PARIS — British actor Nicholas Galitzine has been named Emporio Armani’s new global fragrance ambassador.
“Nicholas is an actor of remarkable versatility,” said Giorgio Armani in a statement. “What strikes me most about him is his deep, intense and magnetic gaze. I see him as the perfect man to embody the energy and strength of this fragrance.”
Most recently, Galitzine and Anne Hathaway starred in “The Idea of You,” from Prime Video. Its trailer became the most-watched of any original streaming movie, and the film became Amazon MGM Studios’ number-one ranked romantic comedy debut ever. It drew almost 50 million viewers within its first two weeks, according to Armani beauty.
This spring, Galitzine costarred with Julianne Moore in the Sky original series “Mary & George.” He was listed among Variety’s “10 Actors to Watch” in 2023.
Galitzine will feature in Emporio Armani’s Stronger With You Parfum campaign, which breaks this month. The scent is part of a franchise begun in 2017 by Armani beauty, which is licensed to L’Oréal.
For him, signing on to the project was a no-brainer. “I have a huge affinity with the brand,” said Galitzine, who described it as having class and elegance. “So I just wanted to get in on the act.”
He’s also a fan of the creatives working on the new campaign. Jonathan Alric was its director. “I’m a big fan of his work with ‘The Blaze,’” said Galitzine.
Stylist Georgia Pendlebury and photographer Harley Weir were involved, too.
Fragrance has been formative for Galitzine.
“Especially, trying to find that scent and that sense of identity during my teenage years,” he said.
Galitzine is drawn to what he described as warm, fiery and leathery scents. “I like touches of sweetness, but not an overwhelming sort of saccharine smell,” he said.
Emporio Armani’s Stronger With You Parfum.
Courtesy of Armani beauty
The actor described the campaign’s making-of as “a wonderful and bizarre experience.”
He hopped on a plane to Bulgaria and there entered a warehouse that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Its inside had been morphed into “what could only be described as a sort of Berlin-esque-type club, which was odd for me, because I probably haven’t been in a club in a few years now at this point,” continued Galitzine. “The production design was incredible — the lighting, the music and the styling.
“It was a really unique experience, because my main task for the campaign was to move and dance with a sense of freedom empowered by my crew around me and the feeling of the nightclub that we created,” he explained. “I don’t profess myself to be a dancer by any means, but it was just very freeing.”
The music they danced to — for about 12 hours — was “Born Slippy.” “And truthfully, I didn’t get tired of it,” said Galitzine. “I’ve not had so much fun doing a shoot probably ever.”
Even now, he still constantly does workouts to that song. “It made a really big impression,” he said. And no doubt it’s getting a lot of play these days.
As for his next projects, Galitzine will act as He-Man in the Travis Knight-directed “Masters of the Universe,” which is from Amazon MGM and Mattel, and he is in prep period.
“It involves three hours in the gym every day — two hours in stunts,” he said. “It involves a collective of humans trying to massage the knots out of my haggard body, lots of costume fittings and wire work, as well.
“It’s probably the most immersed I’ve been in a prep period,” said Galitzine. The heavy lifting side of it, both figuratively and literally, began in October.
“The progression already I feel within my body and my capabilities is a very intoxicating thing,” he said. “I can totally understand now why people become gym-obsessed. It just becomes so addictive being competitive with yourself and pushing yourself. It’s been a really great lesson for me overall.”
Galitzine has also learned that a lot of his favorite actors use fragrance to prep for a role.
“That’s actually something I might try for future work,” he said, explaining that scent could ground something in a character. “I wonder if I could use it for He-Man. I think he smells like sandalwood or something like that.”
Among other films upcoming for Galitzine are a comedy adaptation of “Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie” and “100 Nights of Hero.”
“I had so much fun playing George in ‘Mary & George,’ because of his progression from fragile boy to Machiavellian Renaissance man,” he said. “Leaning into that Machiavellian-ness, that sort of Ripley-type character playing with the darkness, is something that I find really, really fun.”
Galitzine admires many directors. “I had the absolute pleasure of bumping into Denis Villeneuve the other day, who’s just been like an absolute hero of mine for the longest time,” he said.
Galitzine has recently hung out with Gus Van Sant, as well, and admires Andrea Arnold and Halina Reijn, among many others.
“It’s exciting,” said Galitzine. “There’s so much more agency I have in my career now than I did a few years ago. So I’m manifesting this list of people to hopefully work with and learn from.”
