Austin Butler Talks Self-Care & Studying Yves Saint Laurent

Austin Butler was over the moon when he found out he’d be collaborating with Titane director Julia Ducournau and the cinematographer Benoît Debie. “She’s one of my favorite directors of photography, and I’ve been such an admirer of his for many years,” the actor tells me over the phone from Los Angeles on an afternoon in June. But this particular project wouldn’t be like, say, Butler’s Oscar-nominated performance in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis. Instead, this was a major campaign with YSL Beauté celebrating MYSLF, the first new men’s fragrance launch from the maison since 2017. The short film Ducournau and Butler created for this cologne (which contains notes of citrus, orange blossom, and a woody amber and comes in a refillable, recyclable bottle) is meant to capture the myriad sides of one’s personality—in this case, Butler himself. The actor, who shot the spot in Mexico City earlier this year, is seen in the ads dancing, shadow-boxing, grinning into camera one moment, then taking on a defiant look the next.

The return of summer cinema proves that the MCU's grace period is officially over.