Category: photoshoots

I’m often asked about the men we put on the cover of the magazine. Usually, the questions are pretty basic: “What is So-and-so like?” or “Was So-and-so nice?” I’ll generally offer an equally uncomplicated response. “Really good guy,” I’ll say. Or “Excited to have him on the cover.” For the most part, that’s the case. But every once in a while, maybe two or three times in the 15 years I’ve been the editor-in-chief of Details, we get a real pain in the ass—someone whose ego far outpaces his talent and who is so difficult that it makes looking at that cover, even years later, a deeply unpleasant experience.

By and large, though, we find ourselves dealing with smart, creative, and all-around good guys—movie stars, mostly, who are tired and busy and occasionally a little grumpy, but who happily carve out anywhere from one hour to five or six to work with our creative team on shooting a great magazine cover. One cover subject brought a case of beer to a shoot a few years back and turned the location into an impromptu party. And I once watched Tom Cruise walk around a photo studio and introduce himself to everyone in the room—probably a dozen people. “Hi, I’m Tom Cruise,” he said to the Details fashion intern to whom, admittedly, I had never introduced myself.

And then, of course, there’s Brad Pitt. For this month’s cover shoot, Brad agreed to spend two days with the magazine’s creative staff in Humboldt Redwoods State Park in Northern California. Needless to say, two days with any celebrity subject is extraordinary. Two days with Brad Pitt is a photographer’s dream. That the photographer in this case was Mark Seliger, who has shot most of our covers since 2012, likely factored heavily in Brad’s decision to give us so much time.

Read more. Thanks Gabriella.