Page 78 - SHARP Summer 2024

TAKING THE PLUNGE
AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON IS READY FOR HIS NEXT LEAP OF FAITH
By David Stol
WITH A HANDFUL OF DIVERSE FILMS RELEASING THIS
year, the role of “Armani ambassador” freshly added to his resume, and rumours that he may be the next actor to embody James Bond, Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s career has transformed — in a relatively short space of time — into the industry’s most daring juggling act. But, as SHARP meets with the Brit, less than a day after he’s touched down in Madrid, Spain (for the launch of Armani’s reimagined Acqua di Giò fragrance), it becomes clear that this trajectory isn’t part of some carefully crafted or grand career plan. Rather, for the notoriously
private family man, each of these incredible opportunities is a product of his own creative, exploratory nature.
“I think there are a lot of parallels to the campaign itself,” Taylor- Johnson explains, in reference to Armani’s cinematic new fragrance ad. The monochromatic film, which the actor painstakingly trained to get in shape for, was shot along a jagged clifftop coastline overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. “It’s about a man in search of a new experience,” he says. “He wants to evoke a change and a new chapter. But he doesn’t know what that is. I resonated with that — feeling renewed by a sense of unfamiliarity. That drives me.”
Undeniably handsome, but also armed with a quiet, humble charisma, Taylor-Johnson would have found it all too easy to leverage his movie-star looks and talent into a career as a successful romantic lead. Instead, the actor decided to eagerly return — again and again — to his own professional, proverbial clifftop, and has taken leaps of faith into different genres and boundary-pushing projects.
Of course, nothing great is produced without seizing such opportunities — particularly when it comes to the creative industry. Flexing the same artistic muscles over and over again will yield nothing but atrophy, and never gives undiscovered or underused abilities the chance to develop. Of course, diverting from one’s familiar craft can be a risk (for
78 SUMMER 2024
SHARPMAGAZINE.COM
FEATURE
ARMANI BEAUTY ACQUA DI GIÒ EAU DE TOILETTE SPRAY, 100 ML, SEPHORA CANADA, $160.