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Celebrities

Best Performances: The Photos

This year’s 20 brightest stars, uncensored and unzipped. Click here to read an introduction by Lynn Hirschberg.

by Lynn Hirschberg
February 1, 2012 5:00 am
cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-01-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

1 / 23

“No matter what, people don’t think of me for glamorous parts. I’ll go to an audition or a meeting in a pretty dress, and they still think of me as depressed or embattled. Hopefully, that will change.”

Dolce & Gabbana dress. Camilla Dietz Bergeron Ltd. necklace; Kwiat ring (on right hand); Davis’s own ring (on left hand).

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-02-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

2 / 23

Click here to read the full Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg

Giorgio Armani tuxedo, shirt, bow tie, and cuff links.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-03-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

3 / 23

“The movie that made me cry most recently was Silent Light, which is about the Mennonite community. The film is very naturalistic, and then all of a sudden, magic realism is introduced: A woman in her coffin slowly starts to wake up. I thought I was seeing things. I started to cry so hysterically that the person I was with suggested we leave—he said I was disrupting the audience. And he was bored. I think he was embarrassed by my crying. I made us stick it out, but that was kind of the end of that relationship.”

Moschino jacket; Eres bra; Moschino shorts. Ippolita bracelet; Falke hosiery; Manolo Blahnik shoes.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-04-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

4 / 23

“When I won best actor at the Cannes film festival, Robert De Niro, the president of the jury, gave me the award. I was scared. It’s not my job to win a prize, especially a prize from De Niro. He leaned in and whispered to me, ‘You’re good. You’re good.’ I had grown up loving Goodfellas, and I almost fainted.”

Boss Black shirt and tie. Rolex watch.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-05-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti

5 / 23

“I don’t know how to cook or bake or prepare anything in the kitchen, and my character, ­Minny, is a fantastic cook. That was the hardest part of playing her. I don’t know how to do anything other than get a plate from the cabinet and stick something in the microwave.”

Elie Tahari sweater. Styled by Lori Goldstein.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-06-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti

6 / 23

“The first movie I remember seeing is Pal Joey. Frank Sinatra could do no wrong in my book, and when he sings ‘The Lady Is a Tramp’ to Rita Hayworth, I wanted that to happen to me. I longed to be in his song.”

Calvin Klein Collection dress. Verdura earrings. Styled by Lori Goldstein.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-07-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

7 / 23

“When I read bedtime stories to my three sons, I try to do funny voices, and I immediately get a lot of crap for it. They say, ‘Papa, what are you doing? Just use a regular voice!’ They’re not impressed. They don’t find me funny.”

Derek Rose pajamas. Ferrell’s own ring.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-08-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

8 / 23

DiCaprio came to this shoot sucking on an electronic cigarette. “I have an oral fixation,” he explained, as smoke engulfed his head. He had recently arrived from Australia, where he was shooting The Great Gatsby in 3-D, and became upset when someone asked him for an autograph. He seemed much more interested in leaving than being in the studio. As he rushed out the door, he noticed a toy Smurf that belonged to a child on the set. “I played with these when I was your age,” DiCaprio said, as he stopped suddenly to talk to the little girl. For a moment, he was genuine—kind, even—but he was late for a party or a dinner or a plane. It was time to be somewhere else. And then he was gone.

DiCaprio’s own suit and shirt.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-09-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

9 / 23

Click here to read the full Q & A with Lynn Hirschberg

Olatz slip. Dunst’s own earrings.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-10-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

10 / 23

“For a year, I was Lisbeth Salander—I only wore black; I lived her life. Before this movie, I didn’t even have pierced ears. They put four holes in each ear, and my eyebrow and nipple were pierced. The only thing that concerned me was riding the motorcycle. I wasn’t nervous about the anal rape scene, but the motorcycle had me worried.”

Nina Ricci top.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-11-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti

11 / 23

Click here to read the full Q & A with Lynn Hirschberg

Tom Ford shirt and bow tie. Brooks Brothers suspenders. Styled by Patrick Mackie.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-12-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

12 / 23

Click here to read the complete Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg.

Tom Ford vest and shirt. Pitt’s own watch and ring.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-13-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

13 / 23

Click here to read the complete Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg.

Burberry Prorsum jacket and trousers; Tom Ford shirt, bow tie, and cummerbund.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-14-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

14 / 23

Click here to read the complete Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg.

Tom Ford shirt. Dolce & Gabbana tie; Pitt’s own necklace.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-15-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

15 / 23

“I call The Sound of Music ‘S&M.’ I did the movie for practical reasons: It was big bucks. And then I thought it would be bye-bye. I don’t sing­—not even in the shower—and I thought, This will be a great lesson. But I didn’t think it was a very interesting part. I was determined to drink a lot and be sarcastic and cynical. S&M needed a bad boy to remind everyone how sluggishly gooey it might become. I may have kept the movie from becoming a sentimental bore.”

Plummer’s own suit, shirt, and bow tie.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-16-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti

16 / 23

“When I watch Up, it makes me weep like a lunatic. I was pregnant the first time I saw it, and the first six or seven minutes destroyed me. I’m not allowed to watch it anymore because I turn into a complete wreck.”

Helen Yarmak coat; Va Bien bustier. Cartier earrings and necklace. Styled by Lori Goldstein.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-17-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti

17 / 23

“As a child, I felt like a changeling at odds with the planet I arrived on. I didn’t understand the world I was born into, and that feeling of dissonance colored my youth. I saw that rigidness existed, and as a result, for me, rigidness got a bad name. Looseness was far better. And I gravitated toward a different life.”

Swinton’s own blouse; Dolce & Gabbana bra and briefs. Falke hosiery; Christian Louboutin shoes. Styled by Marie-Amélie Sauvé.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-18-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

18 / 23

“I got Drive because I told my manager that I thought I could make an interesting villain. I read the script, and they asked me to go to the director’s house to meet him. We chatted, and on my way out I pinned him up against the wall by his front door. He’s Danish, and he’s already very pale. ‘What are you doing?!’ he asked. I was very quiet: ‘I just want you to know that I have great physical strength.’ So he gave me the part.”

Giorgio Armani tuxedo jacket, shirt, and bow tie. Brooks’s own glasses.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-19-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

19 / 23

“When you work in a different language, your emotional state changes. In Spanish, my mother language, words not only have the meaning they have—they also have a personal meaning. For me, it is more difficult to say ‘Te quiero’ than ‘I love you.’”

Emporio Armani tank top. Banderas’s own necklace and ring.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-20-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

20 / 23

“I did a ton of commercials growing up. My friends would go to soccer practice, and I would go to an audition. It was just a fun hobby. It’s still a fun hobby—nothing more.”

Eres bra and briefs.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-21-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

21 / 23

Click here to read the complete Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg.

Marchesa dress. Gilan ring; Harry Winston bracelet.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-22-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

22 / 23

Click here to read the complete Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg.

Dior dress; Fleur of England bra and briefs. Harry Winston bracelet; Bulgari ring.

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-23-l.jpg

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

23 / 23

Click here to read the complete Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg.

Oscar de la Renta gown. Harry Winston bracelet; Gilan ring; Gucci shoes.

Best Performances
cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-01-l.jpg

“No matter what, people don’t think of me for glamorous parts. I’ll go to an audition or a meeting in a pretty dress, and they still think of me as depressed or embattled. Hopefully, that will change.”

Dolce & Gabbana dress. Camilla Dietz Bergeron Ltd. necklace; Kwiat ring (on right hand); Davis’s own ring (on left hand).

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-02-l.jpg

Click here to read the full Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg

Giorgio Armani tuxedo, shirt, bow tie, and cuff links.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-03-l.jpg

“The movie that made me cry most recently was Silent Light, which is about the Mennonite community. The film is very naturalistic, and then all of a sudden, magic realism is introduced: A woman in her coffin slowly starts to wake up. I thought I was seeing things. I started to cry so hysterically that the person I was with suggested we leave—he said I was disrupting the audience. And he was bored. I think he was embarrassed by my crying. I made us stick it out, but that was kind of the end of that relationship.”

Moschino jacket; Eres bra; Moschino shorts. Ippolita bracelet; Falke hosiery; Manolo Blahnik shoes.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-04-l.jpg

“When I won best actor at the Cannes film festival, Robert De Niro, the president of the jury, gave me the award. I was scared. It’s not my job to win a prize, especially a prize from De Niro. He leaned in and whispered to me, ‘You’re good. You’re good.’ I had grown up loving Goodfellas, and I almost fainted.”

Boss Black shirt and tie. Rolex watch.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-05-l.jpg

“I don’t know how to cook or bake or prepare anything in the kitchen, and my character, ­Minny, is a fantastic cook. That was the hardest part of playing her. I don’t know how to do anything other than get a plate from the cabinet and stick something in the microwave.”

Elie Tahari sweater. Styled by Lori Goldstein.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-06-l.jpg

“The first movie I remember seeing is Pal Joey. Frank Sinatra could do no wrong in my book, and when he sings ‘The Lady Is a Tramp’ to Rita Hayworth, I wanted that to happen to me. I longed to be in his song.”

Calvin Klein Collection dress. Verdura earrings. Styled by Lori Goldstein.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-07-l.jpg

“When I read bedtime stories to my three sons, I try to do funny voices, and I immediately get a lot of crap for it. They say, ‘Papa, what are you doing? Just use a regular voice!’ They’re not impressed. They don’t find me funny.”

Derek Rose pajamas. Ferrell’s own ring.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-08-l.jpg

DiCaprio came to this shoot sucking on an electronic cigarette. “I have an oral fixation,” he explained, as smoke engulfed his head. He had recently arrived from Australia, where he was shooting The Great Gatsby in 3-D, and became upset when someone asked him for an autograph. He seemed much more interested in leaving than being in the studio. As he rushed out the door, he noticed a toy Smurf that belonged to a child on the set. “I played with these when I was your age,” DiCaprio said, as he stopped suddenly to talk to the little girl. For a moment, he was genuine—kind, even—but he was late for a party or a dinner or a plane. It was time to be somewhere else. And then he was gone.

DiCaprio’s own suit and shirt.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-09-l.jpg

Click here to read the full Q & A with Lynn Hirschberg

Olatz slip. Dunst’s own earrings.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-10-l.jpg

“For a year, I was Lisbeth Salander—I only wore black; I lived her life. Before this movie, I didn’t even have pierced ears. They put four holes in each ear, and my eyebrow and nipple were pierced. The only thing that concerned me was riding the motorcycle. I wasn’t nervous about the anal rape scene, but the motorcycle had me worried.”

Nina Ricci top.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-11-l.jpg

Click here to read the full Q & A with Lynn Hirschberg

Tom Ford shirt and bow tie. Brooks Brothers suspenders. Styled by Patrick Mackie.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-12-l.jpg

Click here to read the complete Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg.

Tom Ford vest and shirt. Pitt’s own watch and ring.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-13-l.jpg

Click here to read the complete Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg.

Burberry Prorsum jacket and trousers; Tom Ford shirt, bow tie, and cummerbund.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-14-l.jpg

Click here to read the complete Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg.

Tom Ford shirt. Dolce & Gabbana tie; Pitt’s own necklace.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-15-l.jpg

“I call The Sound of Music ‘S&M.’ I did the movie for practical reasons: It was big bucks. And then I thought it would be bye-bye. I don’t sing­—not even in the shower—and I thought, This will be a great lesson. But I didn’t think it was a very interesting part. I was determined to drink a lot and be sarcastic and cynical. S&M needed a bad boy to remind everyone how sluggishly gooey it might become. I may have kept the movie from becoming a sentimental bore.”

Plummer’s own suit, shirt, and bow tie.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-16-l.jpg

“When I watch Up, it makes me weep like a lunatic. I was pregnant the first time I saw it, and the first six or seven minutes destroyed me. I’m not allowed to watch it anymore because I turn into a complete wreck.”

Helen Yarmak coat; Va Bien bustier. Cartier earrings and necklace. Styled by Lori Goldstein.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-17-l.jpg

“As a child, I felt like a changeling at odds with the planet I arrived on. I didn’t understand the world I was born into, and that feeling of dissonance colored my youth. I saw that rigidness existed, and as a result, for me, rigidness got a bad name. Looseness was far better. And I gravitated toward a different life.”

Swinton’s own blouse; Dolce & Gabbana bra and briefs. Falke hosiery; Christian Louboutin shoes. Styled by Marie-Amélie Sauvé.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-18-l.jpg

“I got Drive because I told my manager that I thought I could make an interesting villain. I read the script, and they asked me to go to the director’s house to meet him. We chatted, and on my way out I pinned him up against the wall by his front door. He’s Danish, and he’s already very pale. ‘What are you doing?!’ he asked. I was very quiet: ‘I just want you to know that I have great physical strength.’ So he gave me the part.”

Giorgio Armani tuxedo jacket, shirt, and bow tie. Brooks’s own glasses.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-19-l.jpg

“When you work in a different language, your emotional state changes. In Spanish, my mother language, words not only have the meaning they have—they also have a personal meaning. For me, it is more difficult to say ‘Te quiero’ than ‘I love you.’”

Emporio Armani tank top. Banderas’s own necklace and ring.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-20-l.jpg

“I did a ton of commercials growing up. My friends would go to soccer practice, and I would go to an audition. It was just a fun hobby. It’s still a fun hobby—nothing more.”

Eres bra and briefs.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-21-l.jpg

Click here to read the complete Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg.

Marchesa dress. Gilan ring; Harry Winston bracelet.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-22-l.jpg

Click here to read the complete Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg.

Dior dress; Fleur of England bra and briefs. Harry Winston bracelet; Bulgari ring.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

cess-best-performances-actor-portfolio-2012-23-l.jpg

Click here to read the complete Q&A with Lynn Hirschberg.

Oscar de la Renta gown. Harry Winston bracelet; Gilan ring; Gucci shoes.

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti
Stylist: Edward Enninful

Next up
Best Performances: The Photos
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Best Performances: The Photos
Back to slideshow

Best Performances: The Photos

This year’s 20 brightest stars, uncensored and unzipped. Click here to read an introduction by Lynn Hirschberg.

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February 1, 2012 5:00 am| by Lynn Hirschberg
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Best Performances: The Photos
by Lynn Hirschberg
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