INTERVIEW BY TARIK SALEH
PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANK W OCKFENFELS 3
PRODUCED BY CASSIA HOFFMAN
STYLING BY LAWREN SAMPLE @ MARGARET MALDANADO
HAIR BY TONY CHAVEZ FOR LEONOR GREYL @ JED ROOT
MAKE-UP BY SARAI FISZEL FOR CHANEL @ JED ROOT
Studio: Smashbox Studios in West Hollywood, www.smashboxstudios.com

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These days, in the music biz, there’s a great measure for whether you’re what the kids are listening to. And that measure is Glee. Of course, Lykke Li’s 2011 single I Follow Rivers was belted out by Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) on the second season of the Fox smash-hit, but that’s no real surprise. The Swedish performer has been heating up Europe since the release of her debut album Youth Novels in 2008 and her sophomore effort, Wounded Rhymes, is a Top 40 hit in the USA and Canada. She’s played at Coachella and Lollapalooza, acted her socks off in a music video with Stellan Skarsgård and even wrote a song for The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Lykke Li’s star is on the rise, and who better to check in with her on this incredible journey than someone who’s directed music videos for two of her hit singles (Sadness is a Blessing and I Follow Rivers) and considers her a good friend – man of many talents Tarik Saleh. He finds out what it’s like being Lykke Li and how she’s handling the life-changing effects of success. Oh yes, the kids are listening, and so is everyone else.

Tarik Saleh—Where do you live?

LYKKE LI—I live in a suitcase between Stockholm and wherever I have to perform.

TS—What do you eat for breakfast?

LL—If I’m at home I’ll have homemade granola with goji berries, maca powder, yogurt and when I’m away I always have coffee and tea and scrambled eggs.

TS—And what are you up to right now?

LL—I’m in Stockholm; I’ve been here for one and half days. I’m leaving tomorrow to go up north to play at a festival and then I’m going to New York to do a shoot. After that I’m going to play at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark and then I’m coming back to Stockholm, and then I’m finally going off for a small vacation with my loved ones to Portugal.

TS—How long are you going to be in New York?

LL—For about 24 hours.

TS—That’s insane.

LL—It’s intense. I’m trying to block it out because I’m too scared of what the result will be.

TS—What’s the difference between intense and insane?

LL—I think intense is just a lot, but you can handle it, but insane is when you’re doing something inhuman and you’re stepping over certain boundaries. Insane is probably the guy who first walked on the moon – nobody ever did it, but I think a few people have flown to New York back and forth to Europe in 24 hours before, so I think that’s probably just intense.

TS—Have you been insane before? Have you been in insane situations?

LL—I feel like I am almost every other day. I just got back from Glastonbury. That was insane, but I keep surviving all the time so I keep on pushing my boundaries. So many times I feel like I couldn’t possibly handle anymore and then I keep on doing it all over again. And it scares me a bit because I wonder if there’s some kind of pool inside of yourself, that runs dry, or can you just keep on going forever?

INTERVIEW BY ELIJAH WOOD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAKE CHESSUM
ASSISTED BY KEVIN TRAGESER
RETOUCHING BY TODD @ 4C IMAGING

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If you’ve never been to a Flaming Lips show, some might say you’ve never lived. Mirror-balls, confetti, dancing characters from The Wizard of Oz and a lead singer charging across the crowd inside a giant inflatable ball are all part of the travelling circus that make up the Lips’ epic performances. Much of that ‘insanity’ is thanks to frontman Wayne Coyne who’s been producing the soundtrack to alternative rock junkies’ wet dreams for a quarter of a century. They’ve released no fewer than 13 studio albums including the legendary The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot, made a feature film, and scored themselves three Grammys. Coyne may be embarking on the golden age – he turned 50 this year – but not in the way you’d expect. The Flaming Lips are cranking out more awesome music, playing more tour dates, working with more artists, and selling more skull-shaped gummy treats than ever before. Lord of the Rings alumni, music fan and Simian Records founder Elijah Wood was psyched to ask Coyne about his creative process, his recent collaborations and how he came up with those cranium candies. Pucker up Lips fans and read on.

Wayne Coyne—Hello, Elijah Wood.

Elijah Wood—Hello, Wayne Coyne.

WC—What are you doing today? I just arrived in Boston. There was a thunderstorm and the plane felt like it was going to crash. It’s 
a phenomenal thing, air travel. Has that ever happened to you?

EW—I’ve been on flights that were pretty harrowing and frightening. After a flight like that you feel happier to be alive because you may have actually averted death. That’s quite a good feeling, isn’t it?

WC—I have to agree with that. Even though previous to the near-death experience you’d rather not have it, but once on the other side of the near‑death experience you’re really grateful you had it. Once we were flying from New York to Washington and a fucking engine went out on the plane and there was a good 25 minutes where you’re just thinking oh my God, we’re going to die, and then it lands and 15 minutes later we jumped on another plane. I guess you think what would be the chances that we’d get on another plane and the engine would fail on that one, too. You almost feel like you’ve been given a get out of jail free card.

EW—So you’re in Boston. You’re still on the tour, right?

WC—We don’t ever think of it as a tour, because to me a tour feels like you’re going to be in Michigan one night and then you’re going to be in Minnesota and Chicago, but what we do is more like you’re in Texas one night and Madrid the next. You jump around, you go to Europe and Asia and everywhere.

EW—So you’re not on buses this time around?

WC—No, we are. We’re getting on the bus tomorrow, and then we’ll be on the bus for the next couple of weeks but occasionally we’ll fly to England and be on a bus there for a week and then we’ll fly back. We’ll drive from Seattle to Texas on a bus; we don’t give a shit about the distance. People don’t realize what a luxurious bunch of self-indulgent laziness you can get up to on a bus. You can lie in bed all day; it’s dark and quiet.

EW—I’ve spent a bit of time on tour buses with Gogol Bordello and you’re right, it’s like a dark cave and you can sleep the day away and then get up and go to your show. You have no concept of where you are at any given time.

WC—But after a couple of dates you don’t really care. Here’s why I think it’s so cosy. This goes back to prehistoric times when humans all lived and slept in caves together. When other people are sleeping it makes you want to sleep and when other people are awake it makes you want to be awake. There’s this urge. We go back to being cavemen – that’s what we really want to do.

INTERVIEW BY TERRENCE HOWARD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JUSTIN TYLER CLOSE
STYLING BY JENNY RICKER
GROOMING BY ROSIE JANE JOHNSTON

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To some TV viewers, Bryan Cranston will always be Dr. Tim Whatley – Jerry’s Jewish-joke-cracking dentist on Seinfeld, others couldn’t pass him in the street without screeching “Hal!” but it’s his most recent televisual turn as Breaking Bad’s meth-making chemistry teacher Walter White that’s got fans and critics wagging their tongues like super-excited spaniels. Currently in its fourth season, Cranston’s against-type casting as a nerdy high-school teacher who learns he has advanced lung cancer and turns to drug dealing to secure his family’s financial future has earned him Emmy wins three years in a row (which just about makes up for his three misses for Malcolm in the Middle). With upcoming roles in this year’s Contagion, and 2012 flicks Total Recall and Rock of Ages, he’s also making himself at home on the big screen. Here he tells Terence Howard – his co-star from World War Two movie Red Tails, which is being produced by George Lucas and is due out next year – about his happy marriage, his unexpected rise to the top and how he leaves Walter White’s crazy life in the make-up chair.

Terrence Howard—I was a little taken aback that you wanted me to interview you.

Bryan Cranston—Why would you say that?

TH—You’ve done a lot, man. I was honored.

BC—And I was honored you accepted. Have you heard anything about Red Tails?

TH—Yes I have. They actually sent me some trailers to look at – they were great. I think we’re about to have a great movie.

BC—Terrific.

TH—I’m a little nervous now. I’ve never been in this position. I could ask you stuff that some reporter would ask, but that’s really not what I want to ask about. I want to ask about how you’ve maintained such a beautiful marriage for 22 years in this business.

BC—That’s a great inside question. It’s tough. Our work schedules are demanding and invasive to a relationship and you just have to make exceptions. When I shoot Breaking Bad for six months in New Mexico, we don’t go more than two weeks without seeing each other. We have our daughter at home, but she’s on her way to graduating and going off to USC next month, so it’ll be a little easier for Robin to come and visit me when I’m on location.

TH—My daughter’s heading off to college in a month also.

BC—No kidding! What major does she want to do?

TH—She wants to do something with medicine, but I think she’ll end up becoming a publicist. What does your little girl want to do?

BC—She wants to act. And she’s got it; she’s got that something. She’s very sincere about it, even though she’s been around the environment and Hollywood and the trappings of all that. That’s why she wanted to go to a liberal arts college as opposed to a conservatory so by the time she gets out she’ll have a well-rounded education and I’m thrilled.

INTERVIEW BY DAVID FINCHER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREAS OHLUND @LUNDLUND
ASSISTED BY THERESE ZETTERHOLM
STYLING BY NIKE FELLDIN @ AGENT BAUER
ALL CLOTHES STYLISTS OWN + VINTAGE

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It’s official: Sweden is hot. From the fresh musical stylings of Robyn and Lykke Li (interviewed on page 110) to Stieg Larsson’s best-selling Millennium trilogy, right now the world is feeling the need for Swedes and that’s quite alright as far as Stellan Skarsgård is concerned. A Scandinavian native hailing from Gothenburg, the accomplished actor has been embracing that international love for quite some time with roles in Good Will Hunting, Angels & Demons, Thor and two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies as crustacean-coated villain Bootstrap Bill Turner. He’s currently keeping his American blockbuster status in check, filming scenes for The Avengers, but this winter fans will see him return to his homeland in David Fincher’s interpretation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – the first of Larsson’s books. Set in Stockholm and the hoary Swedish countryside, Skarsgård plays a suspicious CEO at the heart of the thriller opposite Daniel Craig’s investigative journalist. Fincher was more than happy to catch up with Skarsgård for The Lab and ask him all about his process, their shared work ethic, and of course what they both love about Sweden.

David Fincher—How and where are you?

Stellan Skarsgård—I’m very well. I’m in Sweden right now, but I have a small role in that Avengers film so I’m flying back and forth to Albuquerque [New Mexico] for filming, which is an interesting place.

DF—That’s a very polite choice of words.

SS—Is this a safe line?

DF—I think we’re good. I wanted to talk to you mostly about your process, because I would love more actors to be like you.

SS—I wouldn’t like that competition.

DF—How can you exist with so little insecurity and so much ease? How do you do it?

SS—I’m incredibly insecure and afraid. For a couple of years I had total camera fright. I couldn’t function in front of the camera. That was about thirty years ago. Sometimes this panic cloud can come over you then you freeze up – it’s really horrifying. So I spend a lot of energy not being afraid.

DF—How does that work? Do you decide I’m just going to go to the office today in my underwear, so to speak?

SS—Sometimes I imagine myself without pants on, because if I’m that ridiculous nothing is dangerous anymore. But basically, I prepare a lot and I don’t spend that much time in my trailer. I’m on the set because I want to become a part of the process of making the film, part of the crew.

DF—I loved that and I think it’s infectious for everyone. There’s so little time in the process of making movies to actually spend time making the movie. So being around on set a lot does create community.

SS—It also builds the focus around what we’re actually there to do. It heightens the importance of what we’re doing. I feel I’m a part of this huge organism, which is the film crew and the project and that makes me feel safer.