All posts tagged: gq hype

Christian Pulisic: ‘It’s Just Another Big Tournament’

Christian Pulisic: ‘It’s Just Another Big Tournament’

Published by Jenni Sidey

It is only 20 days before kickoff at the 2026 FIFA World Cup—confidently projected to be the most-watched sporting event ever televised, and one already being hyped by President Trump as both the “greatest and safest sporting event in American history” and “a once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase the beauty and the greatness of America”—but Christian Pulisic is, at least on the face of things, feeling quite relaxed. “I get texts from my family and close friends—they’re definitely all excited about it, for sure,” Pulisic says, hanging out in sweats after practice for his Italian club team, AC Milan. “I mean, I feel like I’m constantly playing in big games. For me personally, it’s not like all that much is changing. It’s just another big tournament, to be honest.” Even for a guy as low-key as Pulisic, that’s a surprising statement. Playing in the first men’s World Cup on home soil in 32 years (okay, cohosted with Mexico and Canada, but still) would be a pinch-me moment for any US player. For Pulisic, …

How Boots Riley and Don Cheadle Stole Blockbuster Season

How Boots Riley and Don Cheadle Stole Blockbuster Season

Published by Jenni Sidey

Don, have you seen that sort of political momentum come from anything you’ve worked on or been a part of? Cheadle: My entry point to a lot of activism that I got involved with came after Hotel Rwanda, and having congressmen and women, Democrats and Republicans, come to a screening at MGM. [Then US House of Representatives members] Ed Royce and, I want to say, Donald Payne asked me to accompany them on a congressional delegation to Chad, because we couldn’t get into Sudan or Darfur, to discuss what was happening there, and they thought that the film was—not a one to one, but it had a lot of similar dynamics to what was happening inside of Sudan, and they wanted to bring attention to it, and they said they think this film could do it, and would you come with us? And I was like, Of course. So I went and Paul Rusesabagina, who I played in the movie, came, and John Prendergast. We all went and then snuck into Darfur after the congressmen …

How Marcello Hernández Became the Boy Prince of Comedy

How Marcello Hernández Became the Boy Prince of Comedy

Published by Jenni Sidey

Marcello Hernández has invented a new game. On a sunny yet deceivingly cold spring day, the 28-year-old comedian and Saturday Night Live star and I set up shop on a sliver of concrete at a park in Lower Manhattan. After casually passing a soccer ball around for half an hour, Hernández decides to see if he can kick the ball into a nearby basketball hoop. As he stands atop the three-point arc, shot after shot paints the backboard. When, finally, around the 30th try, the ball mercifully goes in, he’s not satisfied so much as he is dead set on replicating this feat. Several attempts graze the net, while most hit nothing but air. A few do a tantalizing spin cycle around the rim before swirling out. With each miss, Hernández becomes more determined to see the ball go in again. I become more worried that this will take all day. Vintage t-shirt by The Society Archive. Pants by Ferragamo. Hernández, a born-and-raised Miami kid, has become SNL’s rising star since joining the cast in …

Josh Hutcherson Is Liking What He Sees in the Mirror

Josh Hutcherson Is Liking What He Sees in the Mirror

Published by Jenni Sidey

“I got some heat because I did a photo shoot with Jordan, and Jordan asked me something about being a [Taylor Swift fan], and I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m definitely not a Swiftie,’” he says. He meant it as neither judgement nor critique. But on the internet, simple, honest opinions about the type of music you like are not allowed. “All of a sudden it garnered this, ‘Fuck him! He’s a monster! Destroy him! He’s short! He hates her because he’s short!’ [He is five feet five.] “It’s just like, whoa! I think she’s great. Her music is not my kind of music. That is why I don’t want to be online,” he says. “I don’t need that energy,” he adds, of internet idolatry. Being a TikTok star doesn’t lend itself to his brand of acting, anyway. “It’s counterintuitive to my job, because if people know you more, you can’t disappear into characters. They see you as, ‘Oh, that’s Josh.’ You know what I mean? So, if you’re a fucking meme, people know you …

Niall Horan Makes Sense of Love, Loss, and Growing Up

Niall Horan Makes Sense of Love, Loss, and Growing Up

Published by Jenni Sidey

Horan’s knack for live performance has also proved useful during his three-season stint as a judge on The Voice, where he closed the loop on his reality TV competition days and mentored each of his seasons’ final contestants to victory. He also got really into golf. (Like, so into golf that he bought a golf management company in 2016.) Through it all, he was still getting on planes and living out of suitcases. But something about turning 30, then 31 and 32, startled him into a reflective state. “When you’re going through something when you’re young, you’re kind of either breezing through it and it’s just happening around you or you’re constantly overthinking,” he says. “The older I get, the more grateful I’ve become for what I’ve had. Not that I wasn’t grateful before, I would say, but I was blown away. Just taking it in now at 30-odd is kind of a cool thing. To look back and look at all photos, look at all the videos, think about what you did. It’s pretty …

Luke Combs Wants to Win the World Over With Country

Luke Combs Wants to Win the World Over With Country

Published by Jenni Sidey

And then, of course, came “Fast Car.” Combs had always loved Chapman, listening to her first on cassette tape in the back of his dad’s pickup truck. He’d covered the song for years, finally releasing a studio version on 2023’s Gettin’ Old after the fans demanded it (Combs listens to his fans). It was the first solo composition by a Black woman to go number one in country music. Chapman joined Combs to sing it together at the Grammy Awards, her only TV appearance in almost a decade. He’s reluctant to take too much credit, but proud of the ripple effects. “I imagine there’s a whole new generation of people that have gone back and listened to all her amazing records now,” he says. “I’m happy to be a launching pad for people to just rediscover how great she was and is, as a person and as an artist.” They still talk from time to time. Chapman will call Combs out of the blue. “Every time it’s an ‘unknown caller,’ and that’s how I know …

Riz Ahmed on the Messy Vulnerability of His Bond-Baiting New Show

Riz Ahmed on the Messy Vulnerability of His Bond-Baiting New Show

Published by Jenni Sidey

The son of Pakistani immigrants, Ahmed, 43, was raised in Wembley and educated at the elite Merchant Taylors’ School in northwest London, and graduated from Oxford; he is an actor and a rapper, both under his own name and with his group the Swet Shop Boys, and he’s still dedicated to both disciplines. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a drummer losing his hearing in the 2019 film Sound of Metal, but he’s also made meals out of otherwise thin blockbusters, like as an entertaining Elon Musk–type villain in the ridiculous 2018 superhero film Venom. His new project, Bait, embraces contradiction. The six-part comedy-drama, written by and starring Ahmed, focuses on Shah Latif, a struggling actor who, after being seen leaving an audition for the role of James Bond, becomes the subject of an intense media storm. It’s a spiky, disorienting satire of the entertainment industry that also explores family, mental health, and Shah’s desire to succeed without alienating his community. The series, made for Amazon Prime Video, is a perfect …

Meet the NBA’s Surging New Superstar, Cade Cunningham

Meet the NBA’s Surging New Superstar, Cade Cunningham

Published by Jenni Sidey

Many casual fans would be surprised to hear that Cunningham is a father, and that he became one at 17, which is another testament to his low-key demeanor. In Detroit, Cunningham told me everything is cool between him and Riley’s mother. “I have a great situation” was how Cunningham put it. “Everything’s easy. She’s an amazing mom.” Smooth sailing, right in line with the overall theme of his life, full of grace and savoir faire. In the suite, his mother says Cunningham has always been this way. “I say it all the time: He genuinely was built for this,” she tells me. “He has a calmness to him, a poise to him, it’s so admirable. He has such a gift, and he’s been shaped by a lot of experiences in his life, like being a father.” Back at the high school, his older sister, Kaylyn, had lauded his patient girl-dad approach to parenting. It’s not so strange having your kid brother become a father before he leaves for college, she explained, but it is a …

How Lewis Pullman Came Back to Earth

How Lewis Pullman Came Back to Earth

Published by Jenni Sidey

“I’ve done something probably 100 times that you probably haven’t noticed,” he says, explaining how he’s been looking to the right of a pillar in his line of sight, swallowing and then shifting his vision to the left. (He’s right; I hadn’t noticed.) It’s a weird thing to bond over, but Pullman invites my vulnerability with his own. On Top Gun, he says, his colleagues were just as petrified as he was—but no one wanted to admit it. “I was the first one to be like, ‘Can anyone else not fucking sleep at night?’ And eventually everyone exhaled and was like ‘Yes, totally,’” he says. His transparency about his anxiety helped him on Ann Lee, too, allowing him to connect with Seyfried, who has been open about suffering from panic attacks. “It’s just nice to relate over having these fucking barriers that we’re constantly having to climb over,” says Seyfried. “He’s so honest about his struggles and is clearly willing to do the work to face that stuff, and so am I. And I respect …