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A kind of magic.

Actor Will Peltz interviewed by Devin Barrett & photographed in New York City by Bruno Staub.

Fashion editor David Vivirido.

( w i l l p e l t z , n e w y o r k c i t y )

White muscle T-SHIRT, T by Alexander Wang.

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White muscle T-SHIRT, T by Alexander Wang.

Shearling JACKET, Ralph Lauren Purple Lable. Grey

T-SHIRT, T by Alexander Wang. JEANS, Gromoff.

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Starring in this year’s digital era thriller - Unfriended - Will Peltz is part of a new wave of young actors coming into their own on social media. Joining his sister Nicola Anne Peltz, Peltz is beginning to generate buzz in the in-dustry on his own terms. Exploring how dating and sex have changed for the Tumblr-gen, Peltz is featured in the new Calvin Klein Jeans campaign centered on sexting and Tinder. Armed with over 50,000 followers on Ins-tagram, Peltz stars in a series of projects that are paving the way for storytelling in the digital age. How did you get into acting? My younger sister Nicola started acting before me. I was in between high school and college and I was taking a couple of years off. She was really young at the time - probably nine. I would just read scripts with her. I thought it was fun, and her agent asked me if I’d like to go out on some auditions and I got in an acting class and really liked it. Did you ever think about acting before that? It’s funny. When I was really, really young my older brother wanted to get into acting, so I took a class with him. I hated it when I was young; I thought it was so boring. Would you ever consider roles alongside your sister Nicola? Definitely. That’s our dream. I think it would be so cool for us to do a brother and sister action scenario - similar to an Aaron Johnson and Chloë Moretz dynamic in Kick Ass - or something where we can just act. It could be a little darker - a cool indie where we really get to show the chops. What are you drawn to at the mo-ment? I think I really want to do something dark, some-thing real, something beautifully tragic. Right now, I’m at an interesting point because I think I’m getting a little too old to play high school. I definitely want to do something a little twisted, and messed up based on a character that does things that I couldn’t do in real life - maybe a serial killer. How do you prepare for a role? I did this movie a while ago called Sugar where I played a homeless kid, so I went to Venice and spent a lot of time on the boardwalk.

For Unfriended, I learned how to use a computer really well (laughs). It looks like Unfriended was filmed on Sky-pe. How did you audition for the role? It was interest-ing. They sat me down in a room with a computer set up, and then the director and casting director were in another room on another computer watching. My whole audition was just on the computer. What was it like acting in front of a computer? It wasn’t as weird as I originally thought it would be. There was so much improv. We would all call each other and do these chats. It became interesting to see how it all worked; it’s interesting to see your behaviors hanging out in a group over a computer versus being in a group together. You’re involved in a lot of projects sur-rounding the digital age, whether it be Unfriended or the new CK Jeans campaign. Do you think it’s different for young actors now with the popularity of social media? I think that’s a very good point and you’re absolutely right, I do think it’s totally different. I don’t know if I’m drawn to it, but a lot of the projects I’ve done are about growing up on social media and how it affects our lives. You can’t not portray that through movies because it has changed us so drastically - it reflects in film and in storytelling. It’s an interesting new way of telling stories too. Unfriended is the first movie of its kind where the whole movie is shot on a computer desktop. Your girlfriend, Kenya, was also fea-tured in the new CK Jeans campaign. What was it like working with her? It was such a pleasure. For the behind-the-scenes [footage], there are a lot of goofy, sexual, racy things, which can be awkward at times with someone you don’t know. Obviously the chemistry is there (laughs). That whole campaign is built around the idea of our genera-tion “dating” over the Internet. I don’t know if you call it dating or not, but how relationships these days work. A lot of that has to do with technology. Let’s be real about it, kids this generation can have access to the Internet and information that generations before didn’t have access to

“I REALLY WANT TO DO SOMETHING dark, real AND BEAUTIFULLY tragic.”

– Will Peltz –

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Black gabardine technical fabric SUIT JACKET, Prada. White muscle T-SHIRT, T by Alexander Wang. Statesman Two EYEWEAR, DITA.

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at such a young age. Considering dating, I’ve noticed that many of my friends are meeting people online now, and I think that Calvin campaign really captured that. Yeah, I think that’s so true. It’s such a good point. I’ve ac-tually been with Kenya for almost five years now. It’s crazy though because before that Tinder wasn’t around, but it’s becoming so much more prevalent and I feel like at first a lot of people looked down on online dating, but now it’s the norm (laughs). Everyone is connected. Do you think peo-ple younger than us are losing some sort of social skill because they aren’t connecting in person as much? I don’t know if I would necessarily call it a social skill, but they’re definitely missing out on something. I grew up with a cell phone, I had it in high school, but it wasn’t a smart phone. I wasn’t in high school Snapchatting people. I feel fortunate. Thank God, because I’m so happy that pictures from then don’t live anywhere today. You’re on your phones so much nowadays. I’m guilty of it too. I can’t go fifteen minutes

without checking my phone. it was nice in the past to be able to really enjoy the experience and not be worried about getting the best picture. Now, it almost for some people becomes a priority over actually enjoying the experience, you’re more worried about getting a picture. How do you unplug? Once in a while I go surfing. It’s an amazing way to do it because you literally can’t have your cellphone with you. What’s been the biggest surprise for you since you started acting?To be honest, one of the biggest surprises was how little I knew myself before I started acting. I think you learn so much about yourself and about who you are. That’s why I think acting is a great thing for anyone to do. What have you really learned about yourself? How I operate, how I work, how closed off I might be in certain situations and not in others. I feel like I went through my life so unaware of things, and feelings, and emotions. Now, I’m the opposite because I’m always checking into myself emotionally. It’s a total change.

Black gabardine nylon SUIT JACKET, Prada. White muscle

T-SHIRT, T by Alexander Wang. Statesman Two EYEWEAR, DITA.

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Denim SHIRT, Simon Miller. Vintage leather JACKET, stylist’s own. JEANS, Gromoff.

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