Willem Dafoe has made a reputation for himself as being one of the most engaging and agile actors of his generation. In the latest cover story for Esquire featuring Dafoe and photographed by Marc Hom, the magazine makes clear the breadth of roles he’s taken on. Everything from a death god to players on both sides of the Holocaust, to the Green Goblin and Vulko. Now: he’s playing Vincent Van Gogh. What makes this range so profound is that Dafoe has an unmistakable look, he’s able to reshape his energies and body language to inhabit these roles. For this cover story, it was up to Marc to ensure that we see the range even when he’s dressed up in the latest fashions with nothing between him and audience but Marc’s discerning eye and flair for composition. In only eight images we see a multifaceted man, the same man that’s revealed through the companion interview. And he’s never out of place in the fashions he wears: Prada, Louis Vuitton, Dries Van Noten, Ferragamo, Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Hermès. It’s all the names that make the most fashion savvy weak in the knees, but on Dafoe they’re perfectly at home, and pieces that he’s able to use as tools in his arsenal. See one photo where he’s balancing on a table, slicing an apple, a vision of an effortless leading man. In the next image, he’s a total creep in an oversized jacket. Then a blissed-out meditator in a full wool suit. Marc’s ability to capture each moment from the actor proves not only Dafoe’s versatility but Marc’s instinct to reveal to us all he sees and invite us into every moment.

Our cultural economy has changed. As the world grows smaller, we’re more connected than ever before thanks to a constant deluge of information streaming from never ending communication and expression. These connections have given everyone the ability to parse between what is real and what is fake, forcing major brands like Best Buy to tell the story of their company entirely without artifice. That is not an easy thing to do. So when Best Buy made the shift to invest in that kind of a brand identity they went to Jason Madara to help them do it. The Creative Director of Best Buy, Denton Warne, explains: “Jason Madara’s body of work intrigued us right away. His framing and composition always feel timeless and his light is meticulous – but what we loved most about his work is the character he’s able to draw out of his subjects. It takes a huge amount of care and intuition to capture a frame of someone who has never modeled before and turn it into something you are immediately drawn to.” For Jason, the challenge of bringing truth out of a subject is the sum total of his job. He works on every element: lighting and wardrobe, casting and makeup. But the deepest part of the work happens between him and his subjects, translating those moments into images. But even beyond that, it’s about more than just making something great for his clients. “When I’m away from my family and I’m doing work, I want to find a way to not just enjoy shooting the job and going to work, I want to really become part of it,” Jason explains. “I find something to connect with for everybody, and that is really important to me.” By investing himself in every moment, the subjects meet him on that level and open up. It’s a collaboration: they work together to tell the best stories in the way that supports their message. And the message is shared humanity. Best Buy is a massive company with huge stores filled with hardware and electronics. But with this campaign, they were able to fill every location with authentic human moments. “When I walked into Best Buy and I saw this campaign for the first time in Manhattan and in LA, I saw the prints in the stores and there is a certain sense of nothing feeling forced. Everything feels warm,” Jason explains. “Humans are the core of the story, and I think that’s true in life.” The campaign created the opportunity to fill every location with human stories, setting the tone for the future of Best Buy, but also giving Jason the platform to connect with people in a meaningful way.

TEVA is undergoing a transformation. What used to be an outdoor sandal brand is now expanding into new markets thanks to the explosive and exploratory nature of today’s fashion community. This season the brand is underscoring the shift with a campaign shot by Taylor Rainbolt in collaboration with Chloe x Halle, the R&B duo blessed by Beyoncé’s mentorship. The resulting campaign combines the two artist’s unique style sensibilities with the cultural heritage of TEVA. “We wanted to keep it raw so that we felt like it wasn’t too high-end where it wasn’t accessible to people. Giving it that rawness from nature. TEVA can be for anybody, so we decided to show the actual scene and give it that,” explained Taylor. “They’ve noticed their products showing up a lot in New York Fashion Week, so they came out with a line that you could wear every day, not just to the beach or hiking, or just camping.” The shoot features Chloe x Halle lounging in styles that they chose on a set that gives away its own secrets: you see C-stands, sandbags, and clips holding up pieces of flora or the draped seamless. Everything was brought together to play with the tension inherent in the pieces that bring together the final look. “We used plants to cast shadows onto the wall, to keep both together. Keep fashion and nature together. And then if we didn’t cast a shadow we put plants in the scene to give it that natural vibe. It’s cool vibes, it’s so versatile you can wear it with an outfit or go camping,” Taylor explains. “And then we played with the color because I feel like it really gives it that pop.” Chloe x Halle are set in this specially created world to bridge the gap, but it’s not just the aesthetic that got it to work. It was also the energy that Taylor was able to create with Chloe x Halle on set. “They came to set right away giving everyone hugs and were super excited about it and we created the dynamic where we know everyone’s excited. They were great at collaborating and it was just really amazing,” Taylor says. “It’s cool that it was bringing young women working together; just collaborating with younger women.” The collaboration between all three women created a dynamic set of imagery that wouldn’t have been possible anywhere else. 

Entering into a home mortgage is long term relationship. The 15 or 30 year commitment with a lender is one of the most comprehensive and invasive agreements that most will enter into, and Habito Mortgage knows it can be a scary prospect. That’s why they teamed up with Serge Seidlitz to illustrate those fears and to assuage the audience that there are other options. With characters and settings created entirely by Serge, the 30-second spot shows a young man beginning the process of applying for a loan and unfurling the mile’s long application that launches a host of grabby hands, each one with a different goal: it’s not just every penny in his pockets they want, they also want his gold tooth, his skeleton, and even his spirit. It’s a profound message that many home owners can relate to. Serge brings us along with the character’s journey every step of the way: mixing comedy with the real fears that arise from these processes. Of course, the savor is the product and Serge’s client: Habito Home Mortgages a brand that works to demystify the process and rescue hesitant shoppers from their fears. In just a single moment, Serge changes the entire tenor of the message with the introduction of Habito’s website and product. Quickly the hell that has been carefully created is replaced by serenity and calm, each mood balanced and executed by Serge’s illustrations and Strange Beast’s production. Check out the spot below, and see if you recognize your own home mortgage hesitancies in Serge’s exciting characterizations.

The scale of America is often misunderstood. It’s not until non-Americans attempt to span the country, or you lay a map of the US over other countries, that the sheer size of 48 contiguous states make sense (not to mention Alaska’s yawning enormity). When Emiliano Ponzi embarked on a trip through the American west, he gave himself nearly two weeks to cover a massive but relatively small corridor of the country. Throughout those 12 days, he illustrated what he saw, handing his work over to The New Yorker who shared it via their Instagram. “Drawing is the most ancient way to represent the world and I wanted to be a witness to Western America using just my drawing tools,” Emiliano says. “Visiting places and meeting new people can make us feel smaller or bigger, speechless or emotional. Simply different. Visiting new places is an opportunity to learn more about ourselves. To do that, we have to leave our biases at home and see things for what they really are.” Throughout his journey, Emiliano captioned each of the moments with his impressions of the experience, watching where time and cultures have compressed and expanded over time. After leaving Los Vegas he made his way to Antelope Canyon, where he was confronted with the Native proverb that says: “You cannot see the future with tears in your eyes.” “Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon on Navajo land in Arizona. During the visit, a Navajo man in traditional clothes entertained us with a hoop dance,” Emiliano tells it. “The music came from an iPhone and I glimpsed the Nike shorts he had under the straw skirt. I saw the connection between the past and the present and wondered what the future holds for these people who are keeping their traditions alive.” Continuing out through the desert, the sheer size and heat of the place became oppressive and worked its way into Emiliano’s work and experience. He began to see gas stations as oases, if for no other feature than to break up the monotony. “No phone service for hundreds of miles, no shaded areas, no food or water during the long rides from one destination to another,” says Emiliano. “I found these modern oases during my journey. They were a vector of hope, a sign of civilization in that specific context—things you barely notice walking along the street in everyday life.” Emiliano continued his journey through the desert into Palm Springs, and beyond into Monterey, Big Sur, and Los Angeles. Check out everything on The New Yorker’s art Instagram.

There are few days more exciting than Halloween. As a holiday it is a thrilling mixture of fear and potential, combined with dressing up, the promise of candy, and a suspension of rules still unclear to forming minds. It is a cornucopia of adventure, but a feeling that gets tempered with age and the unexpected becomes a little more predictable. This year, Nickelodeon and Radio celebrated the season by bringing those feelings back to life for children and adults alike, and the results are the best kind of creepy. Each of the spots, set to play on Nickelodeon to let kids know what they’re watching and what’s up next, tells its own little story from characters who are living a whole Halloween life. And each one has its own silly payoff. A haunted house is inhabited by a group of friends that includes a flaming skeleton, a werewolf, a living headstone and an animated coffin. Over the course of these idents, the gang gets up to their own late night antics: giving the werewolf a festive trim, scaring the headstone with an explosive boney hand, and even dunking a flaming head into a carved jack-o-lantern to complete the seasonal fun. There’s a ton of them. “We worked closely with the Nick team, coming up with concepts that relate to each show, such as SpongeBob SquarePants, The Loud House, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more, as well as a few generic ID’s, all featuring our beloved crew of characters,” says Radio. “The house, characters and environments were all created from scratch and then brought to life by our team.” This was more than just a few videos: this was a top down recreation of Nickelodeon’s identity for the season, and Radio made every moment of it.