpected golden palm branch. What do you think of the movie?

ყოs was unusual. He was incredibly cultured. I always have an argument with my brother about who is the biggest movie star. My argument is always related to the movies you watch and watch when you watch cable channels. It doesn’t matter if you sit back and watch it, if you keep going in the background, 10 to 9 times, this is a Tom Cruise movie, right? Jerry Maguire, Mission: Impossible, Top Gun, Rainman Or any of those movies.

It was great to be here and experience this because I have a lot of childhood memories with my mother. Nobody thought he was going to make it or be a true member of the community. And now, to be here in the same place I came from as a kid, photographing movie stars and having this experience, it’s crazy.

If you could go back and say something to that little boy, what would you say?

Don’t listen to any of these people. Stay up the good work. Everything will be fine.

Go back to the blog. Is there someone you photographed that surprised you?

Yes, definitely. I went to a psychiatrist to meet Omar Sai. I was your fan Lupine He left. I saw him untouchablesA film shot in the United States with Kevin Hart and Brian Cranston, [The Upside]. I have a mutual friend of Omar’s and after seeing his work and also Lupine, I feel it gave me a good mood and I became a fan. As soon as I knew we were going to shoot him, I was really excited. It is delivered. It was so fun and amazing and just a game.

Some people understand how to place it against a wall or other type of photo shoot. He immediately accepted. I was also very excited to photograph Alicia Vikander. It was really funny and he came up with his own ideas, which are exciting because, as we speak, one of the things that complicates things here is that you’re 90% in a hotel room and you don’t have time. Do something else.

I also filmed Ethan Hawke and watched his movies for 10 years. She was amazing and I’m so happy with these photos. We sat in the lobby of the Hotel Majestade, drank beer, talked and took pictures. It was amazing.

What are you waiting for?

Hopefully at home for a while. My husband is having a baby later this summer so I’m really excited about it. I could go to work in Madrid in June or at the Venice Film Festival. Let’s see. This is a fun part of the job because you can go places you wouldn’t normally go and it’s always an amazing adventure.

See Julian Ungano’s Skin Photo Blog the hollywood reporter Here.