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DAMIAN LEWIS

May 13, 2026

Band of Brothers, Mission Creep, Pressure, Sweet Chaos

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

Actor and musician Damian Lewis tells Greg Williams about his latest role in WWII film Pressure and his passion for artistry on the stage, screen and pitch as he attends a key Como 1907 game at their lakeside stadium in Como.

Band of Brothers, Mission Creep, Pressure, Sweet Chaos

When I meet Damian Lewis on a beautiful sunny day in May at the lakeside Villa D’Este, it’s gearing up to be a scorcher. ‘Already hot for a ginge,’ Damian grins, lounging on the balcony in Brioni, ‘but I’m muscling through. I’ve got my Factor 50 on. And I’m about to go and watch some footy.’ The actor and musician is in Lake Como to watch Como FC, a crucial Serie A game between Napoli and the local team, in the hopes of qualifying. ‘Not dissimilar to my team, Liverpool, who are loitering in fourth position, and hustling for a Champions League place as well.’ Damian has long been a football fan (‘Liverpool when I’m in the UK. When I’m Italy, Como 1907 is my team’) and played the sport seriously as a teen to schoolboy trials level as a striker wide right, or wide left. His path didn’t take him further (‘I had the body of a 17-year-old poet, with not much poetry to show for it,’ he jokes) in the sport, his interest turning to acting instead.

Band of Brothers, Mission Creep, Pressure, Sweet Chaos

These days he still plays charity matches (he regales me with a self-deprecating tale of having Brian Robson telling him to keep his legs together at such a match before being nutmegged by Zidane at Old Trafford, to his great public embarrassment), but can see a correlation between the beautiful game and acting. ‘There’s something about the geometry and the preoccupation with an objective,’ he says. ‘On a football pitch, it’s very similar to being on stage – a sense of where you are dynamically in relation to your fellow players or your fellow cast members, whilst moving towards, a shared objective goal – narrative – and the story, and knowing how you’re driving that together on stage. It’s total, total focus, away from the outside world; away from anything else that you’ve been thinking about for the rest of the day. Just the patterns on the stage, or on the pitch.’

Great footballers are artists he considers. ‘There are footballers who are artists, because when you see them move – the grace and precision… Zizou is like long grass in the breeze. But what is the definition of great art? It’s something expressed personally that speaks universally. Great artists sometimes labour for a lifetime to create the thing. Or sometimes it’s in a moment of pure animal instinct that’s so pure and beautiful.’ The thought puts him in mind of another entertaining anecdote (Damian has many). I’ve always loved this story about Paul McCartney going to see Julian Lennon because he’s got recently divorced parents. And he gets stuck in a traffic jam, and he’s just sitting there. And in the space of half an hour, he’s knocked out Hey Jude. That’s lightning in a bottle, isn’t it?’

Band of Brothers, Mission Creep, Pressure, Sweet Chaos
Photo: Bob Ford

Lightening, and all manner of weather, is something that preoccupies Damian’s latest role, playing Field Marshal Montgomery – ‘Monty’ – in the true story of the meteorologist called in to help make one of the most crucial decisions of WWII: when to deploy troops to the Normandy beaches for D-Day. As Eisenhower (played by Brendan Fraser) tries to make a decision, weatherman Captain Stagg (Andrew Scott) tries to deliver an answer on best timing. Monty, a vet of two world wars, is light comic relief in Damian’s hands, with his outraged outbursts over delaying because of a spot of rain. We walk down to the shady edge of the lake, Negroni in hand, as Damian describes the man he plays. 

Band of Brothers, Mission Creep, Pressure, Sweet Chaos

I ended up in two fabulous projects telling the story – one behind enemy lines at night, and then Monty on the other side, with Eisenhower and a weatherman trying to figure out how to get our lads safely on to the beaches

‘Monty was a complicated character. A big ego. Stubborn. One of our great war heroes, of course, but he couldn’t really say his ‘R’s. Obviously I didn’t want to make a caricature out of him but I said I’d like to do it with the weak ‘R’, and the pedantry, and the ego, and the stubbornness. So hopefully we’ve got that, whilst, at the same time, showing that his side of the argument was valid. It’s the largest invasion force in history trying to cross the channel to liberate Europe. And he’s just asking how we keep this plan secret if we delay. Monty is hopping up and down like a sort of terrier in the background.’ Damian obviously came to attention for many as Captain Winters in Spielberg’s watershed TV show Band of Brothers and enjoyed the throughline from that to this. ‘What I loved about doing Pressure was that as Monty was planning the liberation of Europe with the Navy and the Air Force, in Band of Brothers, the 101st parachute regiment, Easy Company, who Captain Winters was commanding officer of, were landing behind enemy lines that night. There’s one crucial episode of Band of Brothers – episode two, which is now used as a training tool at West Point Military Academy in America – where Dick Winters takes a small group of men against a much bigger force, and takes out the FH-88 Howitzers, which are shelling the beaches as our boys are coming up the beaches. I ended up in two fabulous projects telling the story – one behind enemy lines at night, and then Monty on the other side, with Eisenhower and a weatherman trying to figure out how to get our lads safely on to the beaches.’ There’s another connection between the stories. ‘Lovely Andrew Scott was in a scene with me, in episode two of Band of Brothers, which a lot of people don’t know. He had one scene playing a young, scared soldier, and he hooks up with Winters, and it’s just those two walking through the woods. It’s a nice circle of life, I think.’

Band of Brothers, Mission Creep, Pressure, Sweet Chaos

Damian came to Band of Brothers from theatre – he was part of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford – having attended drama school at Guildhall School of Music & Drama alongside Daniel Craig and Ewan McGregor (both in years ahead of him). He recalls being inspired by their success. ‘I always remember Ewan saying, ‘I want to be a movie star’ and everyone chuckling, going, ‘Yeah. Alright, Ewan.’ And then he just immediately became a movie star.’ All I wanted to do was theatre. I was completely obsessed with being the next, you know, Branagh, Olivier. I didn’t really think about making movies until I saw my peers; people around me, who I liked, who are pals – making films. I thought that was for other people. I just realised there was a bigger canvas out there.’

Band of Brothers, Mission Creep, Pressure, Sweet Chaos

The legend goes that his big break came after Spielberg and Tom Hanks saw him in a production of Hamlet on Broadway. ‘It’s sort of been misreported that they saw me in that, and put me in Band of Brothers. Actually, neither of them remembered really seeing me,’ he laughs. ‘Me getting Band of Brothers was totally a needle-in-the-haystack casting. I’d gone through all the endless auditions and interviews in a damp basement in Soho in London, over a period of four or five months. And then suddenly the producer of the show got up one day, out of his chair, and said, ‘Damian, how would you like to fly to LA, and meet Steven and Tom?’ I went, ‘Sure. Let me just check I haven’t got lunch with my granny’. I went and met Tom, did some readings. I had a friend in town. We went out and got loaded. We were out late. And then I got a call at like 8 in the morning from Meg Liberman, the casting director, saying, ‘Damian, Steven would like to see you at 11 o’clock’. I had 73 cups of coffee and three showers. When I arrived there was an unbelievably good-looking actor sitting outside. I look at him, and I think, ‘You are the spitting image of Dick Winters’. I just literally thought, ‘Well, that’s been a fun ride.’ He goes in and when he comes out, he really generously says, ‘Good luck, man’. And he walks away. I go in, and Steven and Tom do the interview. They literally say in the room ‘OK, we’re going to start bootcamp in April. Go get in shape’… I love that story because it is my young actor Hollywood story. It’s that break. It’s that moment. I’m fully aware that not everyone gets that moment. It was very ‘two different worlds’. I loved being at Stratford-upon-Avon, playing Shakespeare, putting on my tights. But actually, this might be something I could do.’

Band of Brothers, Mission Creep, Pressure, Sweet Chaos

Acting is an interpretive skill. The guy who put the words on the page – that’s the source. Everyone else after that point is an interpreter. I love the psychic journey of an actor. I love the sublimation of self to become someone else. I love going down the rabbit hole, and transforming… walking into a different person; walking through a different world; being in a parallel reality

I ask if he thought he’d return to theatre after the show. ‘I always wanted to go back and do theatre, but I think what happened, without me knowing it, is that Band of Brothers was one of the shows that was right at the vanguard of this golden era of TV. The Sopranos was out. The Wire. Band of Brothers came out. Suddenly, everyone was talking about TV in a slightly different way. And film people were coming into TV. And then Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Homeland, which I was in. I went off down a route that I hadn’t imagined for myself, because so much interesting work, and so many interesting people, were in it.’

Band of Brothers, Mission Creep, Pressure, Sweet Chaos

With Negronis drunk it’s time to head to the match. We jump in a boat to get to the lakeside stadium. As we drink in the views Damian tells me about his music, having recently released his latest single, Sweet Chaos. ‘I’ve always played music. But I’m doing it more formally, I guess. When I was in my 20s, I used to motorbike around Europe with my guitar and a tent, and I used to play in the streets and busk. And then acting took over. There are often pathways in life. You come to forks in the road. I was married to Helen McCrory. We very much identified as an acting couple. I loved that life.’ He didn’t turn his attention to music until he met music manager and agent, Steve Abbott who suggested making a record together, Mission Creep. His latest album, also called Sweet Chaos, is out in June. ‘It’s definitely a passion, a way to creatively express yourself,’ he says of songwriting. ‘It’s not a vanity project. It has to pay for itself. If it doesn’t work, and people aren’t getting paid, and not enough people are liking or listening to the music or showing up to gigs or buying records or a bloody tote bag – then it doesn’t add up. And I won’t be doing it any longer. But I love writing songs. I love getting to the studio and recording them. I’m obviously much better known for my acting and that will probably never change. But I hope people find the music, and take it on its own terms. Changing lanes in this country can be tricky. It takes a bit of time for people to get used to that kind of thing. You don’t persuade everyone. I’m sure I won’t. But I love doing it.’

Band of Brothers, Mission Creep, Pressure, Sweet Chaos

As we bob along he considers what music gives him that acting doesn’t. ‘Acting is an interpretive skill. The guy who put the words on the page – that’s the source. Everyone else after that point is an interpreter. I love the psychic journey of an actor. I love the sublimation of self to become someone else. I love going down the rabbit hole, and transforming… walking into a different person; walking through a different world; being in a parallel reality. Imaginatively, creatively, psychically – it’s quite a long journey to travel. It’s quite a long way to come back as well, if you really are an actor that believes in immersing themselves. And I try to be that kind of actor. Doing music has given me a different sort of agency and authorship that I love. I write the songs. I then go and record them with amazing musicians, and then I go on tour, and then I perform them. So every stage of the way, it’s mine. I really enjoy that process. It’s quite exposing, but I find acting quite exposing, too. I think any good art, where anyone is committed to it – is exposing. It’s a place of vulnerability.

Band of Brothers, Mission Creep, Pressure, Sweet Chaos

We arrive at the stadium for the Como/Napoli game and walk towards the 12,000-seater venue. When we get inside and head to the pitch, he immediately starts inquiring about the grass and anticipating the atmosphere when the place is full of fans. I rustle up a football to give him a bit of pre-game keepy-uppy which he tackles enthusiastically. He’s buzzing with pre-kick off excitement as we head up to the bar of the Art Deco stadium where Damian chats to local fans about the match and his home team of Liverpool. He smiles broadly, in his element. He’s ready to see some of Como 1907’s artistry on the pitch… 

Band of Brothers, Mission Creep, Pressure, Sweet Chaos

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER
Pressure is in cinemas on 29 May  

hollywood authentic, greg williams, hollywood authentic magazine

LEWIS PULLMAN

May 8, 2026

Avengers: Doomsday, Baton, Catch 22, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Spaceballs 2, Wishful Thinking

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by GREG WILLIAMS & JANE CROWTHER

LA born-and-bred actor Lewis Pullman shows Greg Williams around Hollywood and beats the skins as he pursues a ‘fugue state’ in his art.

Avengers: Doomsday, Baton, Catch 22, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Spaceballs 2, Wishful Thinking

The morning after he presented Best Film Editing with his dad, Bill, at the Oscars, Lewis Pullman arrives at a Hollywood rehearsal space on the Walk of Fame, a greasy hangover sandwich and iced coffee in hand. He’s dressed down after his night on the red carpet with his parents, a bag of drumsticks over his shoulder, and he admits to nerves the night before. ‘But it was so special. Just getting to see my mom dressed up, and out and about on the town is worth it, you know?’ Lewis is a Hollywood kid, born and bred. The son of Bill Pullman and modern dancer, Tamara, he grew up at the family house in Beechwood Canyon and, aside from his college years and extended trips to the family place in Montana, has called LA home all his life. A drummer in band Atta Boy, he can’t do much shedding where he currently lives due to his neighbours’ proximity (his kit is packed away), so if he wants to practice he needs to find a rehearsal room. The place we’re meeting is right on the corner of Hollywood and Vine, where flash mob dances are happening on the crosswalk, star homes tours leave from the curb and Johnny Cash’s brass sidewalk star sits outside the door. 

Avengers: Doomsday, Baton, Catch 22, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Spaceballs 2, Wishful Thinking
Avengers: Doomsday, Baton, Catch 22, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Spaceballs 2, Wishful Thinking

We were like, ‘Let’s get the band back together!’ So we did, and now we’ve made three albums and we’ve done a couple of little tours. It’s 0.5% playing music, and then all the rest is just on the road – gas stations, driving, old buddies, old friends. So it’s the fucking best… I love that I still have it in my life… To be able to challenge your creative brain

When he’s had his caffeine and carbs fix, we decide to head down the labyrinthine corridor to stroll around Hollywood. ‘I used to skateboard here with my friend, Jonah. We skateboarded all the way from the East Side to the beach all the time, on those little rubber-wheeled skateboards. We would take Hollywood Boulevard, because…’ He indicates to the smooth terrazzo of the Walk of Fame. ‘Good skating. We’d stop at Ralph’s, and get a full watermelon, cut it in half, and sit on the curb. It’s the best.’ The Pullman family home was a couple of blocks from where we are now (he points towards the circular Capitol Records) and he and his siblings all still reside in the town he and his dad work in. ‘My brother, my sister, their kids – they all live in the same cul-de-sac.’

It was during high school that Lewis got into the band and was a dedicated drummer, Atta Boy making a record just before graduation. ‘It was a kind of monument to what we had in that era, and that time. And then 10 years later, the guitarist Freddie went and looked at the bank account, and he was like, ‘There’s a lot of money here for not having promoted it or anything. What should we do?’ And we were like, ‘Let’s get the band back together!’ So we did, and now we’ve made three albums and we’ve done a couple of little tours. It’s 0.5% playing music, and then all the rest is just on the road – gas stations, driving, old buddies, old friends. So it’s the fucking best.’ He’s not managed to be on every tour due to his acting commitments but remains committed to mixing his disciplines. ‘I love that I still have it in my life,’ he says of playing music. ‘To be able to challenge your creative brain.’

Avengers: Doomsday, Baton, Catch 22, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Spaceballs 2, Wishful Thinking

Creativity is hardly surprising given his lineage. During the Oscars, he joked that he was his dad’s ‘sequel’ and Bill noted that Lewis had carved out a career without his interference; ‘All on your own you did just fine.’ ‘My dad didn’t raise me shovelling messaging down my throat, telling me “do this, don’t do this”. It was very much through watch and learn. And I got another great lesson from him when we walked into the Oscar rehearsal and he was like, “This isn’t how we talk, though. If we’re doing this, why are we doing it as somebody else? Let’s make this our own voices.” I was kind of nervous to change it. But they loved it. If there’s anything I got out of that whole experience, it was just being reminded to protect yourself. Protect your voice. Protect your intention of why you’re doing something. Why are we presenting? How can we get something out of it as a father and son?’

The Pullmans will be starring together in the long-awaited sequel, Spaceballs 2, a project Lewis admits to feeling some trepidation about taking on given it was the film that put Bill on the map. He will be reprising Lone Starr and Lewis will be playing his son. ‘I didn’t want to step on my dad’s toes. This was his second movie. It really launched him, and is so personal to him,’ Lewis says. ‘I think it would be different if I was playing his role, but then once I found out I was playing his son, that changed things. And then once I read the script, and it was one of the funniest scripts I’ve read ever in my whole life, I was just like, “It’d be stupid not to do this.” But I had to talk to my dad, and we had a lot of conversations about it. I think that he thought that I was tiptoeing around it, because I didn’t want to step into a realm that he had already been in. Meanwhile, I was tiptoeing around it because I thought maybe he didn’t want me to step in there. So then once we finally were like, “No, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it’s so meta.” I felt I’d absolutely regret it if somebody else played that role. I don’t think I could get over that if I missed out on it. I’m so glad I did it because it was one of the most rich experiences of my life, working with him in that capacity, which is comedy, which is something we don’t get to do often, but we do all the time when we’re at home.’ 

Avengers: Doomsday, Baton, Catch 22, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Spaceballs 2, Wishful Thinking

Will we be seeing a little of the real Pullmans’ dynamic when we finally see the film? ‘You know, you always have that, regardless of how hard you try. There were parts where it was kind of a challenge to act with your family member, because you fear that they know you so well that they’re going to know better than anyone if you’re lying – if your acting is shit. But I would hope I’m not very similar to my character, although I love him greatly. He’s not the brightest bulb in the shed.’ He pauses. ‘But I don’t know. I have my days…’ He laughs.

We cross the street, passing beneath the 1920s Taft Building, the first high-rise office building in LA, the former HQ of the Academy, as well as housing offices for numerous Old Hollywood stars including Charlie Chaplin and Will Rogers. Across the street, the neon retro sign for the crossroad twinkles in the sun as we head towards the old Pantages Theatre and the Frolic Room bar (the drinking haunt of Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and, in her last seen appearance, the Black Dahlia, Elizabeth Short). Showbusiness is evident everywhere we look. I ask Lewis how he feels about the business end of his career, the promotion. ‘It’s probably my least favourite part of the whole thing. It’s so different being in front of a camera right now with people that aren’t the crew, that don’t know the “why” of why we’re doing it, or what we’re doing. There’s something about a film set where everyone is under the same preconceived notion about what the story is, and the collective illusion. The publicity part of it – I’m trying to find my way in.’ He stops and admires the marquee of the old movie theatre. ‘I keep thinking about deathbed thoughts,’ he laughs. ‘I don’t know why this has been on my mind lately. What the fuck am I going to be thinking when I’m dying? I don’t want to look back on my memories, and just see slates and hotel rooms and press junkets. So I’m trying to figure out a way to make that all not just something that I sleepwalk through, you know?’

Avengers: Doomsday, Baton, Catch 22, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Spaceballs 2, Wishful Thinking

I’ve gotten it down with the lines now. But at the beginning I was thinking maybe this wasn’t the profession for me, because it takes me so long. But now I’m starting to love it, because I’m treating it less as memorisation and more as just steeping. My job is to live in the scene, and to try and paint it in my mind as accurately as possible. Once I trick myself not to memorise, I end up memorising through that process

Does he think that’s because he has watched his father’s experience and has entered the industry with his eyes wide open? ‘I get asked about nepotism all the time… It’s an undeniable truth, but I think one of the more strangely valuable parts of the whole thing is watching my dad through a long career and what that looks like – how he manages his expectations, and what he actually allows himself to feel celebratory over, or where he gets his gratification from. Because he never got it from accolades. It was always the experience of the making of the thing. The journey. And the rest of it is just noise that he mutes. There is a healthy dose of discontent in him that keeps him driving forward, I think he holds onto that. But now I see him taking it all in, and living in the breaths in between a lot more.’

Music seems to help Lewis live in the breaths in between. Growing up, he was in different bands until he started playing with his ‘best buddy’, Kyle McNeill, and they began recording with their bassist, who ended up becoming Lewis’ brother-in-law. He recalls the messing about in the recording studio fondly. ‘There was something about the repetition of takes and what it looks like to get the chance to do it multiple times. In theatre you get one take each night, and then you have a whole day to think about what you might adjust. Whereas in the studio, sometimes you try and just have one night that’s like a one-night play.’

Avengers: Doomsday, Baton, Catch 22, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Spaceballs 2, Wishful Thinking

As we wander a few blocks down we pass a movie shooting on location. ‘It’s nice to walk down a set where you’re not worried that you’ve got to be learning your lines right now,’ he grins. He tells me he has ‘all sorts of beautiful, little learning challenges’, including dyslexia. ‘I’ve gotten it down with the lines now. At the beginning I was thinking maybe this wasn’t the profession for me, because it takes me so long. But now I’m starting to love it, because I’m treating it less as memorisation and more as just steeping. My job is to live in the scene, and to try to paint it in my mind as accurately as possible. Once I trick myself not to memorise, I end up memorising through that process.’ Despite the learning challenges, Lewis studied social work at a small liberal arts college, Warren Wilson, in Ashville, North Carolina after high school. ‘It’s a work studies programme. There’s a farm. I was on the tractor crew – I’m handy with the back-hoe and the front-end loader. I was doing social work, theatre, and working outdoors with my hands. And it was that trifecta of variety that I felt was really fruitful.’

We head back inside, to a rehearsal room with a drum kit and a Fleetwood Mac road case doubling as a coffee table. ‘I’m fairly rusty,’ Lewis says, eying the drum kit sitting on the vintage rug. ‘I chose the worst instrument for somebody who travels.’ He takes out a set of favoured sticks and sits on the stool, placing a cloth over the snare. ‘Growing up, my favourite drummer was Levon Helm, and he was all about muting it down, so that it’s not so ring-y.’ He pushes a blanket against the bass drum head so that’s also not as ‘ring-y’. ‘I’m not a technical drummer. I’m all about the feel and the pocket,’ he says as he starts tapping out a rhythm. ‘Let’s fuck around for a little bit.’

Avengers: Doomsday, Baton, Catch 22, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Spaceballs 2, Wishful Thinking

He begins to play and despite his protests, he’s great – his triple pedals tight and using his hands on the snare. ‘The first drum I ever got was a cajón so I got really into trying to incorporate hand stuff into the middle of that,’ he explains. ‘I forget I’m doing it, for a lot of that time. And that’s something that I don’t get in any other part of my life. In acting, that is what you’re seeking – right? That kind of forgetting that you’re there, that you’re doing it. Losing yourself. The brain just goes into this little fugue state, a purgatory in-between place. It’s a nice place to go.’ 

He’s recently been in pursuit of that fugue state in Marvel’s Thunderbolts*, The Testament of Ann Lee and the upcoming adap of the bestseller, Remarkably Bright Creatures. Lewis plays a rootless young man in search of his father who befriends an OAP (played by Sally Field) with a connection to the octopus in the aquarium where she cleans. ‘It sounds like something that is so specific for octopus lovers but it’s very much a universal story about found family. And Sally Field is unbelievable in it. Every day, getting to work with her was like going into the boxing ring. You’re just way below the weight class. She doesn’t settle for anything but the total truth. So if anything felt like a lie or a fib, she would really be adamant about tapping into the truth. It was like when I worked with Jeff Bridges. He loves asking questions, and philosophising, and mulling it around a lot – which I find really helpful. I think it’s cool to be able to work with actors of all different generations, because everyone has different styles.’

Avengers: Doomsday, Baton, Catch 22, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Spaceballs 2, Wishful Thinking

His experiences playing Bob in Top Gun Maverick, and Bob in Thunderbolts* as well as the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, were similarly educational moments. ‘Doomsday was such an experience – one of those ones where you’re literally trying to open your eyes as wide as possible, to just soak it all in. It’s one of the most massive movie sets I’ve ever set foot on, but you wouldn’t know it with how the Russo brothers operate. Despite it being this massive thing, it always felt like we were doing something that was trying to capture something in the room. It was there, regardless of the kind of scale. I never would have thought I would be in a movie like Top Gun or in a Marvel movie. Sometimes I wish I was a better planner or manifester. But also I never would have dreamed to manifest either of those things. So, keeping it open in some ways has been a gift for me, just because I love those experiences. And yes, they’re big, huge movies, but they’re so different. The characters are so different, despite them sharing the exact same name – I think I’ve tapped out on playing another Bob there.’

He’s just produced his first movie under his Buckwild production company shingle, directed by his friend, Graham Parkes, and co-starring Maya Hawke – they premiered it at SXSW earlier in the week. It follows Lewis and Maya as a couple whose harmony or disharmony affects the world around them (fighting equals earthquakes, stocks crashing, the Dodgers losing). Describing the film as a ‘surreal rom-com-dram’, Wishful Thinking was born out of an ambition to give himself a role ‘other people weren’t giving me the opportunity to do’ – namely, playing a romantic lead. ‘You do a movie like that because you wouldn’t normally be cast in it, you know? Maybe you haven’t done it, so they can’t imagine you doing it. It’s not a short cut. It’s a long cut. But it’s the only way to garner any sort of control.’ He’s also working with his Maverick Doomsday castmate Danny Ramirez on his writing and directorial debut, soccer movie Baton. ‘He’s got a serious plan, and he sticks to it, and it really serves him. It’s just amazing to see him directing and writing and producing and starring.’ Does Lewis think he might want to move into directing, too? ‘I see what it takes to do it well, and I know myself well enough to know that I don’t think I have that gene. Also, I’ll probably die not having figured acting out. I don’t need more on my plate than that. I’m still trying to figure that out.’

Avengers: Doomsday, Baton, Catch 22, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Spaceballs 2, Wishful Thinking

With that in mind, he’s looking for projects he describes as ‘never right down the line, off-kilter, off-balance’. As he packs up his drumsticks he considers how his move into producing will affect the choices he makes in roles. ‘I don’t want to spend three months of my life doing something that I could watch, or play a role that I’ve seen somebody else do, or play a role that I know somebody else could do better than me. So it’s about finding the ones where I have something to say, and I can say it in this part right now. That can change month to month, you know? I’m realising that the project that I might be perfect for today, I might not be for tomorrow. But it’s really touching base with that grain of truth, when you’re like, “I know I can do something that nobody else can do right now.” Being able to say that, and with pride, is empowering…’  

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by GREG WILLIAMS & JANE CROWTHER
Remarkably Bright Creatures is on Netflix now, Avengers: Doomsday is in cinemas 18 December, Wishful Thinking and Baton will release soon, Spaceballs 2 is in cinemas 23 April 2027
Thanks to Hollywood Rehearsals 
www.hollywoodrehearsals.com 

hollywood authentic, greg williams, hollywood authentic magazine

LESLIE BIBB

May 8, 2026

Iron Man, Palm Royale, Popular, Private Parts, Talladega Nights, The White Lotus
Iron Man, Palm Royale, Popular, Private Parts, Talladega Nights, The White Lotus

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS


Actor Leslie Bibb tells Hollywood Authentic about laundry, lazing about and her love of Polo cologne.

How important is a little bit of nonsense now and then to you?
Oh God, I think very important. I feel like in the nonsense, in the fun, in the imperfect, in the silly, lies great depths for me to swim around. It’s like daydreaming to me… it’s imperative. Also, I like being a little devious…

What, if anything, makes you believe in magic?
I was born believing in magic. I don’t know why I do, but I do and it’s as true to me as anything. For me, holding this belief makes me not take anything for granted. Me running into Greg Williams in Venice, in that hallway, it’s cosmic. I think that’s magic. It’s glorious.

What was your last act of true cowardice?
Not standing up to this woman who I was working with on a project. I abandoned myself and let her gaslight me. It’s a longer conversation, but I am disappointed in myself. But, whoosh, I learned a lot of lessons.

Do you have any odd habits or rituals?
I don’t walk under ladders. Why test the fates? I don’t like to talk about jobs too much before they happen. Don’t want to jinx anything.

What single thing do you miss most when you’re away from home?
Sammy and Gus, our German Shepherd. And sleeping in our bed. Our bed is delicious, but so is Sammy [Leslie’s partner, Sam Rockwell]. Also, our washer and dryer. I loathe sending my clothes out to be laundered. I like to wash my own things. 

What is your party trick?
I always throw the party, so I fancy that’s the best trick.

What is your favourite smell?
It’s not so much a smell, but I love when I am cooking and the house is full of whatever that aroma is. It’s the way I feel about a stocked fridge. It makes me so happy. And, this is gonna sound nuts, but I love Polo cologne. Sam wears it and it reminds me of growing up in Virginia and I just fucking love that smell, especially on Sammy.

What do you always carry with you?
A excerpt from Nelson Mandela’s 1994 inaugural speech. I have carried it in my wallet for 25 years. I have it laminated. 

What is your guilty pleasure?
Being lazy. It’s hard for me. I feel guilty if I have too many lazy days. I don’t know, I think we should take advantage of how much time we are alive. Wasting that, wasting a moment of being curious feels… oh I can’t bear it.

What’s your idea of heaven?
Sitting on a screen porch in the country, the sun is setting, music is playing, fridge is full, friends are in the house, I can hear their laughter, Gus is laying down next to me, and Sammy is walking out onto the porch with cocktails for us. Yeah, that’s heaven.

Actor and producer Leslie Bibb began her career as a model before moving into acting, her big break arriving with Popular. She made her film debut in Private Parts and is known for her roles in Iron Man, Talladega Nights, Tag and About My Father. She’s most recently been seen in Palm Royale and the third season of The White Lotus. 

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.’

SPIKE FEARN

May 8, 2026

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER


The Midlands-born Finding Emily actor takes Greg Williams on a visit to the coal-mining home town that is the key to keeping him grounded as his career takes off.

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

On a bright February morning, I meet actor Spike Fearn as he alights off the London train at Tamworth Station in Staffordshire. It’s the closest station to his hometown of Coalville and we’re heading back to the house and neighbourhood that made him – before he moved to the UK capital to pursue acting. Though he grew up in the small village of Ravenstone, Coalville was the place where he regularly went to Blockbuster and the cinema, fell in love with the idea of film and dreamt of making a career out of it. 

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

Next month, the 25 year-old will make his leading role debut in Finding Emily, a Brit rom-com following an affable student (Fearn) as he tries to locate the titular girl he connected with but didn’t grab her number. His star is rising and a few weeks previously we’d met at a Cartier dinner, Fearn hanging out with the likes of Paul Mescal, Tilda Swinton, Robert Aramayo and Kate Hudson as I shot them at play in the kitchen of a luxury restaurant in London. ‘I’m still at the very, very start of my career,’ he says bashfully when we discuss the evening. ‘You know, maybe the shoelaces aren’t tied yet, but the shoes are definitely on.’ As we drive through the English countryside, Spike tells me that his background and the place he comes from are important to him as he negotiates his career. ‘I hold Leicestershire as my little place, you know? As a sort of medal in a way.’ He slows us down in the car on the B5493 road to show me a tree with a tiny front door in its trunk. ‘My dad pointed it out once. Maybe someone interesting lives there – a fairy, or an elf, or the Yucca Man from Joshua Tree…’ 

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

Though he now makes a trade from make-believe, Spike initially wanted to be a MotoGP racing driver as a kid. ‘Valentino Rossi was my first idol. I was obsessed. I used to wear a t-shirt with Valentino Rossi on it all the time. And that was what I really wanted to be, a bike racer.’ Though he still fancies playing a racer (citing Barry Sheene as the biker he’d like to play), the closest he’s got to being a sports star is the film he’s about to start work on. ‘I’m doing a running movie. I’m not a runner but I’ve been training – going out, doing 5K, running on a track with a lot of people. It’s been great fun.’ That, though, is his work life. When he wants to re-ground and settle, he returns home. Now he’s taking me to Snibston Colliery Park, which is in the shadow of the giant coal mine wheels that used to be the main industry of the area. As we walk towards the old colliery, I start to take photographs, and Spike tells me about his discomfort in front of a stills camera. ‘Video cameras and cinema cameras are very different. You’re playing a part at the time. Whereas you always feel like you have to take yourself so seriously when taking photos. I’m not going to lie: I always find myself smouldering in the mirror or something beforehand, and trying to find a good face. And I hate taking myself so seriously.’

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

Alien was definitely a step up. That was the first time – and the only time, still – of being on something of that size. The things they built inside those studios were insane and everyone was quite young on it. It felt like we were all very fresh then. I’m desperate to do something of that size again

We look at the old mining infra-structure, now a kids playground with machinery looming overhead. ‘The whole place was built on coal mining. The people that worked down here should be remembered like the people that fought in the war. I used to hang out here with my mates. We’d go to the top where the wheels are. You’d go up there, and do what young teenagers do who grew up in a town that has no money pumped into it, and there’s not much resources. Just hang out, and do stuff that you would
lie to your mum about.’ It was his mum, a school teacher, who encouraged Spike to try acting and follow in the footsteps of another of his heroes and a Midlands local, Jack O’Connell. He applied for a place at Nottingham’s Television Workshop, which had fostered talent such as O’Connell, Samantha Morton, Toby Kebbell, Tom Blyth and Bella Ramsey. He got in, trained and began building a resume with small roles in The Batman, Sweetheart and Aftersun, before graduating to TV with Tell Me Everything. He played Amy Winehouse’s best mate in biopic Back to Black before landing a role in Alien: Romulus alongside David Jonsson and Cailee Spaeny. 

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

‘Alien was definitely a step up. That was the first time – and the only time, still – of being on something of that size. The things they built inside those studios were insane and everyone was quite young on it. It felt like we were all very fresh then. I’m desperate to do something of that size again.’ He pauses. ‘I enjoyed it, but I never wanted to. At the very start, I just wanted to do movies about the Midlands. I wanted to just work with Shane Meadows and Stephen Graham, who lives a couple of towns over – these people who I think are like trophies. I didn’t want to go to America. I didn’t want to do any of that. And now I’m finding all these great things in America, and these great experiences, and these filmmakers. I’m like, “Wow.”

America brought work with James L. Brooks and an all-star cast on Ella McCay, with Liam Neeson on graphic novel adap 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank, and with Cate Blanchett on Alice Birch’s fantasy drama, Sweetsick. ‘That was the best experience I’ve had in an acting sense,’ he says of Sweetsick. ‘When I was at The Television Workshop we were doing a lot of improv and script work – that was where I figured out that I want to be an actor. And it wasn’t just something to fuel the ADHD that I had. That’s where I learned most things. I would put that, and then working with Cate, in the same category. I learned so much from watching her… I don’t even think she ever knew that she was teaching me anything. Now I’m excited to step back in front of a camera and on a set, and be like, “I’ve learned these things, or these techniques that I think I’ve learned from watching her.” What makes her so great is that she’s such an amazing performer, but she also understands cameras perfectly. I was like, “If I’m half as good as you when I’m older, I’m going to be happy.”

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

His mention of having ADHD makes me ask about school. ‘I didn’t do that well at school,’ he winces. ‘I struggle with dyslexia and instead of trying harder at work, I shied away. I wish I hadn’t, but I actually thought dyslexia was a punishment, in a way. I always had a helper come in, who would help in classes and I kind of hated that. I hated all the attention on me. Which is actually weird, because of being an actor now.’ He admits he still struggles with scripts. ‘Sometimes it feels like you’re learning French or something.’ 

We move onto Coalville town centre and the shuttered Rex Cinema, a 1938-opened two-level auditorium with a glorious retro marquee sign. ‘It wasn’t a cinema when I was a kid. It was a carpet store. And across the street used to be a Blockbuster. So that was the only thing I knew about movies.’ The Blockbuster is now a Subway and Spike turns to look up at the faded grandeur of the Rex. ‘I’d love to eventually be able to buy this place and do what Robert Redford did with the Sundance Film Festival. Imagine a film festival in this beautiful place. Imagine being able to go and see Scarface on 35mm in here.’

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

When I was at The Television Workshop we were doing a lot of improv and script work – that was where I figured out that I want to be an actor. And it wasn’t just something to fuel the ADHD that I had. That’s where I learned most things. I would put that, and then working with Cate [Blanchett], in the same category. I learned so much from watching her… I don’t even think she ever knew that she was teaching me anything

It’s lunchtime so we head to a local chippie where we both order the kids’ fish and chips and gravy, ‘as if I’m a child’. As we wait for our order (and he requests ‘loads of salt and vinegar’), he tells me about the micro-budget indie drama he’s making in New York, Pocket Dreams. Spike plays a waiter who makes an unhappily married woman question the American Dream. ‘Going from stuff like Alien, to doing these really small, tiny things – especially in New York… Being from here, you would never think you would be in New York shooting anything, you know?’ 

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

He’s about to start the running movie that will film in LA, Gavin O’Conner’s Nike movie with Apple, simply entitled Running. Then he’ll work with Renée Zellweger in London and Montreal on David Yates’ psychological thriller Phantom Son, where he plays a homeless teen taken in by a mother whose own son is missing. ‘I’m trying to be flat-out,’ he says of his productivity and admits to ambitions of creating his own stories particularly with some of his favourite actors. ‘Jack O’Connell, Stephen Graham, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke, Ryan Gosling,’ he reels off. ‘Actually, a funny story about chip shops is, apparently, Stephen Graham brought Leo in one of these somewhere in this area. But every chip shop says it’s their chip shop, and some say, “Oh, yeah, it was Johnny Depp or Leonardo DiCaprio.” It was one of them. But which one is it? So I’ve been in every chip shop now, around this area, trying to find out.’

We arrive in Spike’s village and decide to eat our chips as he used to as a kid, walking the fields behind his house. ‘They’re building houses on all these fields now, and they’re going to destroy it with all these new builds. But growing up as a kid, I used to walk through these fields, and I used to pretend that I hadn’t seen civilization in a very long time. And that I had a broken ankle or something. I would walk up this hill, listening to ‘The Ecstasy of Gold’ from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and as I see that house for the first time, it was like pure joy that I was walking across this field with a broken ankle, you know? It was way before I wanted to be an actor. I guess I’ve always just been obsessed with pretending, in a way.’

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

He looks across the fields, chip fork in hand. ‘I talk about Leicestershire like it’s a personality, because I feel so proud of it. But I think this is the place that I spend time doing the most thinking. I haven’t really left yet. I’m not as far forward in this career as some people that I watch and look up to. But I feel like I’m getting inches and inches away from this area every time I go back to London. And I like to just come back, and be free. I’m really in this weird decision right now of whether to move back here, or stay, or try to fly away further. Every time I come here, I feel like there’s this special ball around me with friends and family and greenery. The air feels more crisp here. And also no one cares about anything other than just their lives here, you know?’

He points out the highest point in Leicestershire, Bardon Hill, and tells me that his parents often drive up to watch the sunrise from there. ‘When I came off of doing Alien, I was in this bubble. I was doing a thing that I’d always dreamed of. I came from here to being in Budapest, in these huge studios. I didn’t really know how to deal with the contrast. At that point, I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to be there. Always there. But then I’d come back…’

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

A keen painter from being a teen, Spike still enjoys losing himself in the activity when he comes home. ‘I once painted in my mum’s garden with my niece in the summer, and I remember feeling, “I never want to lose this. I have to be here to be the human I want to be.” I want to be a complete chameleon in the acting space. But here, I don’t want to be a chameleon. I want to be myself and this place still holds that for me.’

We finish the mini fish and chips, something of a treat for Spike as he’s shedding weight for two upcoming roles. ‘I’ve never lost weight for anything. But the role I’m about to go and do is the type of role I’ve thought about since I was 16 years old. It’s really gritty, but it has a twist. So I don’t want to half-arse it. I get scared of messing up anyways. But with something like this, I’d kick myself for the rest of my life if I messed up.’ 

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

We decide to head to Spike’s parents’ house where Jodie the dog is waiting. Spike picks up a guitar in the front room and noodles – he learned to play for his role in Finding Emily. ‘There used to be a little box TV that we used to sit in front of and watch old films on,’ he reminisces of his childhood with his sister. ‘I remember watching Jaws and Alien very young. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was always on, is still always on.’ His dad is a film and music enthusiast who has been a big part of Spike’s cinematic education. Dad is also key in his interest in fashion, which Spike studied at school. The actor regularly raids his dad’s vintage closet for clothes, even now. He shows me a hand-me-down military green jacket that he cherishes. ‘The first play I ever did at the workshop was called Middletown. I played an alcoholic drug addict when I was 17 years old, and I wore this jacket. I feel like Taxi Driver, you know?’

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

The front door bangs and Spike’s mum, Jadie, has just returned from work. She greets me warmly and we’re soon in conversation about crystals, Action Man’s ‘eagle eyes’ and her memories of the pits closing locally. She tells me she studied film as a Theatre Studies uni student in the early ’90s and I wonder if this might have partly inspired Spike’s creative path. She agrees there may be something in the DNA but like her son, thinks the place he grew up is special. She tells me their town is a deprived area but that ‘in the poverty of Coalville you’ve got the heart. That lingers on’. She looks fondly at Spike. ‘He’s full of light. He’s got his divine purpose, hasn’t he? He’s got his divine soul, and he’s driven by that.’

Spike nods. ‘At school I wanted to be an artist in some way. I was studying art and fashion at the time. But when I found movies, that became the art that I wanted to jump myself into. But I don’t just want to be thrown everything, and do everything. I want to really do it smartly, and be around for a long time and be remembered for being an actor, rather than someone who was once smiling on social media. That’s how I’d rather be seen…’ 

Alien: Romulus, Ella McCay, Finding Emily, Sweetsick

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER
Finding Emily is in cinemas on 22 May  

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SIMONE ASHLEY

April 17, 2026

Amy Wadge, Diane Warren, Fraser T. Smith, The Devil Wears Prada 2

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

Actor Simone Ashley is exploring her first passion via a new EP, Songs I Wrote in New York. Greg Williams joins her during two studio sessions over the past year as she finds her sound. 

Amy Wadge, Diane Warren, Fraser T. Smith, The Devil Wears Prada 2

When I meet The Devil Wears Prada 2’s Simone Ashley at producer Fraser T. Smith’s [multi Ivor Novello and Grammy Award winner] Studio outside Henley-on-Thames in early January 2025, I jokingly ask him how the actor is doing outside of her natural filming habitat. ‘Amazingly. We wouldn’t be working with her if she wasn’t any good,’ he grins. ‘We got together doing some film stuff, and then we wrote a few songs, and to me it was apparent that Simone should make an album. So we talked about it, and we’re making the leap. It’s going to be amazing.’ 

The duo are in the process of finalising vocals, mastering and mixing Simone’s debut EP, Songs I Wrote in New York out now. I’ve heard her sing when we hung out in Cannes previously during the film festival, but never as she lays down some tracks. She welcomes me into the room and explains what inspires her to write. When I previously heard her sing in Cannes, it had a bluesy feel. This, she says, is very different. ‘This is more soul pop. And we’ll play you another one that I wrote with Amy Wadge, who’s just amazing. She does a lot of Ed Sheeran’s music. So, very ballad, love-based kind of songs. It started off as a ballad. And then what’s so amazing about Fraser is, I’ll bring an idea, and he can just completely flip it. It was amazing that day, because the sunlight came into the studio, and suddenly there was so much positivity. And I wrote that song in Wales with Amy when I was in a bit of a dark place. It was just shit weather, and cloudy, and dark. And then when it came to the day of recording it, Fraser knows the kind of beats that really resonate with my heart. He started playing this beat, and the sun just came in. And suddenly all these lyrics that came from a place of heartbreak, suddenly turned really positive.’

Amy Wadge, Diane Warren, Fraser T. Smith, The Devil Wears Prada 2

A lot of these songs were inspired by a summer that I had in New York when I first moved there. Working on The Devil Wears Prada 2 was intense – this was the original cast, the original producers, in New York. It was summer in Manhattan and I was in New York, and I was having the time of my life. That really affected how I wrote the songs

Simone and Fraser continue to talk through their process and the sounds they’re using, their enthusiasm infectious. As Fraser plays some beats, Simone sings along. ‘When I was working with Amy, I gave her some of my favourite chords,’ she explains between takes. ‘I’m really drawn to B-flat major, F major, A-flat major for some reason. It sounds so heartbreaking and nostalgic to me, that kind of chord progression. So we just laid out these chords, and I was almost rapping – just riffing all these different things. And then it’s hours of mixing and work with Louis and Fraser. A team effort.’

We meet up again in January in LA, during Golden Globes season – and Simone is working with another musical maestro, multi-award-winning Diane Warren at her Real Songs Studio in Hollywood. The 17-time Oscar nominee is working with Simone on her album, impressed by her songwriting and voice. And Diane isn’t one to blow smoke up asses – her straight-talking manner is apparent the minute I walk through the door. There’s a jar just inside the room that Diane describes in her beautifully fruity language as ‘a jar of fucks – in case you want one’. 

Amy Wadge, Diane Warren, Fraser T. Smith, The Devil Wears Prada 2

Diane has collaborated with Simone on a couple of songs destined for her album. ‘I’m excited,’ the songwriter tells me. ‘She’s an amazing singer.’ Simone has laid down one of Diane’s compositions earlier today and now they are working together on finessing it. Diane plays the melody on the guitar to accompany Simone’s soulful vocals. ‘It’s very exciting to see the magic of when the right artist finds the right song,’ Diane says, comparing Simone’s sound to Sade. ‘I mean, you’re a great singer, and you’re a great artist, and you have your own thing,’ she says. ‘You already have an audience built in that loves you, and loves you from your other work. But once they hear you sing, and they hear you sing these songs – you’re going to have a whole other thing going.’

Over the previous Christmas break, Diane has written a song that she has gifted her new protege. ‘I just write songs that I like. A lot of the time, I don’t even know who the fuck they’re for. But this is perfect for you.’ Simone is beaming. ‘This is a “pinch me” moment for sure.’ she admits. ‘I mean, Diane Warren is the songwriter. It’s a big fucking honour to be here.’ The EP, Simone explains, is inspired by her own experiences while acting. ‘A lot of these songs were inspired by a summer that I had in New York when I first moved there. Working on The Devil Wears Prada 2 was intense – this was the original cast, the original producers, in New York. It was summer in Manhattan and I was in New York, and I was having the time of my life. That really affected how I wrote the songs, and what I brought into the studio. It was what I was experiencing on set, and outside when I wasn’t filming; the nights I had out in New York; the people I met; the friendships and relationships that I had… It all bled into the music.’

Amy Wadge, Diane Warren, Fraser T. Smith, The Devil Wears Prada 2

She goes into the booth to record some vocals under Diane’s direction, honing the tone of the song with different tweaks each time. I ask Diane how she thinks being an actor impacts Simone’s craft in the studio. ‘I think it helps, because you’re a storyteller in another world, too. It’s not just singing a song. You have to convince someone that it’s real. That’s what you do as an actor, and that’s what you do here. And she knows her lines!’ Diane suggests we have a listen back of the work the two have completed together so far, a song under construction, being shaped. ‘What a fucking smash,’ Diane says when it ends. ‘Come on. I think she’s going to have a really big, huge record.’

A couple of weeks later I catch up with Simone in New York during a particularly fierce snowstorm. Now that she’s two years into making her music a reality, I ask what it was that made her want to pursue it, having had such success with acting in Sex Education, Bridgerton and the upcoming, Devil Wears Prada sequel. ‘Something that I’ve always carried with me throughout my life, and especially in my career – I never want to look back and be like, “I wish I gave something a go,”’ she says. ‘I never really wanted to have too many feelings of regret. Regret is something that sometimes you can’t control. But within the things I could control, I always wanted to make sure that I gave it my best shot. I wanted a professional project with my music, a body of work. I never wanted it to come across as a hobby. So about four years ago, I really started talking to people in my team, and was trying to figure out a way of meeting the right people, and finding the right people who had the same belief and vision as me. Perhaps part of me always knew that something like this was inevitably going to happen. But it was more just taking the first initial steps and actually breaking the seal.’

Amy Wadge, Diane Warren, Fraser T. Smith, The Devil Wears Prada 2

Though she’s only recently started writing songs in collaboration with Fraser, Amy Wadge, Diane Warren, Dan and Tolu, Simone has been writing music since her teens. ‘Music has always been something that I had a very strong instinct with. I grew up playing piano, and learning how to write music. I classically trained as a singer. I always write in my journal – lyrics or just ideas – and I would maybe try to match the beats to certain lyrics that I had down, or certain ideas that I had down. When I was working with Dan and Tolu in Brooklyn, that was a very specific form of songwriting – we were just talking for hours. It was the same with Amy Wadge, we just chatted for about six hours, and then we would pull things from our conversations and what we were feeling, and try to convey that conversation in a song, or certain chords would match that feeling. Those are my favourites sometimes, because you take something like that, and then maybe a year later, in the studio with Fraser, it turns into something quite different. But what was important in all of my songwriting process, was that I wanted my lyrics and my songs to feel inclusive – especially writing from a personal place about whatever I was going through, whether it’s a relationship or friendship or a feeling that I had; it was important to me that my audience can listen to it and relate to it in a way.’

Amy Wadge, Diane Warren, Fraser T. Smith, The Devil Wears Prada 2

I ask which artists she’s been inspired by herself and she smiles. ‘When I was a kid, my dad used to play vinyl all the time, just 24/7. So I grew up listening to music since I was a baby, and I could list a million different bands, solo artists, and so many different people.

‘But I think one thing that I’ve learned throughout my career as an actress is to just always compare yourself to yourself. It’s such a strong way to do it. I’m on my own journey with my own timeline. I don’t think I’m comparing it to anyone else’s… yet.’

She admits she’s been ‘surprised in a good way’ by the album that is coming together. ‘We actually have this body of work that, at one point, was living in our imaginations, and then was living in the studio, and living in comps and demos. And now it’s something that I’m almost there to share with everyone…’

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER
Songs I Wrote in New York is out now

hollywood authentic, greg williams, hollywood authentic magazine

MIA McKENNA-BRUCE

March 4, 2026

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

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’.’

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

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.’

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

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.’

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

‘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.’

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

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

DANNY HUSTON

February 26, 2026

21 Grams, Danny Huston, Succession, The Aviator, The Constant Gardener, The Naked Gun, Yellowstone
21 Grams, Danny Huston, Succession, The Aviator, The Constant Gardener, The Naked Gun, Yellowstone

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.’

BAFTA 2026

February 23, 2026

BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
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)…

BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Teyana Taylor

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.

BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Paul Mescal and Gracie Abrams

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. 

BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan
BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Wunmi Mosaku and Alicia Vikander
BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Paddington Bear

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. 

BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Kate Hawley and Hannah Waddingham

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). 

BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Ethan Hawke
BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Warwick Davis and Paul Thomas Anderson
BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Liza Marshall and Chloé Zhao with the cast and crew of Hamnet

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.’

BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Jessie Buckley
BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Dame Donna Langley
BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Kate Hudson

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’.

BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Glenn Close and Jesse Plemons
BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Leonardo DiCaprio

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. 

BAFTA Awards 2026, EE, Hollywood Authentic, London
Alicia Vikander and Patrick Dempsey

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

DAVID JONSSON

February 20, 2026

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

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. 

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

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…’

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

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. 

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

‘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.’

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

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.’

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

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.

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

‘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.’ 

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

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…’ 

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

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

Cartier, Cartier celebrates BAFTA

RISING STARS

February 20, 2026

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

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.

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

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.’

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

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.’

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

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

Cartier, Cartier celebrates BAFTA
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