Magazine, Prometheus, Interview, God
DAVID 76
From the February, 2003 Playgirl interview. (David 51, pictured below):
“And so how did all that come about?”
“Well…I was at my last year at Stanford, and people there kept telling me that I should model professionally.”
“But you were.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Meaning not just for artists and photographers but for print. Advertisements”
“Yes. So I went to a couple of agencies in San Francisco and they sent out my comp cards to Los Angeles and New York because while there’s some work in San Francisco, most of the jobs come out of L.A. or New York. Two days later I got a call from an agency in New York and flew over to meet with the owner. She asked me, “Ever been to Paris?” and I said, “Yeah, my mama’s from France.” She told me that there was a design house in Paris coming up with its own men’s cologne. They were gonna call it “Prometheus” and they wanted someone unknown, with “the body of a god”.”
“I’d say you fit the bill.”
“Thanks. So off I go to Paris—”
“With your Texas drawl.”
“--with my Texas drawl, and my mama in tow—”
“She went?”
“She…that woman…she woulda swum the Atlantic! She would not take no for an answer. That woman is fiery! If her baby boy’s gonna be naked with a bunch of strangers around, she’s gonna be right there! Sometimes when we’re walking through the airports? People will come up to her and ask her if I’m her bodyguard, and I tell them, “No. She’s MY bodyguard.””
“So was she in the room?”
“At the shoot?”
“Yes.”
“She was, but they made her sit behind the backdrops, which was fine with her. I think she was knittin’ me another sweater. They took a whole bunch of pictures with different backdrops and me in different poses so they could decide later what look they wanted.”
“You were nude in some of them.”
“Yeah, but my hand was strategically placed, if you take my meaning. I was kinda surprised they used the one they did, but I like it. It’s got a more classical look.”
“That’s the one where you have a drape in front of your hips and you’re reaching up.”
“Right. And they used that in the French and British campaigns and here in the states, but they’re gonna use another shot in Europe come next fall.”
“They are?”
“Yeah. They contracted with me to use different shots depending on the success and longevity of the product, so I’m sure everybody will think it’s a recent shot, but in fact it was taken almost a year ago.”
“I see.”
“And I think this one is more racy. Even for France. But then I guess that’s what they want…for it to be noticed.”
“And how long did it take before your phone started ringing?”
“’Bout a day.”
“Who called?”
“The agencies in Paris and Milan, and I lined up some jobs there.”
“This is before the ad even came out.”
“Right. And then a couple of agencies in the states started calling, and then the ad came out, and all hell broke loose.”
“What happened?”
“Well basically the agency in Paris got swamped with calls asking, “Who the hell IS that?!” They started taking advance requests and then London called and then Germany and then Italy and even Japan. I couldn’t do them all cuz I woulda been flying nonstop around the world and I still had my studies to attend to. But everybody wanted “The Prometheus Man”. I think the fact that I was somewhat unavailable made them all the more determined to get me for their campaigns.”
“And so you got higher and higher offers.”
“Yes.”
“Weren’t some of the Prometheus ads just a face shot?”
“Yes. There were a few that were just silhouettes.”
“And those caused a ruckus too.”
“Yeah. I guess people wanted to hire me just based on the impression they got from those ads. They were small ads, used mostly for newspaper and countertops. And then they saw the long shots and they just freaked. Most of them.”
“Some didn’t like your size?”
“Some, but most really, really, really did! They just couldn’t believe that…I don’t know… that my face went with my body.”
“I think it’s that “gorgeous face or gorgeous body but not possibly both” phenomenon.”
“I think so. And some didn’t believe I was real. They thought I was all cut and pasted together from pictures of different guys.”
“I asked you about the attention earlier, but in regards to your debut, did you enjoy it?”
"Well, you know…I always thought it was strange. Here I am you know, big as life, and only artists and photographers were interested in me. Suddenly I’m in a couple of pages of French magazines—”
“And plastered all over subway walls.”
“People stole those posters!”
“Well, I don’t blame them!”
“Well, like I said, it just amazes me that you can be an average joe, but as soon as you get up on stage, women just become…enchanted, for lack of a better word. And here I was, you know, enduring the comments and questions and the defensiveness and insecurities and advances of other people, just mindin’ my own business as much as I can, and suddenly everybody’s kinda taken with me. Just ‘cuz I got my picture in the magazine.”
“But you’re not an average joe. And all of France saw you at once.”
“Well, all of San Francisco saw me, and they didn’t go…naw, you know what? I can’t say that that’s true. I had a lot of interested parties that wanted to “hire” me if you take my meaning. And I also did have a lot of people tell me, you know, with a pure heart, that I was beautiful. But for the most part, I was just sort of an oddity.”
“Yeah! Because you’re so good looking!”
“Well…I guess. Not everybody thinks so though. I think some people are threatened by me in ways that they don’t even understand themselves.”
“Like what?”
“Well…”
2003