Jason Bell is a professional charmer. He has to be, to win the trust of his celebrity clients. "There’s something quite exposing about being photographed. Most people - even very famous people - don’t really like it," he says. "You notice it in particular with actors, because they’re being shot out of character, as themselves. It brings in a whole new level of shyness... Actors are prepared to look unattractive when they’re playing a role, but I don’t think anybody wants to look unattractive in a photograph of themselves."
Hat’s Off!, Bell’s latest collection, developed from a conversation with mental health charity Mentality. About to hold a fund-raising hat auction, they approached him to snap a couple of famous types. Instead, he found over 60 well-known faces to take part in what would become a major body of work. Here is everyone from opera diva Angela Gheorghiu in hooded cape to an off-duty Dame Judi Dench, all sporting a dazzling array of head gear. "It’s obvious to use celebrities to publicise charities," says Bell, "but what interested me was the idea of a hat as a metaphor for covering up mental illness.
One of the major obstacles to treating mental health problems is that people keep them secret. It struck me that celebrities aren’t really allowed secrets, their lives are lived in the public eye."
Shooting portraits for ten years, Bell drifted into the fame game. "The way my work was used was more rewarding when I was taking celebrity portraits," he says, "and the more I did it the more I got a taste for it. The notion of celebrity really fascinated me - and I got on well with them."
Some, like Kate Winslet, have become friends - which is why it was she he turned to first for the Hat’s Off! project. "I phoned her up, and said, ‘Favour time!’ and she laughed and said, ‘Yeah, of course, I’ll do it.’ I’m very grateful because once you’ve got someone like that on board, it’s easier to attract others." Winslet liked his Garbo-ish shot so much that a print ended up on her wall.
Shot in a sowester, Lisa Tarbuck’s image is a far cry from such cool, Hollywood glamour. "I really love Lisa," says Bell. "She swears like a trooper but she’s really sweet and funny. That day she made us a cup of tea, then we went and shot three rolls in her back garden, under the sprinkler."
So familiar with his subjects is Bell, indeed, that he’s surprised when others get starstruck. When he photographed Spanish soap star Paz Vega for the movie Sex and Lucia, for example, he decided to take her out in Soho. "It was before the film was released in the UK and nobody knew who she was," remembers Bell, "then suddenly some Spanish tourists rushed up, desperately over-excited."
Emily Watson was "vulnerable and tender", Cybill Shepherd had a "filthy mouth" and Summer Phoenix was "quite fresh", so they "teased each other a lot" while she bounced up and down on a hotel bed. "If I met her at a party, I’d probably be quite shy," he says, " but somehow having a camera makes me much more confident and cheeky. My goal is getting them to give me something that they wouldn’t give to every other photographer."
When shooting Sophie Ellis Bextor he decided, for instance, to make her little black dress disappear. "When I showed her the polaroid she gasped and said, ‘My God, it looks as though I’m naked. Did you know that?’ and I said, ‘Of course - I set up the shot.’"At other times, he says, it’s about capturing intimacy. "You only have an hour with them, so there isn’t time to go out for a meal and form a friendship, yet you need something from them. You have to get them to like you very fast."