- Hi "GQ." I'm Joe Alwin, and these are my 10 essentials.
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I'll start the essentials the way I start in the morning,
which is with coffee.
This is the starring French press of today.
You put the coffee in. You put your hot water in.
You plunge it down, and you drink it straight from this
with a little bit of milk.
I'm really not a coffee snob, to be honest.
I don't have a place I go to get coffee.
I just basically drink it and inject it into my veins.
Coffee.
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So my next essential item is, drum roll,
a camera, obviously.
This is a Leica camera, a Leica Q.
I first saw one of these on the set of "The Favourite,"
and Yorgos Lanthimos,
who was the director of "The Favourite,"
would carry one of these around everywhere he goes,
and would take the most beautiful behind the scenes photos.
I'll take it on set sometimes, or take it out and about,
if you're on a shoot or with a group of friends.
I'd always been pretty interested in photography.
But really, I just wanted to copy Yorgos.
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My next essential item is a piece of clothing.
This is my lucky jacket,
and I was actually given it for my 21st birthday.
It's lucky because I wore it
when I went to America for the first time
to New York for an audition, which was my first audition.
And I got the part.
I was lucky enough to get the part,
which was a film called "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk."
When I went over there, I turned 24, I think.
And I didn't know anyone.
And my family sent me some flowers, I think,
to the hotel I was staying in.
And so I found the other day pressed in here
a card from the flower company and a card from my family.
Nostalgic memories.
My next essential items, lighters.
I like collecting old lighters.
And the ones that I brought here today are made by Dunhill.
They're just old-ish, beautiful, well-made objects.
Got a few in silver. There's one in gold.
You'd think I would be a smoker,
but I actually am not really a smoker.
However, if you're at a party
and you need a cigarette lighter, I'm your guy.
They've got my initials on. There you are.
Just in case I forget.
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All right, my next essential item is a book.
This is the book I'm reading at the moment,
Sally Rooney's "Beautiful World, Where Are You."
It's a fair question.
Sally Rooney is an Irish author
who has two books before this,
"Normal People" and "Conversations with Friends,"
which is a show that comes out mid-May, 2022.
Very long sentences. I'm looking for a short sentence here.
"She looked up at him quickly and he met her eyes."
There's a lot of humanity in her writing.
I like the way that we can identify with her characters.
And I also think she's really funny as a writer.
My next essential item on this lovely list is my watch.
I never used to really wear one, but I do now.
And I have this classical automatic Patek Philippe,
which is really lovely, really beautifully made.
It was actually made in 1991,
which is the same year that I was born,
so it's been ticking for as long as me.
In a world of screens and computers,
it's just nice to have something like that on your wrist.
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My next essential item is a scented candle.
I have a bunch of them at home
and they're nice things to take around with you
if you're moving around a lot and in a new hotel room,
or in a new space, or a new place.
This particular one is made by Loewe.
This particular one is called Cypress Balls.
If you do like your in-laws, maybe Cypress Balls by Loewe.
If you don't like them, just get them some tea lights.
How's that for a pitch?
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My next item is another piece of clothing,
not old and not so sentimental.
It's a pair of track suits that Stella McCartney makes.
I really like her clothes
and I like her as a person as well.
And she makes eco-friendly clothes.
They're, you know, a pair of everyday track suits
you can wear all the time.
They're just comfy and they're great.
Everyone should have them.
The next item is my bike.
It's got a couple of wheels, couple of brakes,
and a nice little seat.
Particularly in London, yeah,
I tend to walk or take the Tube or the bus anyway.
So a bike, it's a nice way of getting around,
bit of exercise.
I wanted a road bike that was relatively lightweight
and would get me from A to B, which so far it's done.
I'm not sure it's built for wheelies,
and I would probably fall off,
so we'll leave showing the wheelies at next time.
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My next item on my list is, the suspense,
is a painting.
It's a painting by a Cornish painter called Richard Cook.
It was a gift when I was 18.
He does mainly landscapes of Cornwall.
It's just a place that I've been going all my life
since I was a kid on kinda family holidays.
Everyone packed into the car with dogs,
and David Bowie or the Beatles on tape.
Being in the car for hours, and hours, and hours.
Finally get to Cornwall, and jumping in the sea,
and it being freezing cold but also great.
This picture at the moment is on the mantle piece
at home above the fire.
Thank you for watching. These were my 10 essential items.