Photographer Sandro Miller wanted to honour the masters of photography that inspired his career.

The idea for a series of photographs came to him when he was recovering from cancer in 2013.

Once he was well, he set out to recreate some of the history’s most iconic shots. You’ll probably recognise a lot, if not all, of them.

Rather than use random models, Miller decided to go a different, more interesting, way.

CNN on how the project got started:

Miller asked his longtime friend and collaborator John Malkovich to join the project. Over two sessions, in 2014 and 2017, they shot more than 60 photos in which the Hollywood actor posed as a range of historical figures, from Salvador Dalí to Abraham Lincoln.

Miller and Malkovich met over 20 years ago while both working on jobs for the renowned Chicago theater company, Steppenwolf. They soon realized they had chemistry, Miller said in a phone interview.

“John became my muse,” he explained, “He was somebody who was open to anything. He never said ‘no’ to any idea I’ve had for a portrait — and we probably now have well over 200 portraits we’ve done together.”

That’s the same John Malkovich who gave his friends 16 000 bottles of wine, in case you’re wondering.

Thanks to Miller we get see Malkovich in a variety of costumes, including Marilyn Monroe and naked John Lennon.

Recreating Andy Warhol’s 1962 portrait of Marilyn Monroe:

A recreation of Christopher Makos’ “Lady Warhol”.

Photographer and painter couple Perre et Gilles worked with Jean Paul Gaultier on a hand-painted photograph for the cover of his book À Nous Deux la Mode. Malkovich as Gaultier:

The image referenced here, titled ‘Guerriliero Heroico’, originally depicted revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara:

Malkovich as naked Lennon in Annie Leibovitz’s famous photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono from 1980:

Malkovich in this recreation of a famous photo of supermodel Christy Turlington, taken by Patrick Demarchelier for British Vogue in 1992:

Alexander Gardner’s famous photograph of Abe Lincoln was shot in 1863:

Malkovich recreates Arthur Sasse’s famous photograph of Einstein, taken on the scientist’s birthday in 1951:

Malkovich as Salvador Dalí in his famous Philippe Halsman portrait from 1954:

[source:cnn]