Yahoo News Dane DeHaan on Personal Style, Fatherhood, and 'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets'
You likely know Dane DeHaan from his movies. He is, after all, the male lead in Fifth Element-director Luc Besson's upcoming space opera Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, playing the titular Valerian opposite model-turned-actor Cara Delevingne's Lorelai. Before that, he was the ambitious young executive crawling down an ever-creepier rabbit hole in A Cure for Wellness, and the also-ambitious (then unhinged) Harry Osborn in the second installment of Andrew Garfield's run as Spider-Man. But before all that, the new father-his daughter Bowie was born in April of this year-was a model.
"One of the first films I did, Lawless, was going to the Cannes film festival," DeHaan explains in Prada's SoHo store, where he sits not far from a portrait of himself in the campaign for the new L'Homme Prada Intense fragrance. "I wasn't really invited to go with the film, because everyone in it was a lot more famous than me, so they weren't going to pay for me to go. But I really wanted to go, so I kind of just hijacked the operation." Soon, he had a ticket but nothing to wear to the black-tie-required festivities. That's where Prada comes in. The Milanese label graced him with a proper tux, and he was so happy with the whole experience that he wrote a thank you note.
"I really think it was from that thank you note that I got my first campaign," he says. "David Sims shot it in London, and the campaign was me, Harvey Keitel, Aaron Johnson, and Benicio del Toro. That was my first-ever Prada campaign."
Not a bad start.
We chatted with DeHaan about those auspicious beginnings, how fatherhood has changed his approach to getting dressed, and a particular pair of red shoes that he just couldn't get out of his mind.
On being the label's longest-running campaign star:
I think I've done five campaigns now. I've done pretty much one a year, and I've done more now than anybody in the history of the company. Pretty crazy. We really just get along well with each other. We love each other, and they've become like a family to me.
On those red shoes:
I've always followed fashion. When I was a teenager, I used to come to New York to see a play or go to a play reading or something, and I would also always go into the Prada store in Soho. There was this pair of red driving shoes that I would just obsess over and dream of having one day. I actually have two pairs now. So I was definitely aware and a fan. I look better in Prada clothes than I do in any other clothes, so they've become my go-to spot.
On the L'Homme Prada Intense campaign:
Working with Stephen Meisel was really amazing; there's something kind of old-school-fashion-photographer about him. He wears all black and has this big studio. He's smoking. He shoots incredibly, incredibly fast. It was really amazing working with him and seeing the images he could capture in such a short amount of time. He really understands how to shoot not just a face, but also fashion. And the other thing that was cool about this campaign, was that because it's not specifically for a season, they kind of had all the clothes archived from the past ten years, and they were pulling from kind of like the greatest hits of Prada fashion from the past 10 years, and that was just really cool.
On keeping it in the family:
I've taken my mom along with me to a couple of the campaign shoots. She went to London with me, and I took her to Milan with me also. It's really crazy to be able to share that experience with her. Like, "Look at my life. Look how crazy this is. Isn't this awesome?"
On personal style:
I like to have fun with it. I don't go to a suit on an everyday occasion, but I do have a lot of Prada suits in my closet, and it is fun to kind of play with them. I really like wearing suits with the crazy patterned shirts. I've started not wearing ties with them and just letting the shirt be the thing. And then I have my pair of black Prada skinny jeans that I'll put on almost every day, and a loafer that I wear a lot in the summer. I also have this pair of red-and-black checked shorts with like a yellow zipper on them. It sounds crazy but they're actually really cool, and they've become my go-to summer shorts.
On the shorts vs. pants debate:
It's 96 degrees today in New York. So if you live by, "I shouldn't be wearing shorts," I think you'll be a pretty unhappy person when you step outside.
On having his first child, Bowie, in April of this year:
It makes me excited for her, because I'm going to get to show her the world. I can't wait to take her with me and show her all different kinds of places and people and cultures. I mean, I had an amazing childhood, but I grew up in an upper-middle class, predominantly white area of Pennsylvania and I didn't really leave much other than to go to Disney World, you know what I mean? So I'm so excited to show her the world, and I think it'll give her a really wonderful perspective.
On getting dressed for fatherhood:
I'm at least more careful not to get spit-up on. But those are some of the best moments: All of a sudden you don't really care that you got spit-up on your Prada polo. It's just a wonderful cute event that you always remember.
On his new movie:
It's definitely the biggest production I've like starred in. Valerian has like a hundred times more special effects than [The Amazing Spider-Man 2] had, I spent almost every day in front of a blue screen. So it was a whole new experience, but in a way, it was kind of like going back to being a kid and using your imagination. I'm excited for it. It's a risk, but risks are fun to take, and hopefully people will embrace it for the fun summer movie it is.
On working with director Luc Besson:
He's child-like in the best way possible-just in the way that he loves movies, and he's a fan of movies, and he wants to have fun making them. He's like a kid in a toy box. He owns the studio, he owns the camera, and he operates the camera the whole time. It's the most fun I've ever had making a film. He was making the film he wanted to make his entire life, and you could tell every day on set.
On trading tips with model-turned-actor Cara Delevingne:
I'm still learning from her when it comes to modeling, for sure. Though she does always get the questions like, "What's it like breaking into acting after being a model?" And I'm always quick to remind people that I am also a model. But she doesn't need tips from me-I need tips from her.
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