Tomorrow, December 1st, is World AIDS Day and there are plenty of things you can do, but the least you can do is buy yourself something for charity. Here are some of the best consumer charity offers…

Make up!

M·A·C Cosmetics will match all Viva Glam product sales on any of the MACcosmetics.com ecommerce sites for a double donation. So while usually one Viva Glam purchase will buy five meals for a person living with HIV, on World AIDS Day, a Viva Glam lipstick purchased online can buy 10 meals.

To date, the M·A·C AIDS Fund has raised more than $270 million dollars which have helped men, women and children globally living with HIV/AIDS.

Sex Toys!

The Respect Yourself Project, back for its third year, has brands designing sex toys with Tenga. This year’s batch of international designers include the USA based Chari & Co NYC, Opening Ceremony, Married to the Mob and HUF, as well as various Japanese clothing labels, the artist Makoto Aida, cartoonist Santa Inoue, and China’s Blacksense.

RYP is a project based on a core concept of “Respect Yourself ~ Taking care of yourself will protect you from HIV” started by TENGA in 2010.

All products are limited edition with only limited quantities available. All proceeds will be donated to AIDS charities in participating countries.

Bono! And Starbucks!

Bono’s (Red) campaign continues with t-shirts and other red things you can boast.  This year, they’ve got Starbucks and Apple products on board.

Or give everything away instead

Have too much stuff already? Give it to the wonderful Housing Works, which will be accepting donations all day tomorrow.

It appears that Old Spice has won the Internet. After years of a nationwide ad campaign based on the emphatic gibberish that the Internet loves so well—personalized Twitter responses, Fabio space-battles—they have given us the memequivalent of the atomic bomb. Now it is time for us to murmur, “Dikembe Mutombo is become Death, destroyer of worlds.”

The game is called “Dikembe Mutombo’s 4 1/2 Weeks To Save The World,” and it is remarkable for several reasons.

1. It’s an above-average flash based game, with dramatic music, varied levels, and gameplay that’s just challenging enough for it not to be dull.

2. It features both Dikembe Mutombo, an all-around awesome guy, and the equally-awesome specter of the looming Mayan apocalypse.

3. As marketing, it’s genuinely amusing—the rare bit of corporate-made Internet humor that is neither pandering nor behind the times.

To appreciate the first two reasons, play the game and watch some Mutomobo highlight videos. I’m going to talk about #3.

The Old Spice commercials, going back to the Bruce Campbell campaign from five or so years ago, heralded an unprecedented weirdening (my word! Don’t use it!) of mainstream ad campaigns. Their ads are spare, strange and designed to be shared—a formula that lots of brands have tried to emulate and none have managed to get right. Imitations of this kind of zaniness usually fall short either because they aren’t weird enough, or lack a charismatic spokesman like Bruce/Fabio/Old Spice Guy.

(A rare exception—those creepy fucking Sprite commercials, which are way too goddamned weird.)

I love these Old Spice ads because they are the kind of thing I should fucking hate. I despise corporate pandering, because no matter how charming a company pretends to be, there’s simply nothing cool about corporations. If a marketing campaign manages to make me forget that for a moment, I tend to have an extreme backlash to it. How dare you amuse me?! How dare you make me forget the essential sinisterness of your business practices?!

This sort of thing works best with a soft touch, and the Old Spice commercials, which are produced by a firm called Wieden + Kennedy, succeed in seeming effortless. There’s very little mention of the brand, although it’s certainly present. Instead the Mutombo game features jokes about the Hostess closing, the tiredness that is “Gangnam Style,” and that horrible Thanksgiving song that, thankfully, didn’t really blow up. (Nevermind. It has 12 million views. Jesus.) Making fun about that stuff is TOPICAL, and the game arrives nearly too late to do so. But, like Indiana Jones sliding under a closing temple door, they just made it.

A normal “clever” ad campaign would seize on that stuff a month or two from now, but Wieden + Kennedy moves faster than that. Looking over their Portland office’s other campaigns, I don’t see anything nearly as odd as the Old Spice ads. There are some typically meaningless car commercials, some blandly inspiring Nike spots, and a dismal Sony James Bond tie-in. Someone at Old Spice corporate—which is actually Procter & Gamble—has an honest to god sense of humor. Thank God for that, and thank God most brands aren’t this clever. There’s only so much time in a day I can afford to waste on flash games.

Primetime TV’s Newest Heartbreakers star in this short from the Bullett Romance Issue shot by Melanie Shaw. Watch Stephen Amell, Jay Ryan, Steven R. McQueen, Dylan O’Brien, Harry Shum Jr., Tyler Blackburn, Justin Hartley, Taylor Kinney, and Michael Trevino behind-the-scenes. For exclusive photos and interviews click here.

Supermodel Anne V has graced countless covers; from Vogue to i-D, she’s owned the Victoria’s Secret catwalk, and she’s fronted campaigns for Chanel and Revlon. This year, she’ll also try her hand at acting with two high-profile projects: A Good Day to Die Hard, the upcoming fifth film in Bruce Willis’ action franchise, and Andrew Levitas’ Lullaby, in which she’ll star opposite Garrett Hedlund, Amy Adams, and Jennifer Hudson.

1. Roberto Cavalli F/W12

2. Miu Miu F/W12

3. Prada F/W12

4. RMS Beauty Lip balm

In the Background: Diptyque Philosykos Eau de toilette

In the winter of 2011, photographer and furniture designer Ana Kraš flew from her home in Belgrade, Serbia, to Los Angeles, where she’d been sent by a European magazine to photograph artist-musician Devendra Banhart. Within five minutes, he asked her to marry him. Despite her initial impulse to flee, she stayed—and the two have been together ever since. We asked the hopeless romantics to document their whirlwind affair in this exclusive photo essay.

Couples find love through the decades in this fashion short inspired by pop-vox street talks and the Bullett fashion editorial “It Had to Be You” which can be seen here.

The world of Dolce & Gabbana‘s Fall/Winter 2012 collection comes to life in this short film from the Romance Issue.
Check out the photos here.

For their Fall/Winter 2012 collection, Italian style masterminds, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana chose to inject Dolce & Gabbana with a shot of Baroque Romanticism. From cherub prints to the golden embroideries, Fellini would be proud.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Charlie Engman

SET DESIGN: James Orlando

STYLIST: Melissa Rubini

Hair: Wesley O’Meara at Wall Group using Oribe

Makeup: Asami Taguchi at A’telier

Colorist: Zoe Wiepert at Bumble & Bumble

Model: Vasilia at Supreme

Mysterious, foul-mouthed, and British, Juno Temple—currently the reigning It Girl in our Fall Romance Issue—is one actress we’re definitely keeping an eye on. In this exclusive video, Temple stares right back (under the weight of some giant updos). Take a behind-the-scenes look as we play dress-up with the coolest girl in town, who werks it in looks by Chanel, Ashish, Thom Browne, Acne, and more.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Jason Kim

STYLIST: Jessica Bobince

HAIR: Thanos Smaras using Bumble & Bumble

MAKEUP: Munemi Imai at Munskin.com

LUCAS LECLÈRE

London-based womenswear designer Lucas Leclère, who hails from Burgundy, France, graduated this year from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. During Paris Couture Week in July, he premiered his first collection, of which he says, “It’s a French take on revolution and Britannia, inspired by the fact that although Great Britain is a monarchy, it’s nevertheless the place where most extreme cultures come from: punk, techno, and nu rave.”

What is your definition of romance?
Romance is when fire is cooler than the flame that burns inside.

If your collection were a person, on whom would he have a crush?
He would have a crush on girls or boys. He would engage in ménages à trois, à quatre, à cinq.

What would be his pick-up line?
He prefers actions to words. He would be inside you before you even had time to say, “I love you, too.”

Strap-on…
Hold on.

“True love waits”…
If that’s true, then true love doesn’t exist because waiting only gets you closer to death.

Jealousy…
Heresy.

We just featured Brooklyn upstart Joey Bada$$ in our Fall Romance issue, and when he showed up for the photoshoot, naturally his entire Pro Era crew came with. So we thought, what a perfect opportunity to have these young and excitable lads throw down some on-the-spot rhymes about luuuurve.

Cormac Mahoney, whose epicurean creations at Madison Park Conservatory earned him Food and Wine’s 2012 Best New Chef award, prepares meals that inspire lust in his patrons. Here, a dollop of tips from the hunky Seattle-based chef on what to eat to keep things fresh in and out of the bedroom.

The food equivalent of a bad date: A poorly shucked oyster.

The food equivalent of a good date: A perfectly shucked oyster or Pop Rocks.

The best food to eat while listening to “Sexual Healing” on a loop: BBQ.

The best soundtrack to listen to while eating chocolate: John Malkovich reading Anne Tyler’s The Accidental Tourist.

The most seductive use of an otherwise un-seductive ingredient: Irony?

The (edible) ingredients of a lasting relationship: What is this “lasting relationship” you speak of?

The dish most evocative of a one-night stand: Uni nigiri.

The sexual position equivalent of strawberries and champagne: Women masturbating to Clooney, Pitt, and Beckham.

The nonfood equivalent of dulce de leche: Her skin after a day at the beach.

Given as a gift, this food most clearly says, “I want to propagate with you”: Gerber’s puréed carrots.

A food more useful in foreplay than whipped cream: Anything. I have never understood the sexiness of dairy products on skin.

The most monogamous ingredient: Sugar.

The most polyamorous ingredient: Salt.

The definitive breakup meal: Bananas and blow.

If Kimye (Kim Kardashian and Kanye West) were a meal, it would be: Available only in Vegas or from QVC.

Photography by James Orlando

A gallery of sneezing models buttoned up in the latest in suits.

Go here to see the fashion story that inspired this short from the Romance Issue.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Aitken Jolly

STYLIST: Melissa Rubini

HAIR: Dennis Gots at Jed Root

MAKEUP: Ralph Siciliano at D+V

HAIR ASSISTANT: Azra Red at Jed Root

PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANTS: Jeff Allen and Bowen Rodkey

DIGITAL TECHNICIAN: D Touch

CASTING: Alina Zakaite

LOCATION: Fast Ashley’s, Brooklyn,

MODELS: Yue at Marilyn, Solomiya at Ford, Conor at Soul, Baylee at DNA, Kelsey at DNA, Adam at New York Models, Avalon at IMG, Brandon Hill at New York Models, Yulia at Ford, Brad Allen at DNA

Inspired by our Babushka fashion story, an other-wordly ingénue galavants through the streets of Vienna in this short from the Romance Issue.

Beneath the shadow of a baroque façade stands a woman unafraid. Framed by a pair of citrus Resurrection by Faang sunglasses, she click-clacks across Vienna’s cobblestone streets in a pair of purple Pradas as eccentric as her eyebrows. Patterns fail to intimidate her, and color is the new black. From her floral Marni tunic/collar/pant ensemble to her magnificent, billowing Marc Jacobs hat, most certainly a high fashion ode to Whoville, it is clear that this viennese is the bee’s knees, and then some.

HAIR AND MAKEUP: Alma Milcic at Perfectprops Vienna

MODEL: Marine Van Outryve @ One Management

Dylan O’Brien is that guy that you wanted to be friends with in high school. He’s handsome enough to be part of the popular crowd, but he squirms when you talk about love and sweats when you talk about female body parts (especially Jennifer Aniston’s.)The 20-year-old former YouTube star made his name as Stiles on the hit MTV series Teen Wolf,  and currently stars alongside Britt Robertson and Craig Roberts in the new Jon Kasdan-directed teen comedy, The First Time. Here he is on his first high school love, heartbreak, and his taste in women.

Describe your character Dave in The First Time in three words.
Wow, just three words? That makes it so much harder. He’s sweet, vulnerable and a guy. [Laughs] I love how I led off with sweet, but really, he’s such a dude. Just one of those sweet, sappy dudes.

Dave’s pretty complex.
Yeah, I would need an essay to describe him. Like, three pages.

The First Time is about a budding romance between two high school students and their first weekend together. Do you remember your first love?
I was in high school, I think. It’s the first time that you start thinking of one of your girl friends as more than just a friend and you just think about her all the time and are obsessed with her and think she’s really pretty and just want to hang out with her always. And then you start trying to process those feelings. That’s literally what the film is all about: trying to understand all those emotions you first have when you have no idea where they’re coming from.

Did you use your first experience as inspiration for the film?
Definitely—that’s how I interpreted the script the first time I read it. It features everything I saw and went through. It got so real.

There are tons of awkward moments throughout the film. Did you experience any awkwardness with your first crush? Did you do anything weird to impress her?
Yeah! One time I stood outside of a girl’s house with a rose in my mouth, like between my teeth. It was obviously a joke and was supposed to look stupid, and it really did. I definitely looked stupid. She just rolled her eyes and laughed.

This film also features the quintessential dream girl. Who was the popular girl in high school?
It was that same girl that I had my first crush on. She was a friend who I was really into, but she never thought of me that way.

You had top-shelf taste in women back then, huh?
Yeah, I guess you can say that she was pretty sought after.

Has she contacted you since high school?
Yeah, totally. We’re still friends.

Do you date?
I date, yeah. I’m currently dating one person, consistently. I would say that the peak of my dating streak was junior year in high school, where I took relationships on a four-month level. I always have some kind of thing…

You always have a girl somewhere?
Yeah, I always have some kind of chick in the closet. [Laughs] No, no. What I meant was that I am always in some kind of relationship. I’m one of those guys. Whenever I like a girl, I somehow fall into a relationship with her.

Do you fall in love easily?
I crush easily.

Have you broken a girl’s heart?
I have no idea! Maybe, but I don’t know because in retrospect they could look back and think, “Okay, it wasn’t that big of a deal.” At a certain point, you realize that those things weren’t as important as you thought they were at the time. It was a silly high school breakup. You shouldn’t take relationships that seriously. Okay, this is getting deep.

Have you had your heart broken?
I don’t know. I’m sure at the time I would have screamed, “My heart is breaking!” But you move on, you grow and you realize that you were only 16.

You used to be a YouTube star. Did you ever explore online dating?
Oh, God no! [Laughs] No way. I’ve peeked around, but never on dating sites.

Have you heard of that webcam chat site, Chatroulette?
Yeah, it’s so weird. It gives me anxiety.

People always think that they’re going to see someone famous.
You never see anybody huge, just huge dicks.

What’s your favorite body part?
Legs.

Which celebrity has the best legs?
Oh man, Jennifer Aniston has always had nice legs.

The woman doesn’t age.
She still looks the same as when she was on Friends. She’s aged very gracefully. Magnificently gracefully.

Is fitness important to you?
It was at a time. I think I’ve gotten lazy. No, I know I’ve gotten lazy. I think it’s because I have a super fast metabolism anyway, so I won’t get fat if I don’t work out. I used to work out. I get away with just being extraordinarily skinny. Like, I have to work hard not to be skinny. I have to try to put on fat by eating, like, three ice creams a day.

I’m jealous. What’s next for you?
Right now, I’m about to go play a small role in a Fox comedy called The Internship. It’s directed by Shawn Levy and stars Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson and Rose Byrne. I’m excited to go work on that set—it’s going to be such a good learning experience. And then hopefully I’ll be on Season 3 of Teen Wolf.

Teen Wolf fangirls are insane.
They’re so sweet.

Have you been trampled on yet?
[Laughs] Not yet! There are some places where it’s that way and things go a little crazy, but it’s usually not like that. Teen Wolf fans are just really sweet, unassuming and kind of shy. I find that really endearing.

“The first question people ask is, ‘What do the monkeys eat?’” says Tim “Wild Thang” Lepard, the ringmaster of what is likely America’s strangest travelling circus, as he reaches into a bag of Monkey Chow—large brown pellets of powdered corn, wheat, and egg—which he then passes through a cage and into the waiting hands of three white-throated capuchins. The animated primates, each about 11⁄2 feet tall, messily pick apart their unwieldy pieces of breakfast like toddlers eating birthday cake with their bare hands. (Later, for dessert, it’s Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts and leftover waffle fries.) The so-called Team Ghost Riders have certainly earned their treats, having stayed up late last night riding saddled border collies and herding rams at Dickey- stephens baseball diamond in North Little rock, Arkansas. it’s the latest stop on a seemingly endless national tour of rodeos and minor league sporting events. Now that the sun is rising over Tim’s 36-foot trailer, which he shares with the animals on most nights away from home, it’s time to hit the road again.

Tim, who has been hauling the show behind his signature “Wild Thang” Dodge truck for more than 20 years, is a perpetual entertainer. At 50, he’s a stocky 6-feet tall, with a cheeky smile, a thinning mess of short, sandy blond hair, and a wardrobe filled with bright Stetsons and home-sewn costumes in of red, white, and blue (each one is custom-made and donated by an rsp adoring fan, who also pairs them with monkey-size matches). An earlier stint as a bull rider left him with a limp and scars beyond his years, but out on the field he can still summon the energy and agility of a man half his age. Last night, in front of 5,000 amazed farm-team fans, Tim ran with the Ghost Riders as they chased four rams around the diamond and into a 10-foot pen behind third base. Then, for the grand finale, he drove his truck onto the field and had the monkeys herd the animals up onto its roof, fireworks popping overhead. “I turned this place upside down,” Tim says proudly, in a southern drawl that channels both John Wayne and 30 Rock’s Kenneth Parcell.

For all the bold theatrics of his performances, Tim reveals a softer side when he’s not mugging for the crowds. It comes out as he carefully removes the monkeys’ miniature chaps under his vaudeville-style dressing room lights, and as he cradles the animals in his arms. Theirs is a closeness forged during arduous training sessions, where Tim has the monkeys ride saddled soda crates, which he pulls around his house in a wagon for weeks at a time. Once they learn to mount, balance, and cling, Tim deems them ride-ready, although he says you can never truly train a monkey. “Sometimes I think they’re training me,” he quips. When you spend this long with animals that Tim likens to children, they become more than pets, colleagues, or even friends. “It gets deep,” he says. “They’re like family to me.”

The sad truth is that for 10 months out of every year, Tim’s furry family is all he has to keep him company. At best, they’re a mischievous distraction from the monotony of a life on the road; at worst, they’re a demanding reminder of his actual family, whom he leaves at home in Pontotoc, Mississippi, every time he pulls out for another string of shows. Tim’s Dodge clocked more than 100,000 miles last year, taking him—almost always by himself— everywhere from Louisville to Las Vegas. When I ask him how he feels about being away from his 7-year- old daughter, Lakelynn Paige, and his sweetheart of two years, Paula Ashcroft, his enthusiasm quickly disappears. “Nobody realizes how tough it is, doing what I do,” he says. “I try to be happy, but I don’t think I am. I don’t feel like a happy person. There are some missing links keeping me from being whole—shoot, you know, just being content with a family, a home, a life. It’s real hard.”

Today, however, there’s hope at the end of the 250-mile stretch of highway. For the first time in a month, and perhaps the last time in five more, Tim has his GPS set to “home.” The lonely cowboy is roaring down the I-22, past chain diners and drab truck stops, en route to the longing arms of his absent love.

Photography by Elaine Catherine Miller

Sarah Gadon snagged her first plum role last year as the wife of Michael Fassbender’s Carl Jung in David Cronenberg’s slow-burning psychodrama, A Dangerous Method, and this year, she’s honing her craft with not one, but two members of the Cronenberg clan. In her turn as poet-heiress Elise Shifrin in David Cronenberg’s new thriller, Cosmopolis, she stars as the wife of Robert Pattinson’s Eric Packer, a billionaire playboy who hosts a string of oddball characters in his souped-up limo over the course of a 24-hour trek through Manhattan. “I love the notion that there is something quite secretive about Elise,” says Gadon. The Toronto native researched early 20th-century New York City socialites to tap into her character’s eccentric side. “They had these really bizarre stories and hilarious names like Bunny and Daphne. I was drawn to the fact that they were extremely wealthy but became very reclusive later in life, so I gave Elise a Connecticut boarding-school drawl and thought she might have been reading a lot of Sylvia Plath.” Next up, Gadon will appear in the sci-fi flick Antiviral, the directorial debut of Cronenberg’s son, Brandon, playing a Hollywood starlet who dies of a mysterious disease.

When did you first realize you wanted to act?
When I stepped onstage for the first time professionally in The Nutcracker. I was ten. I was at the National Ballet School of Canada, and as soon as I did that show I realized acting was the most thrilling and satisfying profession for me.

What drew you to your role in David Cronenberg’s new film, Cosmopolis?
David, for sure. I had finished working on A Dangerous Method (2011) last January in Toronto, and I was in what I call “Cronenberg withdrawal.” I could feel this terror that I might never have that wonderful artistic working experience again. So I phoned my agent and asked what else David was working on, and they sent me Cosmopolis. It sounded a little weird, but I read it and thought it was very interesting. A few months later, David called me and offered me the part of Elise Shifrin. I was so thrilled because I didn’t really expect him to do that. Then it was just game on.

What was so fascinating about Elise?
The characters in the film are extremely alienated from their environment, and what was interesting about the dynamic between Eric [played by Robert Pattinson] and Elise was that, as leading men often do, he kept trying to project onto her what she should be feeling, what she should be doing. But faced with all his sexual advances, she was able to remain cool and calm and deflect the emotions or actions he wanted her to have. I thought that was really interesting because so often young women aren’t given the opportunity to play characters who are so reserved. I sensed something very quiet and understated about Elise, and I thought that it was almost refreshing. After a slew of auditions for horror films or romantic comedies, it seemed so different to be playing a character like that.

What sort of research did you do to prepare for the role?
I love the notion that there is something quite secretive about Elise. I was looking up New York socialites from the ’20s and ’30s and ’40s. They had these really bizarre stories and hilarious names like Bunny and Daphne. I was drawn to the fact that they were extremely wealthy but became very reclusive later in life, so I gave Elise a Connecticut boarding-school drawl and thought she might have been reading a lot of Sylvia Plath. She’d be approaching everything she was saying as if she were sort of pontificating, speaking in prose and not dialogue.

It does seem like you saw it as a layered, very three-dimensional role. What was the most challenging part of playing it?
What was difficult about it was the lack of movement. All of our scenes take place sitting down, and that was kind of challenging: doing a whole day’s work sitting and intensely staring at somebody. I had never experienced anything like it before, but it works for the characters because they’re so rigid anyway.

You’re also starring in the upcoming film Antiviral, directed by David Cronenberg’s son Brandon. Tell me about your character in it, Hannah Geist.
I thought a film about people who are obsessed with celebrity to the point where they want to ingest their viruses just seemed kind of freaky and awesome. But when I read Brandon’s script I really didn’t see myself as Hannah Geist because I pictured her as this kind of iconic, completely inaccessible person. Then, when I went to meet with Brandon to talk about the film, he started to explain that she has this vulnerability and humanity behind the icon status—and that he wanted to be very collaborative and was willing to create Hannah Geist with me so that I wouldn’t feel objectified. That was important to me as a young woman.

Playing this role was almost meta for you because your star, too, is on the rise. Did the story make you think about your possible future as a big celebrity?
I don’t think so. I really just see myself as an actor. I don’t think of that side. I think it’s really easy to live in Toronto and lead a normal life. I view myself as a struggling artist. I still feel like, “Where is my next job coming from? Where’s the next piece of art I want to make?” I don’t know if that would ever go away. Maybe if you’re Brad Pitt it goes away.

So you worked with David Cronenberg twice, and now Brandon Cronenberg. Why are the Cronenbergs so obsessed with Sarah Gadon?
I don’t think I can answer that. Maybe they should! From my perspective, I really love working with David because I see him as a true artist and an intellectual. He makes films and writes films completely autonomously, which is so rare in the filmmaking industry right now. I really respect that and connect with that and admire that. And I think Brandon is following in his footsteps in terms of that kind of filmmaking process. Their work is always changing, and the trajectory of their careers might change, but there’s something special about that first film—that innocence and idealism—that I really enjoyed while working with Brandon.

You’re still taking college courses. What are you studying now?
Yeah, I’m still a part-time student. I’m getting into a screenwriting course. I took “Feminist Approaches to Cinema” and watched a lot of great films. I saw Catherine Breillat’s Fat Girl (2001), which was incredible. It focuses on female sexuality and loss of virginity, and the ending is just so crazy. Another one was The Holy Girl (2004) by Lucrecia Martel. It’s an Argentinian film—an amazing, amazing film. We studied all these incredible female directors who get marginalized in the history books. We explored a lot of theory about the actual nature of the filmmaking process and how it’s not conducive to the artistic process.

Have you been able to apply any of these theories to any of your roles?
Yeah, definitely. When I met with Brandon for Antiviral we had a really long discussion about how I was concerned that the film was glorifying the objectification of women in cinema, that they become these objects of voyeurism. I was concerned that being a character like Hannah Geist would be promoting such a relationship, and Brandon spent a lot of time convincing me that the film was a critique of that relationship. When I started to view it as a critique, it became a lot more interesting as a film.

You seem interested in these complex, very serious roles. Would you ever do a comedy?
Yeah, definitely. When I got back from Cannes I sat down with my team and I said to them that I think I want to make a film now that a lot of people are going to watch and enjoy. I think a lot of the reason why David is so brilliant is because he makes films that challenge you and doesn’t ask the spectator to be a passive audience member. But I would like to make a film that people can go to the cinema to see and that will purely entertain them. I do believe that film can function that way as well.

Is there an actor or director you really love and admire?
I really love Tilda Swinton. I think that she is totally unrecognizable in every film that she does, which I think is kind of genius. As for directors, I love Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Sarah Polley, Sofia Coppola, Woody Allen… The list just never ends.

In light of Bullett’s Romance Issue, I have to ask: What do you think is the greatest love story ever told?
The films that make me think most about love in terms of real love are Bicycle Thieves (1948). It’s really about that father-son dynamic. In terms of unrequited love, my favorite would be Senso (1954). It’s about a woman who is searching for more in her life, for a man and a romantic relationship to fulfill her, and she gets played by this young soldier who uses her for his own benefit. It’s such a great movie.

What, in your opinion, is the biggest turnoff?
Probably someone who is narcissistic.

Biggest turn-on?
The opposite of that. I want a true gentleman, someone who is going to open the door for me. Someone who will ask me out on a proper date.

How would you define love?
My definition of love is a work in progress. Love is… I don’t know, what’s that corny line? ‘Your heart finds its counterpart in another person’? I think love is just instinctual. Nothing can necessarily describe it.

Are you in love now?
You’re going to make me so sad. No, I’m not… but now I’m going to go eat a big bowl of ice cream!

Photography by Marton Perlaki