THE BOOK OF EZRA

Queer Actor Ezra Miller Does High Fashion, Androgynous Drag For “PAPER”

Give a girl a good pair of shoes and she can conquer the world, the old saying goes. A boy, too, if you can find a pair of patent leather stiletto pumps in a size 13.

From personal experience, we know how hard it is finding a good heel in a size 13. Luckily Ezra Miller, the openly queer star of the upcoming The Perks of Being  a Wallflower, had a resourceful stylist for his photo shoot with Paper magazine: The quick-thinking staffer snatched the stilettos from a drag boutique on Hollywood Boulevard.

Miller came to national attention for his disturbing portrayal as the titular character in last year’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, opposite the divine Tilda Swinton.

The actor graces the cover of Paper‘s September issue and, in addition to discussing his latest role, he dons avant-garde fashions from the likes of Comme des Garçons, Alexander Wang, Chris Benz, Sonia Rykiel and Anna Sui.

“…Miller races over to the racks of exclusively women’s clothing in which we’re going to shoot him. “Is this the height of fall fashion?” he asks the stylist, fingering a flattened felt suit by the avant-garde Japanese label Comme des Garçons whose built-in curves make it look borrowed from the wardrobe of an overweight paper doll. It is, she says. “Yesssssssssssss,” he hisses back.

Ezra is game. Game to try on women’s clothes, game to throw on a coat of lipstick. Game to produce music with his friends. Game to play gay, as Patrick is, on film — not a given, even in 2012, for a young actor — and game to take on Madame Bovary next. (He’ll play Leon, one of Emma Bovary’s lovers, and to prepare, is reading the novel for the third time. “I love Gustave Flaubert. With a burning passion. I just want to kiss him on the forehead.”)  He’s game for just about whatever.

Having recently come out as queer in Out, it’s no wonder Miller is so game. The young actor comes off marvelously unhinged in his interview with Matthew Shcneier, as a multi-hyphenate in the James Franco mold, belonging to a new generation of actors not afraid to embrace, exploit and entertain queer audiences. He is also of a generation of young people eschewing labels and blurring identity lines to suit their own needs.

That Miller also looks damn good in a pair of pumps doesn’t hurt either.

Photos: Autumn de Wilde, Paper

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