He calls the colonies of freckles on his face “natural tattoos” and they are an important asset for the 23-year-old Texan chosen by the Dutch company G-Star Raw as the face for their Fall-Winter 2013-2014 campaign. With the snowcapped peaks of the French Alps behind him, Caleb Landry Jones posed for Anton Corbijn wearing a jeans jacket with the collar turned up, a western-style vest that looks like it’s right out of a Sergio Leone flick, tube jeans, boots, and a military overcoat. Caleb says it was a great experience and that he met a lot of really nice people. And then his quip that he thinks he was chosen to represent the brand because denim runs deep in Texan blood.

His female partner on the set is a thick-eyebrowed model with tough-girl features, Arizona Muse. A rising star in recent seasons, she has been a protagonist in campaigns for Louis Vuitton, Prada, Fendi and Yves Saint Laurent. Photographer Anton Corbijn photographed them at 3,000 meters under a clear sky, their breath hanging crystalline in the air. The Alpine set had Caleb stamping his feet and rubbing his hands trying to keep warm. The young Texan got himself this new “part” after his roles in the action film Contraband as Mark Wahlberg’s sidekick and in Brandon Cronenberg’s (David’s son – Ed.) Antiviral, his first starring role. Antiviral was in American theatres last fall and has stirred up quite a bit of controversy. Caleb plays Syd March, the young employee of a clinic that sells viruses collected from the bodies of ailing celebrities. The viruses are sold to fans as bona fide collector’s items. However, at a certain point, Syd gets so obsessed by his strange job that he begins to supply the material illegally. He even ends up inoculating himself with the viruses to ward off suspicion. With his freckled face and downturned mouth, Caleb looks like one of those dashing, troubled idols that pullulate in the world of cinema and music.

He reminds me vaguely of a young Willem Dafoe, or the next Jim Morrison, with whom he shares a boundless passion for rock. He has played the drums since he was a teenager. His mother teaches piano and he inherited his love for music from his family, especially grandpa Tommy, who was a great drummer. He’s also no slouch on the guitar and piano. He plays with his band when he’s back home in Austin, but their concerts are few and far between. In any case, Caleb hardly spends any time at home anymore, he’s always busy on some set. He is currently shooting Tom à la ferme, a film by the young Canadian director Xavier Dolan exploring the world of homosexuality. Caleb plays a starring role as Tom, a boy who falls into depression after the death of his lover. When he meets his boyfriend’s family he discovers that the mother didn’t know about her son’s sexual orientation or that the two were friends.

Although he tends to keep his private life to himself, Caleb does tell us that he is not currently involved with anyone. He goes out with a lot of girls, but just as friends; he doesn’t want to stir up any gossip. At this point in his life he is focusing on working hard. He isn’t a presence at Hollywood parties, preferring to stay home and watch an old film on VHS. In the meantime, while we wait to see him alongside the lovely actresses Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan in Byzantium, the new vampire movie by Neil Jordan (of Interview with the Vampire – Ed.) presented at the last Toronto Film Festival, rumors say he is up for a place on the cast of Queen and Country by John Boorman and in the new episode in the continuing X Men saga, Days of Future Past, directed by Bryan Singer.

L’Uomo Vogue, february 2013 (n. 438)