The Star, 2019

Salman Toor: This one's called The Star, and it’s a comedy picture about vanity.

I want to play with the idea of feminine men, what is traditionally considered to be feminine in this culture, and kind of accentuating and celebrating that, but also having a sense of humor about it.

This person is just getting ready, I imagine, to get out on stage on a late night show or some fashion show or whatever. And there’s a person in power admiring themselves or maybe not so sure of themselves, and they have makeup artists who are sort of like ladies in waiting helping them to prepare themselves. And it's a kind of backstage scene.

I wanted to kind of play with the idea that this hairy guy, skinny, with a unibrow is having a conversation with the current ideas of beauty in this culture and to be prepared, to be made empowered by these collaborators who are multi-ethnic people. And, you know, they're helping him to be his best self.