Electric Revelation: Reilly Preaches, White Listens
Jack White’s new video for “Archbishop Harold Holmes” stars John C. Reilly as a preacher with lightning fingertips, a feverish sermon, and a surprise twist. Directed by Gilbert Trejo, the video begins in a church but dissolves into a dreamlike breakdown inside a mental institution. The ambiguity blurs power with delusion, reality with spectacle. Watch below.
Why the Video Exists
Reilly, who released his own album What’s Not to Love? this year under the Mister Romantic moniker, was inspired by Archbishop Harold Holmes after learning it originated from a religious chain letter. Captivated by the lyrics, he approached his longtime friend Jack White with a pitch to direct the video. White, hesitant at first, only agreed after the single began charting and Reilly made a personal appeal during White’s show at the Hollywood Palladium.
Reilly had complete creative control over the one-day Los Angeles shoot. White later admitted this was the first time he had no edits on a video since Michel Gondry directed for the White Stripes.
Cast and Cameos
Adding texture to the video’s off-kilter sermon are indie rock figures Sami Perez (Cherry Glazer), Staz Lindes (the Paranoyds), Misha Lindes (Sadgirl), and Arrow de Wilde (Starcrawler), who all appear as congregants, doctors, or figments of Reilly’s unraveling imagination.
Visual Style
Reilly’s preacher vacillates between charismatic revivalist and man unraveling in real time. With practical effects like electric arcs, the video mimics the raw texture of a midnight movie. The setting, saturated with stained-glass light and clinical whiteness, elevates the video’s central question: is this man divinely touched or mentally fractured?
Artist Spotlights
Jack White
No Name, released in 2024, fuses hard rock and rap, carving a new niche in White’s sonic legacy.
The album earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album, adding to White’s 46 career nominations.
As ever, White recorded and produced the music himself through Third Man Studio, keeping his DIY ethos intact.
John C. Reilly (Mister Romantic)
Known for his work in Chicago and Walk Hard, Reilly has long balanced comedy and music.
What’s Not to Love? features reimagined American Songbook standards with theatrical flair.
His collaboration with White marks a high point in his musical turn, merging old-time showmanship with conceptual art.
