The actor, filmmaker and analogue obsessive, Jason Momoa champions experiences over selfies, physical media over streams, and a relentless, sleep shy pursuit of the projects—and nights—that truly light him up.
From spinning rare 45s you’ll never find on Spotify to shooting secret rolls of Ilford 400 on a Swedish military camera, Momoa shares a drink with Esquire Middle East at SushiSamba in Dubai and dives into the importance of keeping life analogue.
ESQUIRE: Hey Jason, good to see you! Welcome back to Dubai. We only seem to meet in the swankiest of locations…
JASON MOMOA: Yeah, well, this city definitely has some nice places! Here, I got you a drink. It’s a pint of Guinness and a shot of Meili. This is my drink. It’s called ‘Kolohe‘ – that’s Hawaiian for ‘rascal’.
ESQ: Nice. Cheers. [Takes sip] Y’know, that goes together surprisingly well. Do you prefer to drink them separately rather than mixing them together?
JM: Well, that’s just how I like to drink it. I’m not much of a cocktail guy. I like to keep things simple. A drink and a shot, that’s my order. The beauty of Meili is that it was designed to be drunk neat, like, it was designed to not even need ice in it because it is made from such incredible water, so you don’t want to add shit water to it.
ESQ: So you’ve been in town working with bars to showcase Meili – the vodka that you made with your co-conspirator, Blaine Halverson. In any of the masterclasses has someone created a drink that has impressed you?
JM: Oh absolutely. Our job was essentially to make an amazing canvas for talented bartenders to use it in all kinds of amazing ways. People go full on, and start creating things that you’ve never seen before, and we just get to admire the art of it. There was a guy from New Zealand who made maybe one of the greatest drinks I’ve ever had in my life, so I actually got him to come and do the wrap party for the Minecraft movie.
ESQ: You mentioned that you’re a-drink-and-a-shot kind of guy. How analogue are you?
JM: I couldn’t be more analogue if I tried. I even do a TV show called On The Roam, where I go and meet different craftsmen. I love every aspect of people who still use their hands to design and create things.
ESQ: What about it talks to you?
JM: I love making things and creating things. I need design in everything that I do. It’s what gets me up in the morning – it’s not really about acting. There is something I find amazing and deeply personal about analogue, especially in a world that is so heavily digital. Like, I started DJing, and have been playing these old 45s of songs that you can’t find on Spotify or Apple Music. People love it and ask why they’ve never heard the tracks, and I’m, like, because this is from 1967 and it’s never been digitised, so just be here now and enjoy it.
ESQ: You’ve been here [in the UAE] a few times recently. What keeps you coming back?
JM: I’ve been coming here for years. The recently I was out here for a while filming Dune in Abu Dhabi – which was a pretty amazing experience, as you get to see a lot of stuff that most people don’t. Work would either be very early in the morning or late at night, and it’s pretty stunning to see what it’s like out in the desert at those times. I took a lot of photos.
ESQ: You’re really into your photography, right?
JM: Yeah, I love photography. It helps keep me aware of life around me. I got my eye from my mother [photographer Coni Momoa], so I like noticing things that perhaps other people don’t and maybe having a little giggle to myself. I mainly shoot on film which really teaches you how to understand light and composition. I’ll shoot anything: people, architecture, candids, just life around me. You can take the same shots on your iPhone, but it doesn’t hit the way film does.
ESQ: What do you shoot with?
JM: With me now, I’ve got a 58 Leica that was made for the Swedish military back in the 1950s – it’s a beautiful camera, and I shoot Iford 400 film on it.
ESQ: What do you do with all the developed shots?
JM: They are mine. It’s my piece of me that I don’t have to share with the world. People have watched me grow up, seen my films, watched me do interviews – and they think they know me. I’ve had to share most things with the world, but my photography, well that’s just for me.
ESQ: Do you collect art as well?
JM: I think that I just have a very big curiosity for art and life, and I love immersing myself in that. I’ve stopped questioning that voice inside that says “why am I so drawn to this thing?” and instead I embrace it. Like, I recently got this object because I was fascinated at how the colour of it had changed from being left out in the sun too long – I see that piece as completely defining who I am, and how nature has an impact on everything over time.
ESQ: You’re a guy who seems to revel in the journey of things. When was the last time you were scared?
JM: The funny thing is, the scariest thing I’ve done in the last 10 years is playing music live with my band [Momoa plays bass in a rock cover band Öof Tatatá]. I’m always pretty scared getting up on stage, even though it’s super fun. I’ve got a gig here in Dubai, and it’ll be the first time I’ve played in three months because I’ve just had surgery on my finger, and my elbow – so I’m pretty much s***ing myself about it. But I love that.
ESQ: Do you remember the first album you ever bought?
JM: I remember exactly what it was! The first album I bought with my own money was at a skatepark called Eat Concrete in Omaha, Nebraska, and I bought The Uplift Mofo Party Plan by the Red Hot Chili Peppers – it’s still one of the best albums of all time! Then I bought Primus, Sailing the Seas of Cheese; and my first hip-hop record was The Pharcyde, Labcabincalifornia. I was a skater kid, so I was all in on that ’90s Californian vibe.
ESQ: Absolutely. Do you still have them? Because I hear that CDs are making a comeback…
JM: Yeah, I’m sure I do somewhere. My mum raised me on Motown, Blues and Rock’n’roll so, I’ll probably have to dig out the old collection soon. I also think that DVDs are due a comeback – because with everything on streaming platforms, once Netflix decides to remove your favourite show or film, then what have you got? You ain’t got nothing tangible.
ESQ: It’s fair to say that, you’re going full throttle at the moment with the movies, the music, Meili and all your other stuff. How do you know when it’s time to pump the brakes and give yourself a rest?
JM: I’m at the point in my career where I am doing all the things that I love to do. So that’s pretty cool that my kids are able to see me doing what I love to do, rather than doing what you have to do in order to get by – which I did for a solid 20 years of my career. So, I couldn’t be in a better place. I’ve got a lot of things that I want to do in this life, and, y’know, I’m not the biggest fan of sleep anyway. I’m sure that it’ll end up killing me, but I get minimal sleep as I’m always thinking of sh** and buzzing about all the things that I want to do. It may be a short life, but I want to get some sh** done.