Profiles - Hollywood Authentic

March 4, 2026

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

2024’s BAFTA Rising Star, Mia McKenna Bruce, meets Greg Williams for a London stroll to talk about how she transformed from child actor to artist.

The Beatles, How to Have Sex, The Fence, Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials, The Lady

It’s a bright January day early in the month and a dusting of snow makes the St John’s Wood neighbourhood of London seem magical as I meet Mia McKenna Bruce. She’s currently filming Sam Mendes’ four-film project, The Beatles, an expansive, multi-perspective quadrant of biopics in which Mia plays Ringo Starr’s first wife, Maureen Starkey. It’s not the only project she’s got on the books, as she capitalises on the BAFTA Rising Star Award she received in 2024. I first photographed her there, coming off-stage, award in hand, and she’s booked a run of high-profile roles since.

Originally from Eltham in South-East London, Mia’s family moved to Kent when she was in year eight as her career was originally taking off as a child actor in TV shows such as Tracy Beaker and The Dumping Ground. She looked younger than her years as a kid so could play younger roles with more sophistication than smaller children. She’s 28 now, and mother to a two year-old son, Leo, but confesses that people still assume she’s a teenager. ‘I still get ID-ed for Lemsip,’ she chuckles. ‘Or I’m trying to get my son Calpol, because he’s teething, and they’re like, ‘We need your ID’.’ Her youthful look helped her play the role that put her on the map as an adult actor, playing Tara, a teen tourist in Malaga, who struggles with issues of sexual consent on a girls’ holiday in Molly Manning Walker’s’ How To Have Sex. It was, by turns, a haunting, vulnerable and bubbly performance that got her on the BAFTA Rising Star shortlist.

Since then she’s led the cast of Netflix’s sumptuous adap of Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials, worked opposite Matt Dillon in Claire Denis’ Senegal-set drama Fences (which debuted in Toronto last year) and played Jane Andrews, the former royal aide and dresser for Sarah Ferguson who murdered her partner in mini-series, The Lady (out now).

I ask about receiving the BAFTA. ‘It still blows my mind,’ she says. ‘That moment that you took that photo, I was literally like, ‘I think I’m going to throw up’. I was very happy, very shocked. Getting to have my family there, to see that moment, was probably the best thing about it all. That was so magical.’ When I ask what she puts getting the award down to she gasps, ‘Oh, a glorious question!’ She thinks for a moment. ‘I think I put it down to a lot of perseverance. A lot of rejection, because that feeling of rejection was horrendous for a long time. It was the thing that actually made me go, ‘I really have to just do this’.’

I wonder if there’s a moment she’s most proud of in her career so far. She leans on the studio railings and considers. ‘There’s a shot in How to Have Sex where Sam Bottomley, who plays Paddy, is walking away from Tara, who I play, and he says something over his shoulder. Molly, our wonderful writer-director, told Sam to throw random, horrible things at me. There’s a bit where I think you can just see that it looks like it really cuts me deep. And I really feel proud of that, because it wasn’t something that we planned. In that moment you really saw what the film was about.’

She’s not allowed to discuss the Beatles film but admits it’s ‘a proper ‘pinch me, I can’t believe I’m a part of this’ moment’. She was also pleased to headline Netflix’s most recent binge TV, playing a flapper socialite, Lady Eileen, who must solve a murder mystery at a country house in Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials. ‘What really excited me was that in the 1920s a woman is just constantly being told ‘no, no, no’. It’s pushing those boundaries. Pushing outside the box. Also, I got to learn the Charleston.’ She stops on the pavement to do the famous dance in her high heels. ‘In the snow, in the boots!’ she laughs. This is some dexterity considering she tripped over a carpet on set and broke her foot which meant her equally tiny sister had to be brought in as a body double for some physical scenes. It was a calling card for audiences as Mia teamed up with Martin Freeman’s Superintendent Battle, traded loving barbs with Helena Bonham Carter (playing her onscreen Mum) and raced cars down country lanes in search of the truth.

As it’s chilly we decide to grab a coffee – a latte with oat milk for Mia who describes herself as a coffee addict. ‘It’s a bit of a ‘don’t talk to her until she’s had her coffee’ thing,’ she jests. To be fair, she sounds fun on set if her gaming MO is anything to go by. ‘I’m just a sucker for a game. I always have in my bag, on set, Uno and a mini travel chess board. Because if you’re spending hours in makeup and stuff, it’s really fun to just get to play chess with makeup artists. And a new addition to my games set is Monopoly Deal. And I love bingo. We go down to Romney Sands and play bingo with all the kids, and all of our extended family. It’s great fun.’

Molly [Manning Walker], our wonderful writer-director, told Sam to throw random, horrible things at me. There’s a bit where I think you can just see that it looks like it really cuts me deep. And I really feel proud of that, because it wasn’t something that we planned. In that moment you really saw what the film was about

As someone who’s been working for years as an actor, living away from her family with chaperones as a kid, I’m curious what she thinks about that experience. Would she want her son to follow her path? ‘I wouldn’t want to say no, because obviously I wouldn’t be where I am now if I’d had the journey that I’d had,’ she considers. ‘But it’s not something I would actively encourage him to do. I knew from a very young age that I really, really loved it, and my parents aren’t a part of the industry. They didn’t push me into it, it was fully me driving it – at about seven years old. For as long as I can remember, I thought I would be a ballerina, a dancer. And then there was in the newspaper an audition for an amateur production of Zeusical the Musical in Croydon. I was begging my mum and dad to let me audition. I got in to do this show. And then I ended up doing Billy Elliot in London for two years, which was just a dream come true.’

This is a story that many people can tell, but not every child actor manages to translate their success to an adult career. How did she move from child actor to artist? ‘I was on a show [Tracy Beaker] from the ages of 10 to 18 as a child actor. It was very fast-paced. I learned very much about being on a set. I had absolutely no idea how to approach a character or a script. It meant I didn’t go to drama school. I hardly went to actual school, because I was away filming a lot of the time. So when I left that show at 18, and was auditioning as an adult at 18, I had absolutely no idea. In the room, they’d be like, ‘OK, talk about the character. Talk about the script. Talk about your ideas’. I had no idea. I got into a really bad cycle of putting too much pressure on it, and trying to navigate it myself, and having no real idea. So then I left the industry entirely. I left my agent. I went to Australia. I did a bit of party-party. And I realised that I did love it, but if I loved it enough, I had to put in the work. And so I went into workshops on a Saturday in London and started to learn about the more artistic side of acting. That’s when it started to come into its own for me.’

‘I learned that everyone has a very different way of approaching it. That was actually a huge thing for me, because I’d see other actors on set doing their process, and me thinking, ‘God, if I don’t do that, that means I’m not an actor’. But actually, no, we all have very different ways of doing it. I also learned the best thing is to feel scared, because that used to petrify me. And someone actually said to me in one of these workshops: the feeling of nerves and excitement is actually the same emotion – it’s just the way that you breathe through it. And that was a huge game-changer for me, because now I love feeling nervous, because it’s just excitement. Whereas before that would be crippling for me. I’d get nervous, and I’d get myself in a state, and I’d have panic attacks. But now it’s like: no, excitement and nerves mean that I just care about what I’m doing.’

The acting now comes so naturally to her that she describes not remembering the experience afterwards. ‘I kind of black out when I act, I can’t really remember. People ask, ‘Do you like watching yourself back?’ It’s not that I like watching myself back, but I love seeing stuff back, because I don’t have any real concept of what I just did. It’s not like a conscious thing. I think I had to learn to trust myself with that as well. And working with Molly Manning Walker on How to Have Sex really helped me with that.’

I ask if the dance background helps with that unconsciousness – in using her body as a tool of expression. She shrugs. ‘If I had to go and do a job where I had to do intense dance training beforehand for a role – a ballet dancer or something like that… something like Black Swan would be my absolute dream.’ The snow is falling more heavily now and we decide to head back to the house of one of Mia’s friends to warm up. The cold doesn’t put a dent in Mia’s mood or enthusiasm. She says she’s been likened to the Duracell Bunny. ‘Do you see it? Do you see the resemblance?’ she laughs. In terms of going on and on, I feel she’s set on a long career path…

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials is on Netflix now
The Lady is on ITVX now
The Fence is out later this year
Hair and make-up: Caroline Barnes
Styling: Cher Coulter c/o A-Frame

hollywood authentic, greg williams, hollywood authentic magazine

A Little Nonsense*

DANNY HUSTON

February 26, 2026

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS

Actor, director and screenwriter Danny Huston tells Hollywood Authentic about wild swimming, his favourite tipple at 33,000ft and what he hears his dad telling him…

How important is a little bit of nonsense now and then to you?
Nonsense keeps me alive, keeps things light-hearted. It is an artistry of sorts; it’s the spoonful of sugar that helps the bitter medicine of life a little more palatable.

What, if anything, makes you believe in magic?
The unseen. When something happens that has a majesty that makes one be utterly spellbound by the magic of it all. Magic is the things that we don’t see, but we feel. Gravity is magical. A moment on screen is magical. Shadows and shapes can become magical. A twist of fate. The magical look in somebody’s eyes. Magic is everywhere. It is all around us. It is the sleight of the hand.

What was your last act of true cowardice?
I don’t consider myself a coward. But a few weeks ago, on New Year’s Eve, I hesitated jumping into the Irish Sea. There were a couple of hundred mad Irishmen who went into it ahead of me, so I couldn’t back down. And it was absolutely glorious, completely rebooted me. So those cowardly moments are really there to test us, and to make us jump into the unknown – in this case, the rather cold but yet welcoming Celtic Sea.

Do you have any odd habits or rituals?
I have a few rituals – one a Bloody Mary, spicy, extra lemon when I’m on a long flight. Usually when the plane has reached about 33,000ft of altitude. Nothing like it.

What is your party trick?
Pulling a coin out of someone’s ear.

What is your mantra?
Howl at the moon like a mangy old dog. Helps me keep connected to the cosmos. I have a few internal, repetitious voices that I suppose are mantras. One is inhabited by my father, and he just basically says, ‘You can do it, kid. You can do it.’

What is your favourite smell?
That sharp, cool breeze that skims over the sea, gently lifting the salt. The intoxicating smell of jasmine on a summer’s night. Coffee. Cigars. A good red wine. The smell of the ocean mixed with suntan oil. A freshly cut lawn. To name a few….

What do you always carry with you?
I’m ashamed to say. My phone.

What is your guilty pleasure?
Dark bitter chocolate with nuts. Playing backgammon deep into the night with my nephew. That is a shared guilty pleasure.

Who is the silliest person you know?
My nephew.

What would be your least favourite way to die?
A long, endless fart performed in front of all of my family. That would be a rather embarrassing last gasp of sorts. And of course, some terrible execution. The guillotine would be a tense expectation to have.

What’s your idea of heaven?
My idea of heaven would be having no fear, no regrets, no anxiety. Lifted somewhere in a stage of blissful joy. Celebrating a world without war, poverty or illness. A blissful, happy, somewhat light state of suspension. Floating ever so gently through space and time.

Danny Huston made his acting debut at the age of 12 in The ‘Human’ Factor and later went onto star in projects as varied as Birth, 21 Grams, The Aviator, The Constant Gardener, Wonder Woman and
Stan & Oli. On TV he’s appeared in Masters Of Sex, American Horror Story, Succession and Yellowstone. His father, John Huston, produced his feature-length directorial debut Mr North, with Danny going on to direct The Maddening and The Last Photograph. On stage, he appeared in The Kid Stays in the Picture on the West End. He recently appeared in the rebooted The Naked Gun.

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS

*Arguably one of the most memorable (and quotable) scenes in 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is when Mr Salt mumbles, ‘It’s a lot of nonsense,’ to which Wonka replies, in a sing-song voice, ‘A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.’

Dispatches

BAFTA 2026

February 23, 2026

BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London

Photographs by Greg Williams
Words by Jane Crowther

Robert Aramayo’s shock at winning the Best Actor category at BAFTA last night over an impressive category including Timothée Chalamet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael B. Jordan, Ethan Hawke and Jesse Plemons was amplified by the collective audience gasps in the room as Kerry Washington read out his name – and clear when he came off stage grasping two BAFTA masks (having previously won the EE Rising Star Award). ‘This is MAD!’ he exclaimed to Greg Williams as he sank into a stage-side chair, his win the biggest upset of the night for bookies, and a moment that galvanises a meteoric rise this year for the Hull native. Just weeks earlier, Greg had shot Aramayo in a London greasy-spoon cafe for Cartier while the actor was juggling a theatre run in Guess How Much I Love You and the very idea of being nominated for a BAFTA. ‘It’s really genuinely unexpected,’ he told us.

After taking a moment to compose himself, Aramayo quickly found the man he’d portrayed in I Swear (releasing in the US on 24 April) backstage, campaigner John Davidson. The focus of controversy during the awards show due to his involuntary outbursts caused by Tourette Syndrome, Davidson was emotional for Aramayo, clutching him in a huge hug, the real-life Dotty from the film wiping away proud tears next to him and rocking a ‘Spunk for Milk’ necklace (one of the lines from the film)…

The show had begun with puce carpet arrivals from 2pm – Teyana Taylor arriving in a regal custom Burberry trench coat, her train carried behind her, with Chase Infiniti and Erin Doherty both negotiating structured, space-taking Louis Vuitton silhouettes, Paul Mescal (in Prada with Cartier jewels) and Gracie Abrams enjoying a date night, and Sinners on-screen adversaries, Michael B. Jordan (in monochrome Prada) and Jack O’Connell, sharing a warm embrace. The rain held off for an unseasonably mild afternoon as guests crowded the Royal Festival Hall terrace to sip Taittinger Champagne in the sunshine.

Having walked the carpet alone, Timothée Chalamet hung out in the green room backstage with Kylie Jenner and the evening’s first presenters, Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, before heading to the auditorium as guests found their seats for a show presented by Alan Cumming, with the Prince and Princess of Wales in attendance. After Jordan and Lindo had kicked off the night awarding Best Special Effects to the Avatar: Fire and Ash team, they lingered at backstage monitors to watch the Best Supporting Actress category, whooping and applauding in delight when Sinners colleague Wunmi Mosaku (in an electric blue custom gown by Priya Ahluwalia) won. ‘Get it in, let’s do it!’ Jordan encouraged her as she thanked her teachers before he and Lindo ensured the pregnant actress negotiated the stairs off-stage safely.

Supporting actor was won by Sean Penn for One Battle After Another, who was absent from the event, but presenter Maggie Gyllenhaal ensured she snapped a photo of his winning envelope as she left the stage, before the star to cause the biggest stir backstage arrived. ‘This is the highlight of my evening!’ gasped Erin Doherty when she was informed that Paddington Bear from the West End sellout musical would pass her in the wings. Performed physically by Arti Shah with James Hameed providing the voice and controlling the marmalade lover’s facial expressions, Paddington wowed the audience as he toddled on stage, hand in hand with a guide, to present Best Children’s and Family Film, won by Boong. He later got in the artists’ lift backstage, holding court while blinking and smiling under his felt hat.

The run of Frankenstein wins began with the film taking home Best Production Design for Tamara Deverell and Shane Viea, Best Hair And Make Up for Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey, Mike Hill and Megan Many and Best Costume Design for recent Hollywood Authentic profile, Kate Hawley before another act to prompt giddiness. The KPop Demon Hunters trio performed ‘Golden’ from the film; EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI harmonised backstage a cappella before blasting their song to a front-row Chase Infiniti (singing along to all the words) and Timothée Chalamet taking photos on his phone.

As Ethan Hawke strolled to the wings with a glass of red wine, Sinners grabbed another award for Ryan Coogler for Best Original Screenplay, as Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer went to Akinola Davies Jr for My Father’s Shadow starring recent Hollywood Authentic cover star Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù and I Swear won for Best Casting. One Battle After Another’s 6-gong haul continued with Best Cinematography for Michael Bauman (the film also bagged Best Editing for Andy Jurgensen as well as Director and Adapted Screenplay for Paul Thomas Anderson and Best Film).

The In Memoriam segment was accompanied by Jessie Ware singing ‘The Way We Were’ and as she stood backstage doing vocal warm-up she was greeted and encouraged by presenter Stormzy and Hannah Waddingham, who performed the role last year. With Best Film Not In The English Language going to the Sentimental Value team (who came off stage exclaiming in delighted Norwegian), Best British Film went to Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. Seventeen of the cast and crew took to the stage to celebrate, with Jessie Buckley arriving at Greg Williams’ stage-side ‘studio of spontaneity’ (a pre-lit section of the wings to capture winners and presenters as they exited stage left) with her child costars wrapped around her. Chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment, Dame Donna Langley was honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship awarded by the Prince of Wales. The first British woman to run a major studio, Langley said; ‘My hope is that those of us who help tell stories for a living continue to find inspiration to make popular art that carries over into people’s everyday lives and reminds us that decency is a superpower.’

The evening rounded out with announcements for Best Actress – and frontrunner Jessie Buckley collecting gold for Hamnet – and Best Actor. Acknowledging her fellow nominees, Buckley (in custom Chanel) congratulated Emma Stone, Rose Byrne, Kate Hudson, Chase Infiniti and Renate Reinsve, saying; ‘You are all just radical and you are doing it for the naughty girls’. She dedicated the award to her baby daughter, promising ‘to continue to be disobedient so you can belong to a world in all your complete wildness as a young woman’.

As One Battle After Another was named Best Film by Glenn Close (with Paul Thomas Anderson wondering where the bar was as he cradled his award), the thrilled team decompressed backstage. ‘Why does nobody want to get near you?’ DiCaprio teased his on-screen daughter Infiniti about her huge skirt, and she leaned forward to straighten his bow tie.

Dinner kicked off downstairs with truffle chicken and popcorn ice cream before revellers headed to afterparties; Warner Bros at Kettners, Disney at Soho House and Netflix at Twenty Two. There Patrick and Jillian Dempsey, with their daughter Talula, sipped cocktails while Joseph Quinn got the dance party started doing an impeccable Electric Slide to the DJ’s beats. In another part of the multi-level venue Machine Gun Kelly and Pete Davidson hung out, Regé-Jean Page chatted with Malachi Kirby, while Kerry Washington, Alicia Vikander, Noomi Rapace, Riz Ahmed, Tom Blyth, Aimee Lou Wood, Mark Strong and Mia McKenna-Bruce enjoyed the cocktails and full caviar bar.

WINNERS:

Best Film: One Battle After Another

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Leading Actor: Robert Aramayo, I Swear

Leading Actress: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet

Supporting Actress: Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners

Supporting Actor: Sean Penn, One Battle After Another

EE Rising Star Award: Robert Aramayo

Outstanding British Film: Hamnet

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer: Akinola Davies Jr., My Father’s Shadow

Film Not in the English Language: Sentimental Value

Documentary: Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Animated Film: Zootopia 2

Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Original Screenplay: Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Original Score: Ludwig Göransson, Sinners

Costume Design: Kate Hawley, Frankenstein

Production Design: Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau, Frankenstein

Special Visual Effects: Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett and Eric Saindon, Avatar: Fire and Ash

Makeup & Hair: Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey, Mike Hill and Megan Many, Frankenstein

Editing: Andy Jurgensen, One Battle After Another

Cinematography: Michael Bauman, One Battle After Another

Sound: Steve Speed, Nick Fry, James Evans, and Hugh Wan, F1

Casting: Lauren Evans, I Swear

British Short Animation: Two Black Boys in Paradise

British Short Film: This is Endometriosis

Photographs by Greg Williams
Words by Jane Crowther

Profile

DAVID JONSSON

February 20, 2026

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

Actor and producer David Jonsson reflects on his acting journey and the dreams made real in a career he’s building for the long run.

Alien: Romulus, BAFTA Rising Star award, Chaperones, The Long Walk, Wasteman

David Jonsson gazes out over Mayfair from the floor-to-ceiling windows of a top-floor suite at the Chancery Rosewood hotel, sipping his third cup of coffee. ‘I’ve moved all about different parts of London now,’ the British actor and producer says, ‘but East London is home.’ Last year’s recipient of BAFTA’s coveted Rising Star Award (which is where we first met) has been working all over different parts of the world as his career has taken off, but the UK’s capital is still where he lives, and the place that keeps him grounded. ‘My family are Creole. We have African and Caribbean influences that all feel very represented in East London and it’s one of those places that’s very community-based. Everyone knows your business. I guess the more work I’ve done, the more I want people not knowing my business,’ he laughs.

That work has become more and more high profile since David broke out as a posh boy in TV show Industry – moving quickly to film roles such as beloved romcom Rye Lane (‘We started at Sundance and finished at the BAFTAs – I feel so honoured that I got to be a part of that, and got to make it my own,’), sci-fi blockbuster Alien: Romulus, dystopian Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk and his current release, gritty prison drama, Wasteman (which he also produced). His next couple of projects are exciting: playing Sammy Davis Jr to Sydney Sweeney’s Kim Novak in Colman Domingo-directed biopic, Scandalous, a role in Frank Ocean’s top-secret move to film, and a road movie, Chaperones, reteaming him with his Long Walk co-star Cooper Hoffman as well as Paul Dano. As he looks across the high-end buildings of this part of town, David considers the progress he’s made from being a Canning Town kid who dreamt of acting, and used to sit on a park bench in Berkeley Square wondering if he’d ever move in such circles.

We’ll get to that bench later, but for now I suggest we head downstairs to grab some sushi in the hotel’s restaurant. As we get in the lift I ask what being a Cartier ambassador means to someone who grew up with limited means in Custom House. ‘My family didn’t have much growing up,’ he nods. ‘My mum got this one Cartier ring for my dad when he was doing kind of alright, and it’s in the family. I’ve also got a watch that I had that I just thought I’d never get something like that. So now I’m working with them, it’s bloody awesome. What I’m doing now, my friends are like, “We didn’t know that was possible.” Depending on where you grew up, it dictates what is possible, or what you think is possible. So I feel very, very lucky.’ Self-described as an introvert, David thinks his watchful nature – cultivated by having four older siblings and keeping his head down in East London – is what makes him the actor that he is. ‘Sometimes you’ve got to be on. If I can put it into a character, I’m winning. Someone asked Marlon Brando what he did and he said, “I’m a con artist.” I’m not, but maybe I am…’

My family are Creole. We have African and Caribbean influences that all feel very represented in East London and it’s one of those places that’s very community-based

He also admits to imposter syndrome, but there was no counterfeit when he won the EE BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2025. ‘That award meant more to me than anything, because it was BAFTA, but also it’s an award voted for by people. Now, listen, I love making movies, I love characters. But if people aren’t watching your stuff… So people getting behind me, and my work being received – it was proof. That meant everything.’ He’s told me previously about manifesting for his future as a younger man, so I suggest we head to where he used to dream. We jump in a cab and head to Berkeley Square.

‘I used to work at Abercrombie & Fitch. It was when I had nothing. It was in between me living in New York from 16 to 18 [he attended The American Academy of Dramatic Arts on a scholarship]. I was skating, and just messing about – I came back, and I did anything I could. I worked in bars and pubs, anything. I was a model at Abercrombie & Fitch and I remember walking on my lunch breaks. So I came to this square. I used to sit on a bench and just look around me. I used to think, “How am I going to get here?”’ We arrive at the square and walk to a bench near a towering tree. ‘My mum and my dad were always like, “If you’re going to do it, throw yourself into it. Give it everything.” This was my bench. I was 18. It was just before I got into RADA.’ I asked what the 18-year-old might say to see him sitting here now. ‘I reckon he’d be like, “You’ve done well. Keep going. Keep going.” I’m just trying to keep going.’

He’s doing more than keeping going: his latest project Wasteman sees him play an inmate nearly at parole and coping with a drug-dealer new cellmate, while trying to get back home to his little boy. It’s a visceral, tense and authentic study of the dynamics of prison life. The road to playing the role has been long and winding. David first auditioned for it straight out of drama school, but funding for the film fell apart. He went on to a series of informative theatre roles, but still thought about the project. Six years later he met producer Sophia Gibber and together they produced the film. ‘We shot it for 18 days. I lost 25lb to play the role, I was eating 800 calories a day. It should have been the hardest thing I’ve done. But I loved it. Most of my co-stars were ex-prisoners. It felt like we were doing something that was beyond Hollywood. It’s fertile ground for starting a company – trying to make sure that these films that I think are brilliant, entertaining, but also culturally relevant, get made.’ David shared that he and Sophia founded their production company greyarea., because ‘the stories we love don’t live in black and white. They live in the contradictions, complexities, and all the emotional truths in between – that’s where the most compelling storytelling happens.’

I remember walking on my lunch breaks. So I came to this square. I used to sit on a bench and just look around me. I used to think, ‘How am I going to get here?

The project has inspired him, but also made him appreciate not producing on a story and being able to concentrate on acting. ‘I don’t remember takes, I don’t watch playback, so I don’t even know what I look like on screen,’ he admits of his approach. ‘Maybe I could learn more about what I’m doing, and how things are. But right now, if I look at playback, I feel like I’m doing the job that the audience is meant to do. It’s not my job. It’s a great director’s job.’ Scandalous and the untitled Frank Ocean film are thrilling and allow him to focus purely on his craft (though he’s not at liberty to talk about either yet) and he looks at Michael B Jordan’s career as one to admire. ‘I just want to have a sustained career, and do what the fuck I want,’ he says. ‘You know, the great thing about acting is that you get the chance to hold a mirror up to people. That mirror is me. I care a lot about this job. No-one in my family, or where I’ve come from, has been able to do this. Which puts a pressure on you. You see other people sometimes just wing it. I’m not one of those people. I just can’t. I get that probably from my mum. Growing up in a single-parent household wasn’t easy at all, especially in East London. My brother and my sister did a lot of raising me. Those tough times, you remember. But you use them for something better now. Escapism is for the audience. Immersing is for the actor.

‘We celebrate fast success sometimes, and it doesn’t always come that quick. I look at someone like Colman and see you’ve got to really build something to have something strong.’ I suggest that, at 32, he’s been acting for half his life, so he must be doing something right. ‘I’ve got to get over this, I think. I’m still really shocked that I’m here. I’m not motivated by needing to work and do different things. I say no more than I say yes. And not because I think I’m better than anyone, but just because it’s not for me. So it’s that feeling of doing it my way. It’s awesome. I just want to remain playful, and try not to think too much.’

That said, he is keen to flex in a different direction – away from the quietly-spoken, sweet guy he is in person. ‘People are like, “You’re so nice.” I’m like, “I’m not nice. I’m a good person, but I’m not nice.” I think there’s a darker side of me that I’d like to explore more, which is happening. You want to show a bit more spectrum. I don’t have a plan. I want to just be able to move a bit. I’m having too much fun right now…’

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER
Wasteman is in cinemas now
Groomer: Isata Allen
Thanks to the Chancery Rosewood, Mayfair, London

David wears:
Santos de Cartier necklace (Medium model), 18ct white gold
Tank Louis Cartier watch (Small model), mechanical movement with manual winding, 18ct rose gold, leather strap
Panthère de Cartier ring, 18ct yellow gold, onyx, black lacquer, tsavorite garnets
Panthère de Cartier belt, black calfskin, golden-finish buckle

Cartier Tank Américaine watch (Small model), High-autonomy quartz movement, 18ct yellow gold
Clash de Cartier ring (Medium model), 18ct yellow gold

Cartier LOVE earrings (Small model), 18ct yellow gold
Tank Louis Cartier watch (Medium model), mechanical movement with manual winding, 18ct yellow gold, leather strap
Clash de Cartier ring (Medium model), 18ct yellow gold

The New Wave

RISING STARS

February 20, 2026

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interviews by JANE CROWTHER

As they get ready to enjoy their Rising Star nominations at the BAFTAs, Greg Williams takes Robert Aramayo and Posy Sterling out for a post-party bite in London…

Robert Aramayo, Posy Sterling, BAFTA Rising Star, Cartier celebrates BAFTA

Robert Aramayo takes a huge bite of a doorstop crisp sandwich in the Regency Café in Pimlico. It’s the first time he’s ever had potato crisps as a sandwich filler before – a British student snack and hangover staple – despite hailing from Hull in the North of England. The last couple of years have been a series of firsts for the actor, who began his thespian training at the Hull Truck Youth Theatre before winning a place at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York. Since graduating, he’s worked on two ‘big machines’ in terms of project: playing Eddard Stark in Game of Thrones (where he learnt sword fighting) and Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. He’s also played real-life historical figure Orde Wingate in Palestine 36 and Tourette’s sufferer and campaigner, John Davidson, in hit dramedy biopic, I Swear. That role, expertly crafted to show the physical and verbal ‘tics’ for the syndrome as well as the humanity, warmth and hope of Davidson, is what has put him on the shortlist this year for BAFTA’s Rising Star Award and also seen him nominated for Best Leading Actor. ‘It’s really genuinely unexpected,’ he smiles of the nomination as he loosens his bow tie.

‘I feel genuinely lucky to be a part of I Swear, and a part of a film that’s really trying to do something. It’s trying to be accessible, so that people can watch it and not get hit over the head with an issue. But, at the same time, it’s really trying to say something about the way that we look at Tourette’s.’ To prepare for the part and to do justice to Davidson, Aramayo immersed himself in the Tourette’s community. ‘I worked with Tourette’s Scotland, but the key was John himself. I spent a lot of time with him really trying to drill into his psychology, and how he feels.’ The work paid off, with Aramayo’s performance astonishing audiences and helping to educate as well as entertain. He’s been touched by the response he’s received, and by the gifts. ‘Someone made me a jug that says “spunk for milk” on it!’ he laughs about one of his more memorable lines from the film getting a life beyond the screen and hitting a nerve with viewers.

I feel genuinely lucky to be a part of I Swear, and a part of a film that’s really trying to do something. It’s trying to be accessible, so that people can watch it and not get hit over the head with an issue

Posy Sterling’s recent work has made a similar impression. The Leicester native stunned audiences with her towering performance of a single mother newly released from prison and struggling to find a way to regain custody of her children in Lollipop. Sterling won the Breakthrough Performance BIFA for her work, and the connections she made while filming have taken her to the Houses of Parliament the week we meet, to discuss the issues raised in the movie with MPs. She tears up as she talks about the role and the project, the themes clearly close to her heart after immersing herself in the community she was portraying, as Aramayo did. ‘I think that the world, in a way, needed to get ready to listen and to hear the message of this film,’ she says, explaining that her interest in women falling through the cracks of the UK’s penal system was something she’d become interested in on a previous project. ‘I wanted to learn more about it. I wanted to do something about it. So when this script fell in my lap I really felt I needed to do this. I knew how special it was, but seeing it now in the real world and a conversation that’s happening without much finger pointing or blame… I’m getting so many messages. It’s the gift that keeps on giving where I’m invested in this movement. I knew this need in me to do it wasn’t just to play the part. I’m not going to have the privilege of being able to do that with every job that I do.’

Though she has another project incoming that explores real-world issues in Dirty Business (Channel 4’s upcoming factual drama about whistleblowers in polluting UK water companies), she is now looking for different performances and perspectives. ‘There was a need in me to tell a story like this and that’s been birthed out of me now, if you know what I mean? Now I’m picking up inspirations from other things, other genres. There’s been beautiful jobs I’ve done in different ways, and they’ve been a gift that’s been a bit of a revelation at times, and you learn different things about yourself as an artist or things about the world. There are these pillar moments along the timeline I can feel that are happening.’

Both actors feel they have learnt a great deal on navigating the business and the artistry of their world from fellow actors. For Aramayo it was working with Peter Mullan on both Rings of Power and I Swear. ‘Pete’s not going to turn up and start telling you about his experience, and all the things he’s learned, and overtly pass on things to you. However, the way that he works is really healthy work. He leads by example, brings an ease to the set, and is really open to talking about things, changing things, and he just has an ultimate respect for the people that he’s working with. He’s such an amazing collaborator.’

For Sterling her ‘North Star for a career’ was Saoirse Ronan when she worked with her on The Outrun, a film Ronan led onscreen and off as star and producer. ‘The Outrun was a training ground. And can you imagine Saoirse Ronan literally being your teacher? I asked her so many questions. She was so generous with her time. I was watching and just observing how she was on set. I love that she’d chosen this project, was producing this project, and cared so deeply about this subject matter. I would love to make work like that, and to have the privilege of getting to choose like that.’

I’ll always go back to the theatre. I think it’s essential, like an athlete, to be a theatre actor. It’s a completely different ball game in a very different way. But film storytelling is so exciting, in how it comes together in preproduction and post

For now Sterling is writing her own material and will next appear in detective show, Trigger Point, something she describes as a ‘completely different pair of shoes’. ‘Trigger Point really gave me that grounding in many ways. I realised how at home I felt working on set and making something, all these really talented people coming together and creating make-believe. There’s a different weight and energy to that.’ Having starred in Benedict Andrews’ The Cherry Orchard at the Donmar with a transfer to St Ann’s Warehouse in New York last year, Sterling loves the live experience and connecting with an audience in real time. But right now she admits she has ‘fallen in love with the format of film’. ‘I’ll always go back to the theatre. I think it’s essential, like an athlete, to be a theatre actor. It’s a completely different ball game in a very different way. But film storytelling is so exciting, in how it comes together in preproduction and post. And then that’s on the planet for ever. It’s a very different thing that I want to be a part of for as long as I live.’

Aramayo is currently treading the West End boards in Guess How Much I Love You?, a two-hander with Rosie Sheehy at the Royal Court. ‘It’s going to make me a better actor,’ he nods, taking his dinner jacket off in preparation to run to the stage door for a show this evening. ‘I hope every experience helps move me forward. I want to work on things for the right reasons, and to keep pushing myself. The scary thing about being an actor is, you don’t know when your next job is coming. And the great thing about being an actor is that you don’t know what your next job will be. I think both of those can be exciting and intimidating.’

Sterling agrees. ‘I’m open to the universe,’ she says of her next job. ‘I love comedy. I love vampires. I would love to explore otherworldly things. I don’t think I would ever turn down an action… I want to explore all different formats of film genres, because up until now, I’ve learned by doing. And I think in the creative world, that’s what you have to do, and you have to be curious. All the greatest actors have that in common – remaining curious.’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interviews by JANE CROWTHER

Posy wears:
Cartier High Jewellery necklace and earrings, 18ct white gold, Rubies and diamonds

Robert wears:
Panthère de Cartier brooch, 18ct white gold, Sapphires, emeralds, onyx and diamonds
Ballon Bleu de Cartier watch 36mm, Mechanical movement with automatic winding, 18ct white gold, Diamonds and blue leather strap

Posy
Stylist: Aimée Croysdill
Hair Artist: Louis Byrne
Make-up Artist: Craig Hamilton

Robert
Stylist: Michael Miller
Styling Assistant: My Olsson
Groomer: Nadia Altinbas

A Little Nonsense*

MIA McKENNA-BRUCE

February 20, 2026

Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials, BAFTA Rising Star, Cartier celebrates BAFTA, How to Have Sex, The Lady

Photograph by GREG WILLIAMS

Former BAFTA Rising Star, Mia McKenna-Bruce, tells Hollywood Authentic about her German singing skills and her unconventional dinner choice.

How important is a little bit of nonsense now and then to you?
The most important! I never take myself too seriously; if you’re not laughing 90% of the time, what’s the point?

What, if anything, makes you believe in magic?
My son.

What was your last act of true cowardice?
Oh, deep! I think I’m learning to be more honest with myself about my feelings, so maybe I’m a coward daily with not saying how I truly feel.

Do you have any odd habits or rituals?
I’ll always read the end of a book first. People think that’s quite odd. I like to know where it’s heading.

What single thing do you miss most when you’re away from home?
My family, we are very close.

What is your party trick?
Singing ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ in German. Also reciting random science facts – like the electromagnetic spectrum.

What is your mantra?
When nothing is certain, anything is possible.

What is your favourite smell?
This sounds crazy: bleach.

What do you always carry with you?
Snacks. Usually like a Trek bar or something.

What is your guilty pleasure?
Eating cereal for dinner.

Who is the silliest person you know?
Oh there’s lots! But probably my Nonna.

What would be your least favourite way to die?
Buried alive – ew!

What’s your idea of heaven?
Being surrounded by my family and friends, maybe round a campfire having a sing-song.

BAFTA Rising Star and BIFA-winning actor Mia McKenna-Bruce came to prominence in in CBBC revival Tracy Beaker Returns but her profile exploded with the success of How to Have Sex in 2023. She has since worked with Claire Denis on The Fence and will feature in Sam Mendes’ four-film cinematic event about the Beatles. McKenna-Bruce can currently be seen playing the lead in both Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials and The Lady.

Photograph by GREG WILLIAMS

Profile

CHRIS HEMSWORTH

February 13, 2026

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER

Greg Williams goes on set of heist movie, Crime 101, as lead, Chris Hemsworth, tells Hollywood Authentic about getting out of his comfort zone, how he stays sane and reteaming with The Hulk.

Barry Keoghan, Bart Layton, Chris Hemsworth, Crime 101, Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo, Monica Barbaro

Chris Hemsworth is in London a month after teaser trailers have dropped for Marvel’s next Avengers get-together, Doomsday, featuring his much loved character, Thor. But the Australian actor’s next project is a world away from the superheroes and clearly delineated goodie/baddie morality of the comic book series that launched his career. In documentarian-turned-filmmaker Bart Layton’s first fully-fictional movie (after his based-on-true-events, American Animals), Crime 101, Hemsworth plays a lonely everyman with a complex family background who steals diamonds from couriers along LA’s famed freeway artery, the 101. As Davis, Hemsworth is watchful, tightly-wound, cautious – a man who disappears into crowds and whose apartment and social life is like a burner phone: impersonal, disposable, blank. It’s the opposite to gregarious Thor who wears his heart on his regal sleeve. And that’s exactly what Hemsworth was looking for.

Bart Layton, Chris Hemsworth, Crime 101,

What instantly struck a chord when I read this script. The character didn’t fall into an archetype or trope that felt familiar from something I had ever done, or something I had even seen before

‘It has changed throughout my career,’ he tells Hollywood Authentic of how he chooses projects the day after the London premiere for the film. Part of the filming took place in the UK, where Greg Williams captured the cast on-set. ‘Initially, it was about keeping some sort of continuity with the characters I was playing. That was also when I was being sent a lot of bigger action-type films. Then I was curious about doing comedy. But I guess now it’s just about it not feeling repetitive, and seeking something that is going to motivate you to dig as deep as possible because there’s a fascination or a curiosity or a world you haven’t inhabited before. That was what instantly struck a chord when I read this script. The character didn’t fall into an archetype or trope that felt familiar from something I had ever done, or something I had even seen before. This was an individual who was highly skilled in his line of work, and there was obviously a strength and a confidence there. But there was this fragility and vulnerability, which I thought humanised him in a great way, and allowed there to be layers of complexity that could be surprising for an audience.’

Talking to Layton about the grey areas of the character, Hemsworth admits to a certain nervousness in taking on the role. ‘Any time there is an element of trepidation or fear – it’s a really good thing. It forces you and motivates you to work harder and dig deeper. But the greater the challenge, I think the greater the outcome.’ Layton was also keen to tap into the actor’s more vulnerable side; ‘I had to find a way not to lose any of his incredible star power and magnetism, but to still find a way for him to be real,’ the director tells HA. Hemsworth chuckles at the recollection of Layton pointing out when some of Thor’s self confidence might be leaking into his performance. ‘Day to day on set, if there were default things I was slipping into, or moments where my physicality would shift into the familiar space of a more outwardly strong character I had played prior – he would say, “That’s not where we’re headed. Adjust the gait of the walk, or the vocal quality. Remember the tension in the chest…”. The voice was the big one for us, and it not having the same sort of register that I might have with Thor or the more outwardly projected strong characters I have played. It was more about the tension within the voice, and the cadence of how people spoke who are living on high alert, and in self-doubt.’

Of course the challenge was probably greater when working with another Avenger on-set. The Hulk himself, Mark Ruffalo, plays a crumpled LAPD cop who sees a pattern in the 101 heists and is determined to get his man. ‘That was interesting because Mark and I have done so much together, but in a heightened reality – mostly in a comedic improvisational way, especially with Thor: Ragnarok. And so we got on set, and immediately we’re like a couple of kids – old mates catching up – and having a laugh. But then as soon as the cameras rolled, it was quite uncomfortable. I was like, “Wow, this is very different. I can’t hide behind anything familiar here.”

It felt very exposed. And I think for both of us, it spurred on a real curiosity, and flights of hesitation, both of us trying to suss each other out, as the characters were. But having a shorthand with someone – a partner you trust who is a true team player – was just wonderful.’

Ruffalo is one of a stacked cast: with Halle Berry playing a high-net-worth Insurance broker who’s learning her own disposability as a woman, Barry Keoghan as a firebrand thief and antagonist, and Monica Barbaro as a woman who demands authenticity from Davis. ‘Working with Halle for the first time was absolutely amazing,’ Hemsworth enthuses. ‘I’m just the biggest fan of hers, and was quite intimidated. My character is performing with her character and I felt like that. I very much felt out of my comfort zone due to the admiration I have for her. It was like when I worked with Cate Blanchett. I would find myself just watching both of them as an audience member, and kind of going, “Oh, shit, I’ve got to respond. I’ve got to act here. I’ve got to do something.”’

Layton’s film casts Los Angeles as a character in itself and takes a look at the City of Angels through the prism of haves and have-nots, showing Skid Row alongside the mansions of Bel Air, the wealth disparity and the status anxiety of a moviemaking epicentre. Hemsworth admits that he recognises that portrayal of a city he works in. ‘The expendable nature of people in that town is quite evident. When I first moved to LA, it felt pretty overwhelming. The more time I spent there, you see the glitz and glamour on one hand, and then you see behind the curtain, and the grit, and the homelessness, and the mental health problems, and the crime, and so on. But there’s incredible things about the place, too. There’s a huge amount of artistry there, and motivation to build and create and be creative. But what Bart did so well is, he pulled back with the camera, and he allowed you to take in the expanse of both of those worlds, the entire spectrum. We had discussed at one point: could we replicate LA somewhere else in the world, and seek different tax credits for production purposes? But thank God, we didn’t. Because I just don’t think you’d be able to replicate LA in the way it’s been displayed here with such authenticity. You get a sense, in the way he shoots this film, how isolating and lonely that place can be. Even through times where I was having success, and it felt like all my problems and issues were solved, I had made it and so on – I would be in a lonely hotel room somewhere, going, “What is this all about? What does it mean?” So the deeper questions start to arise…’

Working with Halle for the first time was absolutely amazing. I’m just the biggest fan of hers, and was quite intimidated. My character is performing with her character and I felt like that. I very much felt out of my comfort zone due to the admiration I have for her

Those deeper questions about integrity, drive, finding meaning in the work are sometimes difficult to answer in the noise of Hollywood. Especially if you’ve had the sort of meteoric rise Hemsworth has enjoyed. So how does he keep a sense of purpose? ‘It’s having good people around. The team of people I work with, I’ve worked with for 15 or 20 years. They make the biggest difference to me, because I know not everyone has that. I’ve worked with people where I see it’s a different team each time, or they’re not fortunate enough to be able to bring the same people with them. It’s like going to a new school every couple of months, and trying to make a new set of friends. So that certainly keeps me grounded, and helps keep me sane.’

And in terms of creativity, the Aussie has plenty of other projects coming up to keep him motivated and challenged. Avengers: Doomsday lands in December, he’s just finished filming submarine thriller, Subversion and is in pre-production of Extraction 3. ‘Inhabiting material where there is true curiosity and enthusiasm – there’s the artistic journey. You’re not just there checking in, like, “What time do we finish? OK.” Clock in tomorrow. Clock out now. The aim is for it not to feel like work at all. And that really depends on whether I’ve chosen the right project or not. You know that pretty quick. He laughs. ‘There’s films that fly by, and you wish you could repeat them over and over again. And then there’s films that feel like they take forever… you know, “This might not have been the best choice.” I think for me the decisions are trickier because if it’s going to take me away from my family and my kids at this point, it needs to be special. And this one felt incredibly special…’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Crime 101 is in cinemas now

Dispatches

PATRICK DEMPSEY

January 30, 2026

Photographs by MATT BARNES
Interviews by MATT MAYTUM

Patrick Dempsey is used to working at high speed, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that his new TV show – Memory of a Killer – came together so fast. ‘It was very quick,’ he tells Hollywood Authentic from New York. ‘So I got a call – I think it was maybe on the Tuesday, and they were like, ‘You’ve got to read this real quick. You have this offer on this project, and they need to make an announcement right away.’ So I read the scripts, and I liked it. I found the world really intriguing – the character and the dynamic and certainly the action aspect of it – it was a much darker character than I’ve had the opportunity to play. I spoke with the writers. I spoke with the producer. And then I said, ‘Yeah, let’s go for it.’’

Memory of a Killer, Odeya Rush, Patrick Dempsey, Porsche, Tag Heuer

Based on a 2003 Belgian film (which was itself adapted from a novel), Memory of a Killer stars Dempsey as an unassuming suburban dad and widower, who leads a double life as a sharp-suited, sharp-shooting assassin in NYC. And while juggling two existences might’ve already been complex enough, Angelo Doyle/Flannery (depending on which life he’s living) is also suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s, compromising his memory. ‘What I liked about it was certainly the character flaw – the aspect of dealing with someone who has early onset Alzheimer’s,’ considers Dempsey. ‘I thought it was really quite interesting. And then on top of that, this double life that he’s leading.’

The challenge of digging into those three facets of the character was a big part of the appeal for Dempsey. ‘You want to create a life in suburbia, and then you want to be able to play the vulnerability of losing your power and your faculties,’ he says. The hitman side of the character, in particular, offered the opportunity to flex a different muscle. ‘For me, what was appealing was to play the assassin, and to get an opportunity to do all the action,’ he smiles. ‘I don’t get that opportunity very often. So it was something different for me to go and do, and to show a different side of my nature.’

Though Angelo is a morally murky character, there’s a thrill to being able to play someone so slickly competent with such a dangerous skill-set. ‘You’re playing make-believe,’ he beams.

‘There’s nothing better than that. It goes back to when you were a kid, running around and doing all that stuff. Now you get to do it as an adult with all the great toys.’ Indeed, there’s almost a Batman element to the character as he leaves his home life, where he poses as a photocopier salesman, and drives off in his extremely practical, family-friendly vehicle, only to head to his hideout where there’s a Porsche, weaponry and hitman-appropriate attire waiting for him. ‘We start off in suburbia, and then we go into the Batcave, and we show the audience who he really is… That was fun for me to play, too.’

The role also allows Dempsey to tap into his own dual life – alongside his acting career, he’s been a successful racing driver, and brings some of those skills to Memory of a Killer’s car stunts. ‘The whole sequence with the Porsche going through the parking garage was something that I got to do, and it was really a lot of fun,’ he explains. ‘That’s really one of the reasons why I did it – to be able to, in my 60s, become an action actor… I love all of that.’ Dempsey may have turned 60 earlier this month, but he’s relaxed about strolling into this new decade. ‘I think going into my 50s was much harder than now going into my 60s,’ he considers. ‘I’ve come to terms with this next chapter… I hope I can just stay physically active, and be able to continue to work and enjoy life, and have a nice balance between the two. And you don’t take things as seriously.’

Talking of balance, Dempsey has managed to balance his passion for acting and racing, which he still participates in. After achieving key motorsports goals in 2015 like taking part in the World Endurance Championship, being on the podium at Le Mans, and winning in Japan and Fuji, Dempsey reached a turning point. ‘It was a tremendous sacrifice to my career and to my personal life,’ he says. ‘But then once I achieved those goals, there was a deep psychological turning point where I was like, ‘OK, now I can move on and do the next thing.’ The pressure was immense that year, and now I do it just for fun and the psychological, therapeutic benefits of it.’

Ongoing relationships with Porsche and Tag Heuer mean that he continues to have ‘these incredible adventures’. And, as he explains, it’s not like these twin passions don’t cross over. ‘There are amazing similarities,’ he says of acting and racing. ‘If you look at the car itself as sort of like the scripts – it’s what you drive – your engineer is the director. Your team principal is the producer. And the crews – the chemistry that you need to have, to have the right focus and the right energy, is very similar.’ The camaraderie and physicality also complement the two disciplines, as does the ‘meditative aspect’. ‘It’s the mind control… being present; being focused on what’s in front of you; being aware of what’s happening around you… it’s very much about being present.’

To return to a key theme of Memory of a Killer, Dempsey says while he hasn’t been directly impacted by Alzheimer’s in his own life, he could strongly relate to Angelo’s role as a caregiver (Angelo looks after his brother, who has a much further advanced condition than his own). Dempsey founded the Dempsey Center in 2008, which offers cancer patients treatment at no cost. ‘It’s very similar in that sense of, what does it mean to be a caregiver, and the pressures of that?’ he says. ‘I think it’s the most satisfying work in my life, outside of my family,’ he adds of the Center. ‘When you’re working with a group of people for the benefit of someone else, there is nothing better. And that’s really ultimately, I think, the meaning of life – it’s when you are here to serve.’

As for what’s around the next corner for his career, his future goals are clear and modest. ‘I think it’s just working with good material and really good directors,’ he says. ‘And just to continue to be a working actor…’

Memory of a Killer airs Mondays at 9/8c on FOX, next day on Hulu and is coming to Prime Video in the UK and Ireland in February
Dempsey wears: (black suit) Garrison Bespoke (suit), The Row (shoes), Eton (shirt); (corduroy suit) Garrison Bespoke (suit and shirt), Barrett (shoes). Styling is by Marc Andrew Smith

Dispatches

JAY KELLY PREMIERE

January 23, 2026

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interviews by JANE CROWTHER

The team behind Noah Bambach’s Hollywood comedy talk dessert, watching their own movies and the loneliness of a movie star.

When Hollywood Authentic sits down with the cast of Jay Kelly and their writer-director in a suite at the Excelsior on Venice’s Lido we wonder why there’s no cheesecake on the table. At the heart of their film, the titular movie star, played by George Clooney, has an existential crisis during a jaunt across Europe with his longtime manager (Adam Sandler), his publicist (Laura Dern) and his hair and MUA (Emily Mortimer). On his rider everywhere he goes: a slice of vanilla cheesecake.

Adam Sandler, Billy Crudup, Emily Mortimer, George Clooney, Jay Kelly, Jim Broadbent, Laura Dern, Noah Baumbach

‘No cheesecake,’ Mortimer laughs. Also, no Clooney, who has excused himself from Venice Film Festival with illness after soldiering on to walk the premiere red carpet with Greg Williams. ‘It stinks,’ sighs Sandler of his buddy’s absence. Still, it’s clear the remaining team enjoy each other’s company and also the process of filming the movie across France and Italy as well as Hollywood. ‘I had the idea of a movie star going on a journey – going from Los Angeles into Europe, and specifically Italy, it was a compelling idea for me,’ Baumbach explains of the genesis of the project on which he partnered with Mortimer as co-writer after the two spent time together on White Noise. Mortimer was accompanying her kids, Sam and May Nivola, who were playing the on-screen children of Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig. ‘It wasn’t until Emily and I really got into it that I understood that making a movie about an actor is making a movie about performance and identity, and is a way to tell this story of how we’re all trying to meet ourselves as we go through life, and identify ourselves and who we are in all these different roles that we play in our lives.’

‘Noah came to me with a notion of this movie, but there was an awful lot of both of us that we shared,’ says Mortimer. ‘All the different ways in which living this pretend life can screw with your mind, and separate you from real life. And the kind of dedication and time that is required of you to do this job. Things like you see in the movie where you’re pretending to be in a family with a group of actors, and a fake kid, and a fake wife, and spending a lot of time getting to know each other in order to make the scene work and the film work. And, meanwhile, you’re leaving your real husband or wife or kids far, far away. So, yes, there was a lot that I could add, and also I spent a lot of time in Italy growing up. So I had lots of stories to tell about strange family holidays when I was a kid that tickled Noah.’

Of course, while Baumbach and Mortimer could pour their own experiences in their screenplay, it would only truly sing with the right person in the role of Jay, a charming, handsome movie star who has been famous and liked for decades. ‘It was clear that it should be somebody that the audience has a history with,’ says Baumbach. ‘Early on I felt it should be George. I’ve known him over the years a little bit, and always wanted to find something for him, and with him. I gave it to him, and the first thing he said after he read it, ‘You really wrote yourself into a corner with this, because there’s not many people who could play this part’. But George has that timeless quality, he feels like a movie star from any era. It was exciting doing it with him, because you’re asking the actor to reveal more and more of himself in the performance, while playing someone trying to hide.’

As Jay tries to hide, his erstwhile manager, Ron, tries to protect, juggling life with his wife (Greta Gerwig) and kids. Baumbach cast Adam Sandler, who has known Clooney for years in real life. ‘We played a few [basketball games] – we shot around a lot,’ says Sandler. ‘He’s a funny, decent person. But I never got to spend as much time as I did on the movie set, and being part of George’s family. You wish he was your concierge in real life. ‘What do I do today, George?’’ While the friendship with Clooney is replicated in real life, Sandler also recognises the movie star world of Jay Kelly from his own experiences.

‘When I see some movie star stuff that goes on in there, I’ve seen it in people I’ve worked with, or I’ve done it myself. In real life, I try to include my family and friends with what I do. But I will tell my family, ‘I’ve got a big day coming up, or a big couple of days in a row. I might not be as available to you’. And they’re cool with that. There was also a scene in the movie where I had to be very emotional, and Noah was cool enough to let my wife do the off-camera for me – a phone call – because I really had to feel things, and my wife and I have a nice closeness that it was allowing me to feel what I needed.’

Jay’s perfect life unravels after a meeting with an old friend, played by Billy Crudup. Having been mates as struggling actors, the two men have not seen each other for decades. They go for a drink and their lives are now starkly different, the emotions that are brought up by the reunion, charged. ‘There are so many features about [the film] that are about our lives, and about a very human expression of what it’s like to try to do this,’ says Crudup. ‘It’s probably a great analogue to everybody’s lives, you know? We make sacrifices in our work lives. Some of them are small, and some of them are catastrophic. You never know what’s going to come next, and how you’re going to manage your family in a certain period, or in a new portion of your life where you’re a parent, or you’ve lost a parent. All these different things were very relatable to me in the script. The first movie that I was in – as soon as the movie came out, I was hearing from people that I hadn’t heard from in a very long time. I can remember them not being very nice and that creates a kind of loneliness.’

Laura Dern as Jay’s exasperated publicist agrees; ‘The movie star is such a perfect choice of Emily and Noah, but it can be any career path. But simultaneously, this is not a drive of ego, but a shared drive that all of us here share, which is a deep love of cinema – it’s also this constant current in the film, with every choice, with every frame, with Noah’s work as well as Linus, our amazing cinematographer. You know, you’re falling in love with movies as you’re watching this cautionary tale about living the life of being in the movies.’

‘It’s not just a cautionary tale of how destructive pretending to be other people can be,’ Mortimer adds. ‘It’s also just innate to who we are as people – play-acting and pretending to be other people. And the fun of that, and the joy of that, and how much it can give to everybody.’ The film also shows a moment when Jay watches clips of his own films with an audience, seeing how his work affects other people. What is the experience for Mortimer when watching her own movies back?

‘I guess it’s just the same as looking at old photographs or something. You’re just like, ‘Oh my God, I looked so nice, and I was so young. What was I worrying about!’ For me, looking at old movies, I can’t really look at it in a way where I’m analysing my work as a professional – it does feel like a scrapbook or a photo album of your life somehow. And you mark your life through the movies that you make. You remember scenes from your own life through seeing the film and it gives me the sense of time passing in the blink of an eye.’

‘I certainly enjoyed being a lot skinnier back then,’ Sandler admits of watching his back catalogue. ‘My family will watch an old movie of mine, and I’ll walk in. I never sit and watch it for too long, but I do remember what happened, and what was going on – maybe even that day.’ He keenly remembers a specific day when asked what’s on his own rider (not cheesecake). ‘One movie I walked onto maybe 20 years ago, and it was too hot on the stage. And I said, ‘Where the hell is the air conditioning?’ I was yelling about it being too hot, and I’m sweating, and I can’t think straight. And now every time one of my productions is going, I step on the set, and it’s like 62 degrees, and everyone’s shivering. And I say, ‘What’s going on in here?’ And they’re like, ‘You said…’’ He chuckles. ‘That’s my cheesecake.’

Jay Kelly is in cinemas, and streaming on Netflix now

Profile

LILY JAMES

December 15, 2025

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER

The British actor has been working ferociously since her Cinderella breakout. Now, as she adds ‘producer’ to her resume, Lily James invites Greg Williams to the premiere of her first produced feature, Swiped, and considers what the experience has taught her as an actor and a person.

Lily James, Dan Stevens, Myha’la, Jackson White, Swiped, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Swiped

For Lily James’ next evolution she’s planning on becoming a sea siren. When Hollywood Authentic catches up with her she’s prepping for her role in submarine thriller Subversion on the Australian Gold Coast, getting ready for upcoming underwater stunts by learning breath- holding techniques. ‘So I can officially become a mermaid!’ she laughs. She may be joking, but the British actor has had a busy couple of years of transformation – from essaying Pamela Anderson in Pam & Tommy to a wrestling wife in The Iron Claw and dangling off mountains for the upcoming gender-flip reboot of Cliffhanger. And not just on screen, either: having established her production company, Parodos Productions, with partner Gala Gordon, James made the leap to producing her first feature film (as well as headlining) with Whitney Wolfe Herd biopic, Swiped. As she told Greg Williams when he captured her on the way to the film’s London premiere in September, the experience had truly changed her. ‘I’ve learnt so much through producing Swiped. I was building my production company at the same time, so from playing Whitney I was learning that entrepreneurial spirit, ambition, hustle and having a real mission.’

James is probably being modest. It’s clear she’s always had ambition and a mission since her days breaking through on Downton Abbey and Cinderella, which catapulted her to a prolific work output. Stepping up to produce seemed like the next logical step. ‘My partner, Gala, and I were so ferocious in our desire to explore every part of [Wolfe Herd’s] story. But one of the things I learned about producing is to accept the compromises. It’s such a collaboration, which is very powerful, and there are so many wins, but there are inevitably losses too, and everything feels so precious to me. There’s no way I could have done this film and not had at least the agency to be in those discussions, and involved in the edit bringing the story to life. It was very profound for me.

I’m going to love continuing to produce and growing in that – and I think I’ll love it even more when I’m not in it!’

Her bursting upcoming slate is full of both experiences. She recently executive-produced Cliffhanger, a remake of the 1993 Stallone actioner in which she plays a mountain climber alongside Pierce Brosnan as her father. For the shoot, she learnt to rock climb in Ibiza before hanging off precipices in the Dolomites during filming. ‘There’s a spiritual, meditative, slowing down of your mind while climbing,’ she enthuses. ‘I’m working in the edit now with [director] Jaume Collet-Serra, and I was very much involved in the script, the forming of my character, and the family dynamic in Cliffhanger. So it has been a big year of producing.’

Also in the pipeline: Angry Birds 3; playing a cult leader in Harmonia; a thriller with Riz Ahmed, Relay; and Takashi Miike’s Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, a sequel to Abel Ferrera’s classic. It was one of James’ favourite experiences on a film set and one that she nearly didn’t take. ‘I’d been in Costa Rica for six weeks – learning to surf and editing Swiped from the jungle. I didn’t want to come home. And then this job came along, and it was so far out, so wild and explicit and dangerous. I didn’t know if I was ready but I just threw myself into it and I loved losing myself. Takashi Miike works a bit like Clint Eastwood, in that you get one take, and then he moves on. I like multiple takes, exploring and trying different things and being sure we’ve got it. And I had to let go of all of that and lean in. It was magic and invigorating. I felt like every nerve ending was on fire. I was so present.’ She pauses and thinks for a moment. ‘When I was at drama school, there’s a beautiful naivety to the work, and you’re taught to fail. Be bold, be brave, be courageous. And if you fail, it’s probably going to be even more interesting. I think I’d lost that. I was reminded of how much better it is if you let go of the reins.’

I have a great clarity in what I believe in, how I show up at work, what I know I can contribute. But I’m still after the same thing, which is to lose yourself to a moment of work, opposite amazing actors, telling a story that triggers something inside you. Now I have such a heightened sense of time passing, and I just want to make sure that I’m showing up for something that is really meaningful

When she looks back at the young woman in Downton Abbey, what changes can she see now in approach and decision-making? ‘I have a great clarity in what I believe in, how I show up at work, what I know I can contribute. But I’m still after the same thing, which is to lose yourself to a moment of work, opposite amazing actors, telling a story that triggers something inside you. Now I have such a heightened sense of time passing, and I just want to make sure that I’m showing up for something that is really meaningful. The production company is a part of trying to find that agency and clarity. But I’m also trying to find a better work-life balance in terms of feeding all the parts of me – not just the actor.’

As an actor, James also understood the special scorn reserved for Wolfe Herd on social media and via the press. ‘I’m very sensitive,’ she admits. ‘Being an actor, being out there, you can’t help but absorb all these different energies and ideas, and what people project onto you. Having a way of disassociating from that is very important.’ To that end, she plans to spend more time singing/focusing on music (she’s been working with musician Ben Abraham), possibly directing and giving herself time away to creatively recharge. ‘At the moment, I’ve been waking up at 5am and watching the sunrise. I feel much more connected to who I am when I’m living in that rhythm. So I plan on exploring, travelling and seeing the world.’

Before she can exhale, though, she needs to master the breath-holding. ‘I love anything that stretches me and pushes me beyond my limits,’ she smiles. ‘But I’ve really begun to acknowledge how important it is to create better boundaries between yourself and the character. You have to let it go, and come back to yourself…’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Swiped is available on Disney+ and Hulu now

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