In 2004, when fashion designer Tom Ford left Gucci, he declared he wanted to make movies. I laughed, along with the rest of the world. Well, he’s having the last laugh now, because A Single Man-his adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s classic novel-is a most auspicious directorial debut. It depicts a day in the life of a gay professor in the ’60s as he tries to deal with life after the loss of his longtime companion. Colin Firth is masterful as George as is Julianne Moore playing his best friend, and both were nominated for Golden Globes last week. In person, Tom Ford-who came to Santa Barbara to discuss his film this fall-is quite fascinating. There’s no flaw in his physical appearance, and he’s seductively charming, but it’s his soulfulness that disarms you.
Why did this book become your directorial debut? I originally read this book when I was in my twenties living in Los Angeles in the early ’80s, and I was really struck by the character of George. I fell in love with George. I met Christopher Isherwood that same year, and I read all of his work and really became quite obsessed with Christopher. When I really started looking for the right film project, I knew what I stood for as a fashion designer but I had to look inside myself and ask, “What do I have to say in a Tom Ford film? What does it have to mean?” I had optioned a couple other books and I was working on them and they weren’t really becoming what I felt was something powerful enough to spend the energy and time to put it on the screen. I was driving to my office in Los Angeles one day and I was thinking about George, and I was like, “Okay, I’ve been thinking about George off-and-on for the last 30 years. I should pick up this book again.” I picked it up and it was an entirely different book to me. The point of the book is to really appreciate the smaller things in life. It’s about isolation, romance, and it spoke to me in an entirely different way. I was determined, and just had an intuitive feeling that this was for me.
The film is very stylish, but so substantive. The details in the house where George lives, the way he dresses further tell us the story. For me, style is nothing without substance and the style in the film was really there to help us understand the character. For example, George moves to America because he loves the good things about America. He loves the straightforward quality of America-the honesty-that’s why he falls in love with Jim, who is simple in that way. I don’t mean simple in a small way, but simple in that he’s honest and straightforward. So I thought George would want a modern house-he’s going to want something that has that dynamism of where America was in that moment he came to America. Yet this is a college professor who grew up in dark paneled rooms in England and would want the warmth of a cozier version of a modern house.