Inside WARREN ELGORT's Film About His Famous Father ARTHUR ELGORT
October 21, 2025
“He has been pointing his camera at me all my life, so I enjoyed giving him a taste of his own medicine.”
Filmmaker Warren Elgort
WARREN ELGORT‘s documentary about his famous father Arthur Elgort: Models & Muses was all the buzz at the recent Hamptons International Film Festival. With unseen archival footage, iconic Vogue shoots and interviews with Anna Wintour, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista, Elgort captures the spontaneity and humor that define his father’s work. NANCY KANE discovers Elgort also crafted an intimate and revealing father-son narrative that resonates deeply.
The film is truly a family affair.
The first person I approached to work on this was my wife, Emma Elgort. She has honed her career at Amblin over the last eight years, including associate producing The Fabelmans and Maestro. This is her first foray into the world of independent filmmaking and our first professional collaboration.
You and your brother Ansel and sister Sophie have appeared in many of your father’s photographs.
The three of us had the unique experience of being raised by the greatest photographer of our time, Arthur Elgort. Throughout our childhoods, he invited us into his world by using us as models on his jobs for Vogue. We were practically trained from birth to be fantastic subjects for him to photograph.He has been pointing his camera at me all my life, so I enjoyed giving him a taste of his own medicine. He really is the greatest character I know. My dad makes music with his camera. He loves jazz and I realized his photography is improvisational. Nothing is overly premeditated. One idea leads to the next. Always moving. Always spontaneous. He has that unique ability to put people at ease, so they buy in, trust and let loose. He is living proof that you can make a wonderful life as an artist.
“I was persistent in adding more, and more detail to create a unique storytelling collage. When we were near the finish line, we added even more photographs, contact sheets and magazine tear-sheets.”
There is such great archival footage.
We had the privilege of making the film over a period of five years, so I was persistent in adding more, and more detail to create a unique storytelling collage. When we were near the finish line, we added even more photographs, contact sheets and magazine tear-sheets.
It’s a beautiful father and son film too.
My father was fifty years old when I was born. This film allowed me to go back in time and get to know what he was like before I entered the picture. Part of me never wanted the process of making this film to end. I wanted to create a film that allows the audience to see Arthur Elgort the way I see him—from the personal and emotional perspective of his son.
THE ELGORT DYNASTY: Grethe, Arthur, Ansel, Sophie and Warren Elgort
