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Will Chalker
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Will Interview

paul flynn: will, is the tale of you beeing plucked away from a building site true?

will chalker: i guess it's been distorted slightly over the years. i was working with a friend of mine on a building site - so that much is true. it was on a power station in shoreham. he was at film college in wandsworth. i went up there to collect some stuff with him and we did some pictures together. i took them to be developed and while he was off doing his stuff i took them into a couple of agencies. someone i knew a couple of years before had done some modelling. nothing serious, like. just a little something they'd fallen into and they said i should try it. nevs did some test shots with me and it's been a slow progression from there. the first couple of years were a bit rubbish, to be honest with you.

pf: take yourself back to five years ago. your'e 19. doesn't this seem like, for want for a better word, the ponciest profession ever?

wc: [laughing] it did. i mean, of course it did. i didn't know know that you could actually make a career out of it. you hear about the female models, but never the male one. i dont know, the first couple of jobs pretty much confirmed in my mind that it was just another job. it paid better than the building site.

pf: which helped it to lose it's poncey edge?

wc: definitely. it'd gone in a couple of months.

pf: what did your mates make of it?

wc: i've got the same best mates that i've had since i was 11. they're the same as me, you know. if anything funny or exciting happens in their day they can't wait to tell you about it. it was just like that. there was a bit of piss-taking. but i liked it beeing a funny thing.

pf: you turned it into a series of anecdotes?

wc: yeah, exactly. i wasn't sure myself at first. i definitely didnt know where it was all going. everyone was a bit surprised at first, though, i have to say. then they all got slowly used to it. when you start talking about the details - you know, the money, the travel, the oppurtunities - people start to take it seriously.

pf: it turns from a note of comedy to a touch of jealousy?

wc: yeah, that's it. it was still a bit funny though.

pf: what was the first job that made you sit up and think 'ok, this is happening now'?

wc: it was an yves saint laurent campaign. i'd been doing the shows, building up clients, if you like, and they were all big names. things were getting quite high profile. but when you get to be the face of a main ad campaign for something like YSL you do think it's starting to break through. it was a turning point.

pf: do you enjoy it, physically?

wc: i've always enjoyed working hard, getting a job done and having something to show for it at the end of it. modelling can be a bit frustrating in that sense. you don't get the same satisfaction as you do from building something. you know, there's not tangible thing at the end of the day.

pf: where do you fit in the male model stratosphere?

wc: how do you mean?

pf: ok, on the one hand there's that calvin klein fratboy. on the other there's the dior homme waif. and then there's you.

wc: i get you.

pf: would you take offence at being called a fit bricke?

wc: no, i'd love it, mate. it's not at all offensive. i was very lucky with timings. the first couple of times i came to milan i noticed all these different types of guys. a lot of similar, big, american jock types.

pf: the dsquared models?

wc: exactly. and then there were a lot of these really skinny guys. i was lucky that i could go between both. i do work out and that, so i could kind of blend in with them, and if i was in the right clothes i could blend in with the other guys as well.

pf: you could do skinny in tailoring?

wc: yeah, yeah. it all helped. i started to find i was working with the same group of of guys, around about my age, great looking, but a bit more normal looking. more of your everyday people. i think it's timing. the time i got into it sort of suited me perfectly. it was getting less and less of about these extremes.

pf: doesn't that suit men's understanding of fashion, too?

wc: that they can empathise with fantasy versions of themselves? i hope so. i like the idea of that. people find it very difficult when they see the blokes in advertising for underwear to identify with. i find it difficult, you know?

pf: do you think that those images are aimed more at a woman's idea of the fantasy man: the big, buff guy with the massive packet?

wc: i think so. i think you're right. the underwear packet man is an extreme. it looks like something completely different. you'd never see it if you looked in the mirror.

pf: was your iconic, crazy-glamour moment wandering down the dolce catwalk with a baby tiger?

wc: i think so. it was a good talking point. i didn't think too much about it until i met the tiger on the day. it sounds stupid, but it was really fantastic. i hung out with him for a couple of hours getting used to him and him getting used to me. it was totally surreal. how many people get to handle a three month old baby tiger?

pf: do you sometimes wake up in the morning and think 'oh my god, what i do is, like, the gayest thing ever'?

wc: sometimes! but i've just been doing this valentino job with gisele. the actual time you spend working isn't necessarily a gay situation, getting to writhe around some fantastic supermodel. the creative people around you are, but you know what? you don't notice. everyone's just people, you know. i'm really lucky. i don't mind at all. i couldn't complain about it, it wouldn't be right.

pf: job's a good 'un?

wc: exactly.

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