W Magazine's Features Andra Day, Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson And More

Source: Juergen Teller / W Magazine

We’re bigtime Jonathan Majors stans around the office and we are fairly certain he has some W Magazine covers in his future, alas the feature story on him is pretty rad. Check out the full interview HERE and enjoy excerpts below:

Jonathon Majors Quotes:

On his first date: “On my first date with my first love, we went to see Hellboy. And then we went to the Olive Garden. We ate breadsticks. It’s all about the breadsticks at the Olive Garden.”

Source: Juergen Teller / W Magazine

On which superhero he wanted to be as a kid:

“I was a big Batman guy. When I was 8, my mom made me a Batman cape and a Batman costume. I wore that outfit until I was 12 and a half. My mother put muscles in the costume, and I was convinced that I could fly. And fight crime. One time, I jumped out of the car while it was still moving. At 8 years old, I was ready: I was a crime-fighting, Batman wearing, bad motherfu**er!”

We would love to see Jonathan get to be Batman on the big screen. Hopefully the powers that be are reading this article getting all kinds of ideas.

Source: Juergen Teller / W Magazine

Our interview with Tracee Ellis Ross for ‘The High Note’ was one of our favorites of 2020 so we love that she’s getting a chance to talk about it for her interview with W Magazine. Check out an excerpt below:

Talking about where she likes to sing at home:

“More in the car. Or when I’m cleaning. During this pandemic, I’ve noticed that I’m a hummer. I hum a lot. And I end up humming Christmas songs. A lot of “Jingle Bells.”

Source: Juergen Teller / W Magazine

Leslie Odom Jr. had a pretty meaty role as Sam Cooke in ‘One Night In Miami’ but he told W Magazine he initially turned down the part. We also really enjoyed hearing about the first song he ever learned:

“Greatest Love of All,” by Whitney Houston, was the first pop song I remember playing over and over again. I didn’t think it was hard to sing. I thought I sounded beautiful.”

He’s not alone in this! Feels like most kids who grew up in the late 80’s had this same experience. It was one of our first songs too.

Source: Juergen Teller / W Magazine

We had to show love to W Magazine cover star Riz Ahmed as well because he had some really incredible quotes about learning to play the role of a drummer who loses his hearing.

On his immediate reaction to the script and what he had to do to prepare:

“Sound of Metal is one of those things that just kind of fell from the heavens. The film had proved almost impossible to get made, but when I read the script, it just blew my mind. As an actor, I like learning new skills, and about new communities and cultures. For Sound of Metal, I had to learn both to play the drums and American Sign Language. I needed to be fluent so that I could improvise with deaf actors.”

Speaking about what he learned from his preparations:

“…I was learning about multiple worlds at the same time: the punk and metal scene; the deaf community; and Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous addiction circles. It was eye-opening…I learned that there were different deaf accents: People in Harlem will sign differently than someone in Brooklyn, who will sign differently from someone in L.A. And for many people, deafness is not a disability; it’s a culture. The challenges can be the gifts.”

What an incredible issue — and the crazy part is — as much as we shared, there is so much more! W Magazine’s Best Performances Portfolio is online now — you can read the full interviews with all of the cover stars as well as features on the other actors we weren’t able to share.