Imagine actor John Malkovich taking on the roles of everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Albert Einstein, Bette Davis to Salvador Dali and you’ll begin to get the gist of a new photo exhibition opening at the Mac-Gryder Gallery on Saturday during Art for Arts’ Sake. 

“Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters” showcases the re-creation of 61 iconic photographs taken between 1873 and 2014 by some of the world’s greatest lens masters, painstakingly researched and restaged by famed photographer Sandro Miller, of Chicago, with his friend and collaborator John Malkovich, the muse.

“When you’re paying homage to well-known masters, you want to get every last detail correct,” said Miller by phone from Chicago. “You can Google certain things, like what sort of camera was used, but figuring out the lighting can be much more difficult, and many of these photographers were not around any longer to ask.”

So, Miller blew up the portraits to immense sizes, until the eye in each portrait became as large as the original photo. Within the eye’s pupil, he could see the reflection of whatever light was across the room. As a portrait photographer, he says he’s always trying to get that glint in someone’s eye, but in this case, the eyes of the subject were actually speaking to him. And it was instructional.

“If you blow up the Irving Penn shot of Picasso from 1957, and you look into his eye, you will see the bank of window panes behind the photographer,” remembered Miller.

“So, from this, I knew that the portrait was captured with natural light, and that’s the way I shot the re-creation with John.”

For Malkovich, known as a chameleon-like actor who can convincingly inhabit a wide range of characters, it was an interesting challenge.

“The Andy Warhol portrait went most quickly, but I’m now a similar age to what Andy was at the time he did the portrait, so it’s less of a stretch,” said Malkovich on the phone from London, where he is playing the lead in the new David Mamet play, “Bitter Wheat,” about a predatory film tycoon set against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement. “My favorite sitting was portraying the little twin girls in the Diane Arbus portrait. Frankly, there are so many physiological and psychological differences between young girls and a man in his 60s. However, with Sandro’s direction and the excellent hair and make-up team, I stopped thinking of it as difficult. Ultimately, it was the most fun.

Miller and Malkovich go back 23 years, to a time when the photographer was called to take an advertising shot of Malkovich for a play he was doing in Chicago as a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. They hit it off and have been friends and collaborators ever since, having made four short films together, with one, “Butterflies,” winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival.

The impetus behind the exhibition was a personal one for Miller, who seven years ago was recovering from stage 4 neck and throat cancer, and was using the intense project as a diversionary tactic. He enlisted John for the project because, as he said, Malkovich has always been game for anything.

“I’ve shot John nude (when he portrayed John Lennon in the famous Annie Leibovitz photograph with Yoko Ono), and he’s even played Hitler for me,” said Miller.

“He’s never said no to me about anything. I think he trusts me and likes the way I direct him. You have to respect John’s special kind of genius and his unique ability to morph between all of these diverse characters, but at the end of the day, this project is still my vision.”

The photographers to whom tribute is being paid are a who’s who of visual icons. Their subjects are part of pop culture. From Victor Skrebneski’s Bette Davis to Herb Ritts’ Joker, and Alberto Korda’s Che Guevara, the originals will go down in the annals of great photography.

“This is the sort of exhibit which puts New Orleans on the map,” said Garlyn Gryder, co-owner with Jill McGaughey, of the Mac-Gryder Gallery. “This exhibit has been shown around the world, but we are the first North American gallery to exhibit all 61 pieces on opening night. We may be biased but we feel it’s the best exhibit in New Orleans.”

Miller will be in the gallery on opening night, signing copies of “The Malkovich Sessions” which contains all 61 photographs, with extensive notes on the shoots.

After that, he’s off to begin a documentary about well-known photographer Marc Hauser, who died last year.

With “Bitter Wheat” ending its run in London, Malkovich hits the road again.

“I’ve got to tend to my vineyards in France, and then I’m off to L.A. where I begin shooting a series for Netflix,” he said.

The New Orleans location for the premiere, however, is meaningful. It’s one of Miller’s favorite cities in all of the world, he tells me, and one where Malkovich has a home.

*********************

“Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters” 

Opening Oct. 5

6 p.m. 

Mac-Gryder Gallery

615 Julia St.