Nicholas Galitzine Knows What He-Man Smells Like

Bringing a cartoon to life is no easy task. Even the most well-developed cartoon characters are still, by nature, two-dimensional. Bringing them into the live action universe goes well beyond cosplay; it requires imbuing these characters with humanity. No one knows this better than Nicholas Galitzine, who is currently charged with playing arguably one of the most iconic animated characters of the last several decades: He-Man. As the star of the upcoming live action Masters of the Universe film, Galitzine is embodying a character generations of boys have grown up idolizing. The first step is hitting the gym and growing out his hair. Somewhere in that process, surprisingly, is figuring out what He-Man smells like.

It could be serendipity, then, that Galitzine (a self-professed fraghead) is also now the face of Emporio Armani Stronger With You Parfum, a warm, masculine scent—releasing this March—with a strong chestnut accord enrobed in a layer of spiced vanilla and a base of amber. Created by perfumer Cecile Matton, Stronger With You Parfum is a bold, long-lasting cologne with a grounded, velvety earthiness that lends it a maturity and confidence. It’s also a fragrance Galitzine himself has fallen in love with and says he prefers to wear at night to play up the sensuality of the scent.

It’s the air of masculine confidence, not to mention the name, that makes Galitzine believe this may well be the perfect cologne for He-Man himself. The actor took a break from his intense training schedule (#bulkingseason) to sit down with Esquire to discuss what drew him to the partnership with Armani, what he loves about wearing fragrance, and why he always wears cologne to the gym.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Esquire: Are you a fragrance guy?

Nicholas Galitzine: I am totally into fragrance. It’s really interesting actually meeting so many people who are not and just don’t spray on anything every day. It’s completely part of my routine.

Have you always been into fragrance?

I mean, not always, but I think as my personality and my sense of identity started developing, I would try different scents that would really not fit me. It’s a nice progression to find something that really works with you and you wear it for a couple of years and then you get kind of bored and you try something else. But it’s weird: You start to associate scents with people in your life and when they change, you’re like, “Oh, who are you? I don’t recognize you because I don’t like this, go back to the old one.”

Do you wear it every single day or do you switch it up?

It’s kind of a bit of both. I mean, I definitely will wear it every day because it feels like it’s just as routine as putting on deodorant for me. I’m spending so much time in the gym now, I think it’s also nice to bring a bit of class to the gym and not just get sweaty and disgusting for a few hours. Some weeks I’m like, “Oh, I fancy just putting a different one on every day,” or every other day, or different occasions, whether it’s a day thing or a night thing. It’s quite fun when you start to break down your life like that and you can break it down by scents; it becomes a playful thing you can do.

Galitzine at the 2024 Met Gala.

Gym fragrance is a real thing! I smell it every day. Do you always wear it to the gym?

Yeah, I do. My gym is literally a tent in North London in a studio with my trainer and the other actors on set, so our gym experiences are probably very different, but that’s cool to know it’s a thing. I think it’s interesting—maybe it’s hard to separate the notion of hard work and smelling and feeling great. I think if I’m wearing something that smells great, it makes me feel like I can work harder in a way. There’s a bizarre mental thing behind that, I’m sure.

Being a fragrance guy, what drew you to Stronger With You?

It was the whole package for me really. I’ve been such a fan of the Armani brand for a really, really long time. Something I also associate with Armani is that groundedness, that earthiness, that sensuality and masculinity. There’s just something very sexy about Armani and certainly this fragrance. And just the way the whole shoot was lit and the setting and the bodies together, the collective, I just loved the vision for it, and I was such a fan of Jonathan Alric and Harley Ware who both shot the visual and the video for the campaign too, and it just became a no-brainer; I just loved everyone involved.

I’ve always wondered, when you’re shooting a campaign like this, are you wearing the fragrance while you’re shooting?

I actually was. I don’t think it was compulsory, but I was wearing it. I mean, it was everywhere on set, and they want you to spray it once or twice, and then you are holding the bottle and trying to find the right position in the light and everything. Even unintentionally, it will just creep onto you in one form or another.

You talked about the sensuality and the groundedness of the scent. Is that how you feel when you wear it?

Definitely. It’s very in line tonally with the things I like to go for. And it feels very “evening.” I think the whole intention behind the thematics for the campaign and the setting was that it’s young, it’s energetic, it’s going out—it has all of those sort of qualities that I respond to in a fragrance.

Galitzine at the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco in May, 2024.

You always tend to choose really different roles. How do you choose these roles and when you’re getting into character, do you think about things like what kind of fragrance they would wear, what kind of grooming they would have?

I’d never really thought of using fragrance as a tool for preparation, but it’s something that actually I find fascinating and I think I might use going forward, because I think it can help ground you in who you’re playing. But in regards to the grooming, I mean, 100 percent, that’s a huge part. I always like working closely with the hair and makeup team as well as the costume team because I love for these characters to feel like they exist within themselves and not as derivative of something else.

I’m just trying to choose people that test me and that scare me and feel very, very different from me in a lot of ways. It’s exciting just putting on these different hats. And scary. But that’s the challenge, that’s the joy.

I can imagine that taking on a role like He-Man, there’s a transformation aspect to this part that’s really important. So apart from the hair and the muscles, what kind of fragrance do you think He-Man would wear?

We’ve been talking about whether He-Man would be a Stronger With You guy. Adam is very different from He-Man in a lot of ways, and certainly in how he progresses. I imagine his fragrance might change a bit. But He-Man is someone who obviously displays a confident sense of masculinity and that very much speaks to this fragrance. There’s something that feels very assured and confident about it, which I think definitely would exist with He-Man. I mean, Stronger With You is a pretty good title for a He-Man collab.

Shop the ‘Stronger With You’ Fragrance Family

Emporio Armani Stronger With You Eau de Toilette

Emporio Armani Stronger With You Intensely Eau de Parfum

Call up the marketing team right now. You travel a lot—do you have any tips for traveling with fragrance? That can be a headache.

I wish I was a carry-on only person, but I’m too high maintenance, there’s just too much to bring. I bring all of my physical and emotional baggage with me everywhere I go so packing the fragrance is the least of my problems.

Do you wear fragrance on airplanes?

Yes. I don’t understand people who don’t. Why would you not just want to smell good all the time wherever you go? I don’t get it.

I’m with you. I mean, I wear fragrance no matter what. Even if I’m just sitting in my apartment by myself.

I just remember the one time in my life I haven’t worn fragrance, but a moment that really was impressed upon me. It was for one audition and I was asked to not wear fragrance before going because I think the casting director had a very sensitive nose or something like that. That was the only time. I’ll respect that, but otherwise I’m wearing fragrance.