His images have captured the imagination of a worldwide audience obsessed with celebrity culture, and every time he unleashes his technological wizardry on a star, the photo ends up in every mainstream newspaper, celebrity magazine and a plethora of blogs across the globe.
Now, meet the man behind Planet Hiltron, Danny Evans, who is quickly becoming an international star in his own right.
We caught up with the New York-based Pop Artist for our interview below, and he also shared some photos that have rarely been seen. The Tara Reid, Paris Hilton and Keira Knightly images featured here essentially gave birth to the Planet Hiltron brand.
Celebzter: How did you get into the process of transforming celebs from fab to drab?
Danny: It was a reaction to the insanely over-retouched photos of celebrities that are everywhere. I thought it would be fun to reverse it and take it a step further by showing what they might look like without trainers, stylists, surgeries, photoshop…
Celebzter: Where do you draw inspiration from on how they “might” look?
Danny: All around me. I see people on the street everywhere who look like celebrities from Planet Hiltron!
Celebzter: How do you pick a star to transform?
Danny: I follow the blogs and try to stick with the stars who are pop culture relevant or infamous. When I started in 2006, I did a lot of Paris Hilton. Not so much lately.
Celebzter: Do you think that the celebrities would look like this if they were not afforded the wealth and luxury lifestyle they lead?
Danny: For some of them, I think so, but genetics play into it too.
Celebzter: Essentially, is your message in doing this, saying they aren’t that atypical from you and I?
Danny: That’s part of it, with a little humour when I can.
Celebzter: Has a celeb ever contacted you after doing your internet wizardry on them? If so, what did they say?
Danny: So far, it’s been all positive.
Celebzter: The response to your work has been amazing, why do you think the public has reacted with such glee at seeing the photos?Danny: Maybe the public is bored with pretty pictures of famous people, I don’t know, but I love the reaction.
Celebzter: Who is next on your agenda? And what projects are next for you personally?
Danny: You’ll have to wait and see! I’m working on a few different things.
To view more of Danny’s work under his guise of Planet Hiltron click here.
And in case you have yet to see some of his now infamous images, here are the most recent…
Danny’s latest work featured a rather unattractive “Kimye”, and as we put it, this sums up what they might look like after the TrimSpa endorsement runs out.
Is this one of the world’s sexiest women? Not anymore…. here is Danny’s interpretation of what Jennifer Lopez may look like sans a team of stylists.
What do you think?