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DOMHNALL GLEESON

September 6, 2026

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog
venice dispatch ticket
Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

VENICE DISPATCH
Photographs GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

The Irish actor jumps on a boat with Greg Williams at the Venice Film Festival and tells Hollywood Authentic about working with Werner Herzog and finding empathy in his new film Bucking Fastard.

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

Domhnall Gleeson is one of a company of Irish actors who appear in Werner Herzog’s latest quirky film, Bucking Fastard, the story of two sisters (Rooney and Kate Mara) who are so close they exhibit sibling synchronicity – even to the point of falling in love with the same man (Orlando Bloom). When their romance leads to court proceedings Gleeson is the kindly social worker assigned to them to help them integrate more fully into the world. ‘If a chance comes up to work with a great director, you just say yes,’ the actor tells Hollywood Authentic over an iced coffee in one of the villas that sits on the beach of the Venice Lido where the film premiered at the film festival this year. The previous evening he’s attended the Cartier/Vanity Fair dinner at the Gritti Palace, bobbing across the Venice lagoon in a water taxi with Greg Williams. ‘When the first thing you’re told is it’s Werner Herzog, then you definitely say yes. The part was pretty small, but I thought it was cool and the other actors are amazing. Just getting to work with Kate and Rooney. And the script was wonderful. So actually it ticks all the boxes.’

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

Though he looks hardly older than his appearances in the Harry Potter movies, Gleeson is now 43 and has a stacked resume of roles and projects with great directors. Herzog comes with an expectation of possible wildness based the legendary stories from some of his previous shoots. ‘He was very clear when we talked that what he wants is a harmonious set,’ Gleeson says. ‘What he wants is a quiet, diligent, exciting place to go to work. The madness doesn’t interest him, unless the madness is in the film. It really was the empathy of the man that was the thing that came shining through for me. And actually, it’s my favourite part of the film; the empathy I ended up with for these characters.’ 

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

Herzog based his script on a meeting he had with two real-life sisters who spoke and acted in unison, and were the subject of an ’80s documentary. But Gleeson is quick to insist that his role as Timothy isn’t a proxy for Herzog himself, even if some of the incidents in the film are inspired by some of the director’s interactions with the sisters. ‘He was really clear that this is not based specifically on any other thing, or on those people. He was like, ‘No, the sisters who are in front of you – this is new’. But I like the way he looks at people when he’s talking to them. I like the way he listens. And in that way I do think there’s some of him in my character.’

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

Gleeson’s Timothy is incredibly patient and sweet with the sisters who are blinkered to the outside world, such is their focus on each other and their interior experience. The Mara sisters work together on screen for the first time and Gleeson says it was fascinating to watch. ‘There’s been loads of performances where one person has played two people, but not where two people have played some weird version of the same person. You know when you’re talking to somebody, and sometimes you switch between the eyes that you’re looking at? It felt like that to watch Rooney and Kate.’ The lure of the cast wasn’t the only thing that engendered the project to him. ‘The fact that I rolled out of bed, and walked to set, that was an added bonus, as opposed to a reason to do it,’ he chuckles of working in Ireland. 

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

The son of Irish acting legend Brendan, Gleeson is pleased to see Martin McDonagh on the Lido too, where he’s presenting Wild Horse Nine. The writer/director has worked with his father on The Banshees of Inisherin and also gave Gleeson one of his earliest roles in the stage play, The Lieutenant of Inishmore back in 2001. ‘I was incredibly lucky to get to work with Martin that early on because I saw how good the work can be. It can be extraordinary,’ he says of starting out. ‘But then the work can’t always be extraordinary, because Martin is special. So I’ve had lots of ups and downs over the course of my career. But the point is to keep trying to do the good stuff. I’ve played a couple of pretty empathetic characters now in a row. So it’d be nice to come in with a bit more malevolent intent on a job. It’d be nice to come in and fuck shit up!’ When Hollywood Authentic suggests that the new Bond reboot could be looking for a baddie, he laughs. ‘Listen, I’m available to work…’

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

In the meantime, he’s finished work on season two of The Paper playing a US regional journalist on a local newspaper. ‘The second season is funnier than the first. I love doing comedy. But it’s just as heartfelt. And it still cares about journalism. That’s still in its bones.’ He enjoys switching acting disciplines he says, juggling film with TV and stage work. ‘Being front and centre of a film is very different to being front and centre on TV, to me – and it makes me greedy to do both. Theatre is like doing a movie every night because you tell the whole story every night, and to keep it fresh, and to keep it new for this new audience. You’re editing live, which is a completely different skill. I’m looking to do more theatre, it’s just about scheduling.’ 

Domhnall Gleeson, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog

He’s just finished shooting Bad Bridgets for Kneecap’s Rich Peppiatt which follows 19th century Irish immigrant sisters in New York and is hoping Night Boat To Tangier with Michael Fassbender will come to fruition, reteaming them after their work in Frank. ‘I haven’t worked with Michael in a long time, and I’d love it if it happened.’ But he’s aware that the film business is a capricious mistress. ‘I mean, if I held my breath, I’d be dead by now,’ he says. ‘Let’s see how that goes…’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Grooming by JERROD ROBERTS
Styling by WARREN ALFIE BAKER
Domhnall wears Zegna 
Watch by Cartier
Bucking Fastard premiered at the 83rd Venice Film Festival
Read our review here

JACK O’CONNELL

September 6, 2026

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink
venice dispatch ticket
Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

VENICE DISPATCH
Photographs GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

As his latest film, Ink, debuts in Venice to rave reviews the British actor talks to Hollywood Authentic about awards chatter and how acting expands his heart.

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

Having worked with Danny Boyle on both 28 Years Later films, Jack O’Connell considered the offer of playing ‘’60s editor of The Sun newspaper, Larry Lamb, in Ink for the director a ‘no-brainer’. ‘But it was quite early on in terms of the journey of the film being made, because Danny didn’t have the money yet,’ O’Connell tells us as the film opens the 83rd Venice Film Festival. ‘So then it became a case of: ‘Right, OK. We need to convince some financiers that this is worth parting with their cash’. He brought me and Guy Pearce in and we did some stuff on camera so that Danny could go and try and raise the funds. It took two-thirds of a year just to get the green light.’ 

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

That scrappy, entrepreneurial spirit is a match for the film itself; the story of Rupert Murdoch (Pearce) inviting Lamb (O’Connell) to reinvent a newspaper and tear up all the Fleet Street rules. ‘Yeah, a lot of parallels,’ O’Connell laughs. ‘But also I really value the importance of a free press, and its role within any proper democracy. I have a respect for it and I do like to read newspapers.’ For O’Connell, his perception of the hugely popular newspaper was negatively coloured by a ‘post-Hillsborough perspective’ [when the newspaper falsely reported Liverpool football fans behaviour at the fatal 1989 overcrowding disaster at Hillsborough] so his approach to the role and Lamb’s enthusiasm for it required a research deep dive. ‘I had to undo all of that pre-existing knowledge, and just consider this in its infancy, and who Larry Lamb is, who’s been appointed to grow it. I took myself off to the British Library. I went into their archives. I pulled out some microfiche of editions of The Sun when Larry first took over, and I looked at some prior to him being there. They’re unrecognisable. It was about honing in on that period and getting into Larry’s headspace. There’s a great line in Larry’s book where he said that he felt like he was cooking up the perfect newspaper in his head way before he met Rupert Murdoch. That was a real driver to me.’

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

West Yorkshire Lamb and Australian Murdoch were also working against a London-centric establishment and an ‘old boys network’, trying to get a foothold in an industry with a drawbridge mentality. ‘I do relate to it very personally, yes,’ O’Connell, who hails from Derby, admits. ‘Any class-based society is going to have that, you know? And we live in a class-based society. But Larry Lamb was given a knighthood, and he accepted it so I do think he was very seduced by that establishment. The same thing that he was tearing down to begin with, he leaps into bed with eventually. There was this underlying contradiction within him. And I love those roles. I think as an artist, you are fascinated with where people contradict themselves and inconsistencies.’

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

Lamb’s obsession with circulation numbers – always trying to best market leader, The Mirror – also had parallels with acting for O’Connell with film often being viewed through the lens of box office takings. ‘It’s figures, isn’t it? Ink feels like a real vehicle for exploring hyper-capitalism. All the journalists that we spoke to that worked there during that time were saying that these were times of plenty, and there was so much spare cash just floating around – which is impossible to imagine for us these days. But they were just rolling in it, and had all these resources. It was hyper capitalism, and they were obsessed with sales and the competition within that. I think that was a huge catalyst in perhaps where they allowed themselves to get carried away.’

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

O’Connell is currently experiencing a time of plenty himself, with a recent flurry of high-profile and critically acclaimed roles including award-winning Sinners, 28 Years Later parts 1 and 2, and his upcoming films Godzilla X Kong: Supernova, as well as A Quiet Place Part 3 which has just wrapped. For some audience members it might feel like O’Connell has finally arrived. For him, it’s part of a journey that’s been developing for years. ‘I got into this 20 years ago, and you grow. You get better with every job, and you get to learn by working with people you meet. And I love that about this job. You’re constantly developing, and you’re having your ideas challenged. You never stop evolving for every role. You’re expanding your heart. You’re exploring emotion. It’s such a joy and a pleasure to allow that to inform you.’

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

Part of the process has been the mentorship of other artists. ‘Look, to be able to collaborate in this job is the most wonderful thing – just meeting people from all over the world. Even being here promoting films, and getting to meet your heroes. When I was getting into it I was able to look up to these amazing figures. The people that I worked with on my first job – they were generous enough to share what they were good at. And I think there’s a slight responsibility there for me to do the same with people coming into the industry now.’

His busy upcoming slate is as a result of hard graft but there’s no masterplan, he says. ‘You’re trying to pull rabbits out of hats, you know?’ he laughs. ‘In order to excite yourself, and in order to excite others, it’s best to just keep challenging yourself. I like range. My last jobs, they’re all quite distinct. Moving forward, that’s the ethos, that’s exciting to me.’

Claire Foy, Danny Boyle, Guy Pearce, Jack O‘Connell, Ink

Ink’s debut at Venice has kicked off the awards conversation. Is this an important part of the process too? ‘Of course, man. More so from an industry perspective – where it takes you, and the places you get to go, and the people you get to meet. But when you’re working it’s not what you’re thinking about. You know, you end up on set at five in the morning in a fucking disused quarry, up to your ears in shite – it’s a long way away from a gondola in Venice, you know? They’re worlds apart. They’re very, very separate experiences. But it’s a joy. It’s amazing that we get to do it.’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Ink premiered at the 83rd Venice Film Festival
Read our review here

GUY PEARCE

September 4, 2026

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle
Ticket
Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

VENICE DISPATCH
Photographs GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

The Australian actor takes on Rupert Murdoch in Danny Boyle’s tabloid tale Ink, opening the Venice Film Festival. He tells Hollywood Authentic about reigning in the profanities and experiencing tabloid hounding with Jason and Kylie…

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

When Danny Boyle came to Guy Pearce to ask him to play media baron Rupert Murdoch in his adaptation of James Graham’s award winning play, the actor felt that he could understand some of the mentality of the notorious newspaper and studio magnate. ‘Obviously, look, I’m Australian,’ he tells Hollywood Authentic as he prepares to walk the red carpet for the film’s premiere in the Lido. ‘I’ve been brought up in a world that’s been aware of Rupert Murdoch for many, many years. He’s a fascinating character for me. I’ve never met him, and prior to doing the film I couldn’t really tell you that I understood who he is. I still probably couldn’t really say that I understand completely who he is. But him trying to crack the UK market… that, I get to a degree. As an Aussie actor, and having known lots of Aussie actors who all go to England and try to break there, it’s something I can relate to.’

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

Pearce could also relate to the product Murdoch created in 1969 in collaboration with editor Larry Lamb (Jack O’Connell); The Sun newspaper and the tabloid culture and circulation wars that followed. Having broken out in the ’80s while on Australian soap Neighbours he had witnessed first-hand some of the press hounding that came with fame. ‘I remember back in the ‘80s in London with Jason [Donovan] and Kylie [Minogue], and the journalists chasing us down the street. But I was really low down on the food chain, you know? I was one of a gang of 20 Neighbours cast where the Terry Wogans of the world would have us on their show, and go, ‘What is it about you Australians that make you think you can act?’ – where you really felt a bit reviled. But I was never a personal target. I never really felt the full force of a tabloid paper at my door, and after me.’

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

What Pearce felt was more relevant to building the characterisation of Murdoch was talking to former journalists and printers who had worked on Fleet Street during its evolution from failing broadsheet to bombastic ‘red top’. ‘Danny brought people in to talk to us during rehearsals, lots of journalists, ex-editors and ex-printers who would sit with us for two hours and go, ‘Wow, let me tell you about the floor in 1969: the drinking, the smoking, the shagging and the late nights and oh my God….’ Though he didn’t meet Murdoch as he prepped to play him, Pearce did chat to his daughter, Elizabeth, to suss out whether his instincts about the man were correct. ‘I felt that there was probably too much swearing from Rupert [in the script]. It’s a fairly common thing to just make Australian characters swear all the time. But when you look at interviews of Rupert from the era he’s a shy, fairly humble, slightly awkward character who has an irreverence about him, and is quite sharp and brilliant. But he’s not a typical Aussie yobbo who’s out there swearing, drinking. throwing things and rooting and fighting. I said to James, ‘I feel like I could play this character without relying on swearing’. And the beauty was that I got to talk to Rupert’s daughter and ask about her dad’s swearing. She said, ‘I don’t think I heard him swear once’. So I took out all the ‘fucks’ and added a ‘fair dinkum’.’

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

Director Boyle inspired Pearce to really explore the building of a surprising character instead of playing a trope we all think we know. ‘Danny’s a wonderfully buoyant, honest, creative and inspirational guy. It’s that energy that he brought to Trainspotting in making us look at a world that was seemingly gross and disgusting, and yet we all just leant forward and went, ‘I want more of this’. You can have a great script, and another director doesn’t quite give it the life that it felt on the page. And vice-versa; you can read a fairly dull script, and a director can bring it to life. But with this, when I watched the film I was jumping out of my chair by the end, going, ‘Wow! Yes! Oh my God! Wow!’ Danny’s energy will take you into that world, and make it exciting.’ And Pearce admits that having Bertie Carvel in the cast – who originated the role of Murdoch in the West End and Broadway – also kept him on his creative toes. ‘He’s such an exquisite actor. Of course, every day when he was there, and I’m playing Murdoch, I’m thinking, ‘Don’t watch what I’m doing. Don’t look. Oh, God’,’ he laughs.

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

As an actor who has taken on numerous roles that began life as books or plays, Pearce is clear that comparison of versions is futile as an artist. ‘Every time I thought about the play, or talked to one of the actors who was in the play, it felt a little bit like a distraction to me. When you do a film, and it’s based on source material it can be an absolute minefield to delve into that material. It can be wonderful, because you get all sorts of other nuances about a character that you might not fully get in a script, like with LA Confidential, for example. But I find the purity of a screenplay – and what it is I’m responding to in the first instance – is really vital to me.’

Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, Danny Boyle

That vitality is what he thinks has made Ink such a barnstorming opener. ‘The kudos and attitude – it feels historic and full of integrity and credibility,’ he says of the festival. And the relevant themes of the piece exploring public appetite for scandal and the increasing tabloid-ification of politics are what will keep audiences talking about it. ‘The sense of responsibility… we’re seeing things being torn down left, right, and centre. But you look back at The Sun, and it seems almost small fry and quaint now. Social media, AI, governments involved with surveillance…  you can see the connection. You could also ask the question: well, was it inevitable anyway? And it’s just that Rupert came along at a time? It’s such a big question, isn’t it, about where we are in the world today?’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Guy wears Brunello Cucinelli
Ink premiered at the 83rd Venice Film Festival. Read our review here

DIEGO CALVA

August 20, 2026

Babylon, Club Kid, Her Private Hell, I Promise You Anarchy

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

Actor Diego Calva tells Hollywood Authentic about the place of art in trauma, being an immigrant in movies and the silence in acting.

Although Mexican actor Diego Calva made an impression in his debut I Promise You Anarchy and TV hit Narcos: Mexico, his big break came as the lead in Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, playing an immigrant to 1920s Hollywood, trying to make his mark on the industry. It’s a feeling he’s familiar with. Since then, he’s built a body of work including On Swift Horses and season two of The Night Manager, but he likes to maintain an outlier status with his work. ‘I do belong to movies. Movies are my life,’ he nods over an espresso martini in the bar of the Martinez Hotel on the Cannes Croisette. ‘But I don’t want to belong too much to an industry; to feel like, “I’m part of this. I control it.” I like the idea of the immigrant, the foreigner who’s visiting this. Nobody owns a movie. The directors, the actors, the producers – we all do the movie. But then the movie is out, and it belongs to everyone. And everyone should be invited to this party called cinema.’ 

Babylon, Club Kid, Her Private Hell, I Promise You Anarchy

Calva arrived in Cannes this year with two movies that could certainly be defined as cinematic parties; Jordan Firstman’s hedonistic bittersweet feature, Club Kid, and Nicholas Winding Refn’s divisive, glitter-gorgeous mood piece, Her Private Hell. The ‘her’ of the title is nominally Sophie Thatcher’s Elle, a movie actor with daddy issues who is trapped making a sci-fi movie she loathes. Calva is Nico, a partying drug dealer and hook-up who provides respite. It’s a small but pivotal role in a movie that explores the private collective hell of women as a gender via neon-drenched, willfully artificial production design, a propulsive neo-noir score and primary-coloured key lights. Calva describes Winding Refn’s unique approach to finding the truth of performance. ‘He likes to play one song during the whole day. One song every day. We were listening to Suicide and Alan Vega, Iggy Pop. He asked me to just look at the lens, and listen to the song one, two, three, four times. And then he’ll say, “You did something with your eye. I like it. We have it.” And what I did… I don’t know. It’s like a mantra. And that’s amazing. Actors are horrible and sensitive, blah blah. But we want to deliver. We want to please. When someone is like, “Just be you” – whoa, we are in fucking trouble. But then he captures you.’

The 34 year-old is captured perhaps more closely to himself in Club Kid, which was given a rousing seven-minute standing ovation at its Cannes premiere. It follows Peter, a NY party promoter (played by writer/director Firstman) whose drugs/sex/dancing existence is challenged when he discovers he’s father to a young boy. Calva plays a child therapist who epitomises love and tenderness, his warmth extending to a fizzing chemistry with Peter. Calva saw the film for the first time in the same way the Cannes audience did. ‘I was in Los Angeles two weeks ago, and the producer called me, and said, “We want to do a screening for you, so you can see it before Cannes.” I said no. I wanted to see it here. It was my first time watching it, and it just felt really special. Because it’s very specific to this universe of New York, drugs, parties. But it’s also really universal. I love when I do a project that I can show my grandmother, my mum, my junkie friends… and they’re all going to like it!’ 

This was also his first time attending Cannes, which as a single-parent kid from Mexico City who found solace in cinema, feels like a personal and professional achievement. ‘Being in Cannes for me is really emotional. I was at the party last night, and I called my mom. It was 4am in the morning, but it was 3pm in Mexico. I cried, and I said, “Mom, I’m here.” I decided to dedicate my life to movies. Movies saved my life so many times. Now I’m here.’

Babylon, Club Kid, Her Private Hell, I Promise You Anarchy

He [Nicholas Winding Refn] likes to play one song during the whole day. One song every day. We were listening to Suicide and Alan Vega, Iggy Pop. He asked me to just look at the lens, and listen to the song one, two, three, four times. And then he’ll say, ‘You did something with your eye. I like it. We have it’

His Club Kid writer/director/co-star Jordan Firstman has been equally moved by his experience. He went viral at the premiere by kissing Calva post-credits in a euphoric moment. Calva laughs at the notion that it was wish fulfillment for audience members who’d been so taken with their onscreen relationship, which crackles with want and love. It’s the sort of chemistry that is hard to find. ‘The relationship of a director and an actor is a first date, your first impression,’ he shrugs. ‘Jordan got so open with me. He really told me stories about his life, and why he wanted to do this movie. He told me something really cool: “I’m still learning how to be alive.” I love the idea that this movie is a coming of age for a 30-year-old adolescent. When someone is open, and so excited, and has something to say… that’s what all actors want. We really want to be part of someone’s dream – not someone’s job.’ So what did the duo discuss on their first ‘date’? Calva smiles. ‘I told him stories about my childhood, living in Mexico City, getting into some situations – I used to be a skateboarder, and I had a record label. And how movies saved my life. You talk about all these things in the first two hours of meeting someone on Zoom, then when I met Jordan in person, he kind of had already built the relationship. When you’re working with someone who has so much love; you want to be part of it. And the chemistry… What is chemistry? First of all, how do you define that?’

When he’s asked to define it, he sips his drink and thinks. ‘Acting is more about silence than talking. Now, I’m talking. This is easy. But being silent… It’s all about the passion of the untold. It’s all about the silence. With Jordan, the silence was so easy. Sometimes, when you act, when you have to cry in a scene, and you’re able to just remember your character’s life, not your own… That’s what I was thinking about in this movie – not acting.’ The movie has the same effect on viewers; though it’s gloriously snarky and funny, the heart is real. At the premiere, tears were flowing amid the fisting gags and vomit scenes. ‘We all have trauma, right?’ Calva says. ‘And trauma is like a hole. We are always trying to fill that hole. What if we realise that that hole makes us more… light. You know? It takes a weight out of us. And also, we can have a party there. That’s Club Kid. It’s a party in the hole of trauma.’

Despite rumours that he is playing Che Guevara in an upcoming project, he’s not – though he looks just like him. ‘I would love to play Che Guevara – but in a vampire movie. America is the humans. Cuba is the vampires. And we’re conquering the world.’ He is appearing in Danny Ramirez’s football film, Baton, alongside recent Hollywood Authentic subject, Lewis Pullman. ‘I admire Danny so much because as a Latino in Hollywood, he is building a career, and now he is directing and acting and producing. And he invited me to play his best friend in the movie. I play a completely weird character. I’ve never played something like that. I’ve been the lead in a movie, right? But I love supporting characters. I love to be part of the universe, and make other people shine in a way that you have more room. For me, the lesson is: Alfred Molina in Boogie Nights – one scene, and you will remember that scene forever. I want to do things like that.’ 

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER
Her Private Hell is in cinemas 25 Sept
Club Kid will release TBA 

hollywood authentic, greg williams, hollywood authentic magazine

HIMESH PATEL

August 20, 2026

Tenet, The Aeronauts, The Assessment, The Odyssey, Yesterday
Tenet, The Aeronauts, The Assessment, The Odyssey, Yesterday

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS

Actor Himesh Patel tells Hollywood Authentic about his love of routine, ‘Blimey O’Reilly’ and his camera.

How important is a little bit of nonsense now and then to you?
Very important. As a father of two children, nonsense is a valuable distraction technique.

What, if anything, makes you believe in magic?
Sometimes there are coincidences in life that feel too impossible to be purely coincidences.

What was your last act of true cowardice?
Oh god. Bear with me…let me just call my therapist…

What single thing do you miss most when you’re away from home?
Apart from my children and wife, the benefits of having a routine. 

Do you have any odd habits or rituals?
I use a lot of very British turns of phrase in an unironic way. ‘Blimey O’Riley’, ‘Flippin ‘eck Tucker’, ‘Deary me’, ‘nincompoop’.

What is your mantra?
Be kind.

What is your party trick?
My party trick is not having a party trick. It isn’t very popular.

What is your favourite smell?
My mother’s cooking.

What do you always carry with you?
I try to carry a camera with me that’s not my phone. Lately a Fuji GA645 medium-format film camera.

What is your guilty pleasure?
Food that’s not good for you. Sweet pastries of late.

Who is the silliest person you know?
My best mate Tom, who I’ve known for 25 years.
I can always rely on him to get me out of a funk with something utterly stupid.

What would be your least favourite way to die?
In any way that wouldn’t leave me time to say goodbye to my loved ones.

What’s your idea of heaven?
A peaceful sunny week by the sea, with my family and my closest friends, just listening to great music, eating great food, laughing, watching movies, playing board games. Just soaking in the very best ways to be alive.

British actor Himesh Patel rose to prominence playing Tamwar in EastEnders before switching to the big screen with Yesterday. He went on to impress in The Aeronauts, Station Eleven, Tenet, Enola Holmes 2 and 3, Don’t Look Up and The Assessment. He recently reunited with Christopher Nolan for The Odyssey and has just wrapped on filming Ryan Coogler’s reboot of The X-Files.

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.’

LESLIE MANN

August 14, 2026

George of the Jungle, Poetic License, Spa Weekend, This is 40

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER

Actor Leslie Mann joins Greg Williams for a cocktail in Claridges as they discuss family and funnies.

George of the Jungle, Poetic License, Spa Weekend, This is 40

The saying goes that only mad dogs and Englishmen stay out in the midday sun. Which is why Leslie Mann and I are meeting in the cool calm of Claridges during an unseasonable British heatwave, escaping the 34-degree lunchtime temperatures in Mayfair. Summer in London may be undependable weather-wise, but the cocktails in the hotel’s Painter’s Room are reassuringly consistent. Barman Nico is going to teach us how to make one of Leslie’s favourite tipples – her ‘go-to when going out’, an espresso martini.

‘We come to London every summer, usually to go to Glastonbury and to visit friends,’ the actor tells me as we get behind the bar. She and husband, Judd Apatow, have an apartment in the capital to continue Leslie’s love affair with England that began when she was a girl. ‘I came here the first time when I was 12 years old with my mother, who was going through a divorce, and we stayed in Rye in East Sussex in a haunted, tiny, little house. I just kind of fell in love with it, and have been coming back ever since.’ Californian born and bred, Leslie began life in San Francisco, before growing up in Newport Beach with her mother. As Nico and Leslie begin building their cocktails, shaking them and then decorating the foam heads with coffee beans, Leslie recalls a memory of her children, actors Maude and Iris Apatow. ‘I used to make oatmeal for my kids, and I would make raisin smiley faces on it,’ she laughs. ‘I wonder if they remember.’

I ask about her childhood and whether the proximity to Hollywood from Newport Beach made acting seem more achievable to her. ‘No. It was just a beach town, and I didn’t know anything about, or know anyone in, the movie business. I had a friend who was a photographer, and he said, “I’ll take some photos of you. And I want to introduce you to this commercial agent” – a friend of his. He brought me up to Los Angeles, and that’s kind of how it started. But I didn’t have any connections to the movie business before.’ She began taking acting classes and getting independent film roles. ‘I was painfully shy as a kid, and very uncomfortable in my own skin. But when I was acting, I could be someone else, which I loved.’ 

George of the Jungle, Poetic License, Spa Weekend, This is 40
George of the Jungle, Poetic License, Spa Weekend, This is 40

I was painfully shy as a kid, and very uncomfortable in my own skin. But when I was acting, I could be someone else, which I loved

After two years, the movie that really kicked off her career in a meaningful way was The Cable Guy with Jim Carrey – and also where she first met Apatow. After that came George of the Jungle, a movie beloved by so many families, including my own. ‘I love when people come up to me and say that they grew up watching that movie,’ she smiles. ‘It makes me so happy. I was in love with Brendan Fraser at the time and I was dating Judd. So I remember just having so much fun. Every morning in the makeup trailer, I used to say hello to Brendan, and we would give each other a mwah – a kiss. And then one day, I took a big bite of oatmeal, and kind of licked my lips with the oatmeal gooey goop stuff. We gave each other a little kiss, and it was gross and sticky. And he never kissed me again after that. That was it.’ She laughs. ‘There was a lot of physical comedy that was fun. Remember the lion scene? That was a real lion. It was only 5ft away, and it didn’t have a leash or anything. I guess this was before they had “protect the actor” rules. I just trusted that they knew what they were doing. But it’s a lion, and it could have just had me for lunch!’

George of the Jungle, Poetic License, Spa Weekend, This is 40

As we sip our martinis, I ask Leslie what her proudest moment from her career is. ‘Working with my daughter, Maude, and watching her direct for the first time. I was really nervous at first because I didn’t know what she would be like as a director… she could’ve been a real tyrant screaming at everyone all day long. She had total control over me as an employee. Luckily for me she was the best director I’ve ever worked with – nurturing, smart, capable and fun. Proudest moment by far.’

Leslie is obviously well known for working well with her spouse, most notably playing a disastrous date in The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Debbie (married to Paul Rudd’s Pete) in both Knocked Up and This is 40 (the latter both being somewhat autobiographical). I wonder if the duo go through life recognising moments that might make great comedies. ‘We used to. But it’s been a while. A lot of the stories from Knocked Up were stolen from our life. Like the birth of the baby, and the doctor not showing up – I’m still mad about that,’ she laughs. ‘What a dick! Judd and I went to see the doctor because I thought my water had broken. He examined me, and he said, “No, your water didn’t break. You can go home.” So I did, confused, and then I went into full-on labour that night, and he was gone. So he sent me home because he had to catch a flight. That part wasn’t in the movie. But a lot of other things from our life were in that movie, and on This is 40, also. And from Paul Rudd’s life.’

George of the Jungle, Poetic License, Spa Weekend, This is 40

There was a lot of physical comedy [in George of the Jungle] that was fun. Remember the lion scene? That was a real lion. It was only 5ft away, and it didn’t have a leash or anything. I guess this was before they had ‘protect the actor’ rules. I just trusted that they knew what they were doing. But it’s a lion, and it could have just had me for lunch!

Not taken from her real life, her latest role in Spa Weekend, a comedy from the makers of The Hangover following a group of friends (Mann, Anna Faris, Michelle Buteau) on a relaxing weekend when their most annoying mate (Isla Fisher) drops by – and chaos ensues. ‘I think it’ll be a great movie to go see with your girlfriends,’ she says, calling her castmates ‘super funny’.  ‘We shot on the Gold Coast of Australia. It was a blast. I think it shows in the movie if it isn’t fun.’ Fisher’s chaotic character brings much booze-fuelled bad behaviour to the party but that wasn’t part of the real-life hijinks – though she tells me she nearly blinded herself once by accidentally popping a champagne cork directly in her eye ‘like one-eyed Willie’. 

George of the Jungle, Poetic License, Spa Weekend, This is 40

A lot of the stories from Knocked Up were stolen from our life. Like the birth of the baby, and the doctor not showing up – I’m still mad about that

Mann’s next film, Poetic License, has more familial ties: she leads a comedy about a woman who audits a college poetry class and becomes the focus for two Gen Z friends (Cooper Hoffman and Andrew Barth Feldman), directed by her first-born – Euphoria star Maude Apatow. The film premiered at TIFF last year and Maude is now developing new projects as a producer as well as director. Quite the proud moment for the actor who used to put raisin smiley faces on her morning oatmeal. The coffee-bean smiley face on my Leslie-made espresso martini is now at the bottom of my glass and our respite from the heat is over. Leslie returns to the sunshine to enjoy her summer in London…

George of the Jungle, Poetic License, Spa Weekend, This is 40

Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS
As told to JANE CROWTHER
Styling by JENNY KENNEDY
Make up by FLORRIE WHITE
Hair by LEIGH KEATES
Spa Weekend is in cinemas 21 August
Poetic License is in cinemas in October
Thanks to Claridges, London

hollywood authentic, greg williams, hollywood authentic magazine

EVE HEWSON

June 12, 2026

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by GREG WILLIAMS/JANE CROWTHER

Starring as a former novice nun in Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, Eve Hewson tells Hollywood Authentic about her belief system for negotiating acting and fame as she takes a London stroll.

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

Before she begins two days of UK press for Disclosure Day I meet Eve Hewson at the Corinthia Hotel in London on a blustery day in early June. Like her character in Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated latest foray into sci-fi, we are looking to the skies – the British weather is being particularly erratic for our planned stroll over Westminster Bridge to take in one of my favourite views of the capital. In the movie, the Dublin-born actor plays Jane, an ex-novitiate who is caught up in a dangerous race against time when her boyfriend Daniel (Josh O’Connor) steals whistleblower evidence of UAPs and ETs from his top-secret work with the intention of collaborating with fellow defector Hugo (Colman Domingo) to expose the truth to the world. ‘I think the sun’s going to come out,’ Eve says as we pull up outside Big Ben. ‘God is on our side.’

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

It’s appropriate that she should evoke a higher power given that she plays a religious character wrestling with the theological impact of understanding there may be life outside of humanity in Spielberg’s film. ‘My character asks the more religious questions. What does that mean for faith if aliens, or UAPs, really do exist – what does that mean for religion? What does that mean for God? What does that mean for everything we’ve been told to believe about how the world began?’ Despite its big questions, Disclosure Day is a true Spielberg film, loaded with action, wonder and empathy. It’s a blockbuster event movie, and a huge achievement to add to any actor’s resume. 

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

For the 35-year-old, it’s the second time she’s worked with the legendary filmmaker. ‘I worked with him at the beginning of my career on Bridge of Spies when I was 22 and terrified,’ she says as we walk across Westminster Bridge, dodging tourists and London swag sellers. She recounts how their latest project came to her on a ‘random Wednesday’, with her agent asking her to Zoom with the storied director. ‘I Zoomed with him, and then he sent me the script, which was hand-delivered – very old-school Hollywood. You feel like you’re in some sort of secret society.

After I read the script I spoke with him again, and pitched him my ideas. And then I had to wait. He was like, “I’m not going to torture you over this, but I’m speaking to other people. I’ll let you know by the end of the week.” I got violently ill from the anxiety, because I just wanted it really badly. I puked a few times, which happens to me when I really care about something.’ Spielberg kept his word and told her he wanted her to co-lead the movie alongside Emily Blunt (as a TV weather reporter with a secret past), O’Connor, Domingo and Colin Firth, as a shadowy government consultant. Firth and Eve share a number of tense scenes that required incredible focus from her, not least because she had a particularly special audience while shooting.

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

‘I always keep the storyline of anything I’m doing secret from friends and family, because it’s more fun for me, and for them when they see it. But that was hard to do the day when Obama came to set, because I had the most bizarre day of my life doing that scene with Colin. It was so complicated and genuinely quite daunting as an actor. And then Obama was there. I did text my family at the end of the day, and say, ‘I can’t explain to you why this was the weirdest day of my life, but I can’t wait for you to see the movie because I get to say, “That was a scene that the former leader of the free world came to visit.”’

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

Though she’d worked with Spielberg previously, Eve admits to still being ‘terrified’ for round two. ‘This was a huge responsibility and a big role – I wanted to do it well, and I wanted to make him proud. Every day, you just had to come in and give 150 per cent. It was just about stepping up, and taking on those responsibilities, and making sure that you aren’t shit.’ How has she changed as an actor in the time between Bridge of Spies and Disclosure Day? ‘The first time I worked with him, I was just learning what a set was, and what cameras were. It was maybe my third or fourth job. I was very new. When it came to Disclosure Day it was just a completely different experience.’

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

As we look over towards the Houses of Parliament, Eve tells me about living in London for three years during the pandemic when she and her friends would walk the streets with a hot toddy and look at the city, what she terms ‘whiskey walks’. Then she landed her role in hit TV show Bad Sisters and stayed longer. ‘And then I moved to LA. I went to the dark side. I didn’t love LA.’ She returned to Dublin where her parents, musician Bono and activist Ali Hewson, are based. She’s said in the past that as a younger artist, LA had been tough to negotiate with all the rejection inherent in acting, driving past billboards of projects she didn’t get. ‘Now I’m on them,’ she chuckles, having moved back to Los Angeles. She remains level-headed thanks to a strong group of friends, many of whom are not in the business. ‘I’m a friend kind of chick. My friends mean a lot to me. I’ve had the same friends since I was four years old. Some of them are artists, but a lot of them are social workers, lawyers, working in finance – just not Hollywood people.’

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

It’s a balance between the business and real life that she’s always had growing up with a dad in U2. ‘It was a weird, strange, Hannah Montana version of my childhood, where we lived in Dublin, I got the train to school every day, I went to a normal school. And then two or three months out of the year, we would go off on tour with my dad, and live this insane rock-star existence. Which is great, because it’s actually quite similar to being an actor. You have your normal life, and then you go away, and you have this otherworldly experience with people. And then you come home, you know?’ She can, she says, ‘smell the bullshit easier’ because of it. ‘The “Bad Sisters” [Sarah Greene, Sharon Horgan, Eva Birthistle and Anne-Marie Duff] call me their cunt compass,’ she laughs. ‘We’re in a group chat that has a foul name, and we all are in there every day still catching up with each other, and telling each other our deepest, darkest secrets.’

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

Like many artists I talk to, Eve says she’s ‘a huge introvert, an introverted extrovert’. ‘I was super-shy when I was a kid, and I used to not say anything. I would sit in the corner, and suck my thumb, put my hood up. As a little kid I cut off my hair, and I made everybody call me Elliott from E.T., which is so on brand. One time, I was brought to meet President Clinton and Hillary Clinton, and apparently I got under the table, and just started growling. I was that shy. And then Hillary got on all fours, and she was all, “Come out, little Eve. Come out.” And I was like, “Rarhhhhh!”  I was an interesting kid.’ Acting was an escape because she could disappear. ‘You get to pretend to be somebody else, but you also get to express yourself completely. But it’s like you’re wearing a mask. It’s a safe space. It’s a role play.’ 

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

These days she says her ambition is to be in bed by dusk. ‘I could go to bed at like 6pm. Me and my cat, Luna, a little bit of Bravo – that’s my jam.’ Professionally, she’d like to play a vampire, a Hollywood agent, explore comedy and work with Paul Thomas Anderson. ‘If I’ve already done Spielberg – he is my number one. In my first year of college at NYU, I was mad about Paul Thomas Anderson, and I wrote my final paper on him, and handed it to my professor. I was going to meet some friends at the Greenwich Hotel. I came from my professor’s office, and I walked up to the Greenwich Hotel, and who opened the door for me? Paul Thomas Anderson. It was an incredible moment. He doesn’t remember it, but it was like a beautiful sort of nod from the universe that maybe one day I’ll work with him.’ I ask if she believes in nods from the universe?

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

‘I do. You have to. It makes life a lot more fun, you know? When I worked with Spielberg at the beginning of my career, that was like a nod from him, from the God of the movie universe. Then the fact that I’ve come back around full circle at this point of my career, and I’m working with him on this big movie on this big part – it’s the most beautiful story. I like to believe that the parts that I’m getting are the parts that are meant to be. It’s a nice philosophy to have, to be able to survive, otherwise you would be tearing yourself apart with all of the rejection and the close calls. What’s meant for me will find me. And what’s for you won’t pass you by.’

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

I like to believe that the parts that I’m getting are the parts that are meant to be. It’s a nice philosophy to have, to be able to survive, otherwise you would be tearing yourself apart with all of the rejection and the close calls. What’s meant for me will find me. And what’s for you, won’t pass you by

Not passing her by; Plan B film Isle of Man, which she’s currently filming and learning to ride a motorbike for alongside Channing Tatum; and playing a mother of four in Lenny Abrahamson’s Dublin-set period drama, Hillside Drive. ‘Lenny is just such a talent, and I’m so blessed that he asked me to be in this film, it’s a really exceptional role and I think we made something very special.

Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Emily Blunt, Eve Hewson, Josh O'Connor

Having shot on the bridge, we hurry back to the car to get Eve back to her junket and press responsibilities. ‘All my dreams have come true,’ she smiles, pushing her wind-whipped hair back in place. ‘Being in my underwear in public – it’s my favourite thing!’ It’s also something that might become increasingly difficult to do when Disclosure Day releases and she becomes even more recognisable. ‘I get people recognising me quite a bit, but they’re nice, because they’re fans of something that I’ve done. I haven’t been mauled. I haven’t had it being too much of an invasion of my life. I can still do all the things that I want to do. I never really think ahead in those terms.’ We drive back to the hotel, where she loses a shoe getting out of the car, like a modern Cinderella. ‘Fashion emergency!’ she jokes and leans back in the car before disappearing into the lobby. ‘That was really fast and iconic,’ she says. ‘Fast and iconic. There she is…’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by GREG WILLIAMS/JANE CROWTHER
Hair by HALLEY BRISKER
Make-up by ALEX BABSKY
Styling by KARLA WELCH
Disclosure Day is in cinemas now

BENOÎT MAGIMEL

May 28, 2026

Bastien Bouillon, Hafsia Herzi, Tawba El Gharchi, The Birthday Party
Cannes Dispatch festival ticket
Bastien Bouillon, Hafsia Herzi, Tawba El Gharchi, The Birthday Party

CANNES DISPATCH
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Words by JANE CROWTHER

‘He’s someone who is a really nasty guy,’ French actor Benoît Magimel admits of his latest character in Léa Mysius’ The Birthday Party (Histoires de la Nuit) which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival last week – earning a 12-minute ovation in the Grand Théâtre Lumière. Greg Williams shot the actor at his hotel before he walked the rouge carpet. Magimel plays Franck, a disgruntled dad who disrupts a surprise birthday party in the home invasion thriller based on Laurent Mauvignier’s bestselling novel. 

Bastien Bouillon, Hafsia Herzi, Tawba El Gharchi, The Birthday Party

‘The character to begin with was very brutal, very tough,’ Magimel told assembled journalists at the film’s press conference. ‘I thought there should be contradictions, more nuances. Then he came back with another version that was absolutely perfect, magical.’ Not so magical for the family living in remote marshland who get a visit from Franck and his friends. Thomas (Bastien Bouillon), his wife Nora (Hafsia Herzi) and her daughter Ida (Tawba El Gharchi) plus Monica Bellucci’s neighbour, find their rural idyll shattered by Franck, by turns charming and violent. 

The cast and crew filmed the project over 31 sweltering days during a heatwave in Bellac and the oppressive temperature and claustrophobia is tangible for audiences. Magimel said that his inspiration for his performance was Henry Fonda and reviews praised the singular menace he brought to proceedings.

Bastien Bouillon, Hafsia Herzi, Tawba El Gharchi, The Birthday Party

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Words by JANE CROWTHER
Benoît wears sunglasses by Jacques Marie Mage
The Birthday Party premiered at the 79th Cannes Film Festival

TOM STURRIDGE

May 25, 2026

Rami Malek, Luther Ford, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall
Cannes Dispatch festival ticket
Rami Malek, Luther Ford, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall

CANNES DISPATCH
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER

When Greg Williams photographs Tom Sturridge in his Cannes hotel suite just before he walks the red carpet for the premiere of his latest project, Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love, he admits to feeling a little nervous. Not because this is his first time at Cannes but because he would be seeing his film for the first time in the Lumiere Theatre at the Palais. There’s a certain trepidation in that, watching your work with an audience, both discovering it for the first time. ‘The thing that was most special was the room itself – the warmth,’ Sturridge says when Hollywood Authentic catches up with him a few days later. The film received an eight-minute standing ovation and was subject to rapturous reviews. ‘I’ve done that room a couple of times, and it was the most love I’ve ever felt for a film – in my experience. I do prefer, in general, not to watch, but I think when you’re in competition in Cannes, it’s kind of rude not to.’ In Sachs’ period piece, he plays Dennis, the partner of HIV-positive actor Jimmy George (Rami Malek) in Reagan-era New York. As Jimmy voraciously devours life in order to stave off death, Dennis quietly and gently cares for him, ensuring he takes his meds, bathing him, forgiving him. It’s a study of a relationship that lives between the words, Sturridge conveying a long romance through tender glance and touch. 

Rami Malek, Luther Ford, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall

‘My role in it aside, it’s a special piece of work,’ the British actor says bashfully, still discovering how to discuss the film having only just seen it. ‘I think it’s beautiful. What surprised me the most was how it allowed you into that world, that time of New York in 1989, and was so absorbing, tangible.’ He recalls seeing a key scene with Jimmy walking through a club, encountering different characters and essentially a lost world. ‘I became overwhelmingly moved by these extraordinary humans who were the coolest, cleverest, most creative, most brave… And just knowing that we lost so many of them, those humans, just dancing in the club.’ 

The film is low-key in its period styling, specific in tone. Achieved, Sturridge says, from Sachs’ methodology as the cast began preparing. ‘It began with his personal stories. He shared with all of us his recollections of when he first moved to New York. And then, beyond that, he would very organically send pieces of cinema, literature, documentaries, images or weird clips on YouTube. He would make us watch a lot of films that had no literal connection to our story. It was films by Chantal Akerman, Maurice Pialat and Cassavetes, which were much more about trying to suggest a kind of cinematic grammar that he was aiming for. That was profoundly helpful in accessing the sort of truth that he was looking for, in a surprising way, because it wasn’t through an obvious lens.’

Rami Malek, Luther Ford, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall

He namechecks books Borrowed Time by Paul Monette and Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran, as well as documentary How to Survive a Plague by David France, all of which were useful in his pre-production prep. But essential to creating the specific vibe of the project was the trust developed between director and cast. ‘An actor’s relationship with a director is always about trust. Ira is someone who doesn’t like to talk much – or really at all – about the text of the script, or the character. When you’re doing lighting setups before you’re shooting a scene – it’s very normal for actors to run the scene. Ira is allergic to hearing his lines spoken before the camera is rolling. He very much wants everything to be discovered in the moment. That requires a profound amount of faith.’ That faith goes both ways. Without traditional rehearsal time, Sachs had to trust his actors to deliver. ‘Absolutely. This was very much an independent film. We did not have months and months to shoot. If he didn’t get what he wanted; if something magical didn’t happen in those eight minutes, then he was going to be in trouble. But weirdly, it releases a lot of freedom. Feeling the faith from him was very liberating. But most specifically, I knew that I would never leave the scene without him getting what he wanted. Despite all of the ephemeral preparation, and not knowing what you were going to do in the moment – he’s very rigorous and precise once the camera is rolling about getting what he wants. So the combination of that rigour and that freedom was intoxicating.’

Rami Malek, Luther Ford, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall

In order to create a tangible sense of a lived-in relationship with Malek Sturridge connected with the actor beforehand to find an intimacy that translated onscreen. ‘We met a few months before we started shooting, not really talking about the project itself, but just being aware that when you’re portraying people who have loved each other for many years, there is a level of intimacy that you can’t really conjure in the moment. We do have to have an idea of how we’re going to physically communicate with each other. We just spent a lot of time together learning how our bodies work, and move, and finding a kind of physical language.’ The result is an unspoken connection, one that is incredibly evident in a moving scene in which Dennis lovingly bathes Jimmy in a tub. No words are spoken but feelings and stories are told in each gentle caress. ‘I think a performance always sounds stupid when spoken about,’ Sturridge says. ‘But we shot that scene towards the end of the shoot. Whatever subliminal work we’d done up to that point, was allowed to be articulated. Ira put the camera in the room, closed the door, and left us for a long, long, long time. There’s certainly a version of that scene that’s about three hours long.’

Rami Malek, Luther Ford, Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall

Like The Man I Love, Sturridge is drawn to projects by their directors and his next two gigs are dream jobs. He has a small role in Mia Hansen-Løve’s If Love Should Die (shooting soon) and worked with Dustin Hoffman on The Revisionist. ‘I think [Hansen-Løve] is one of the greatest filmmakers of any generation, let alone her own. I was fortunate enough to meet her a couple of years ago, and I just basically said, ‘I will make the coffee for you’.’ Working with Hoffman was an education he says as a fan of his career, particularly The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy. ‘He has gifted the world some of the most extraordinary cinematic performances ever. When you have the chance to be in a chamber piece and play the violin with the greatest violinist, it’s too bizarre an opportunity to pass up. He’s someone who just has absolute freedom in the way he performs. He’ll do the scene as written, and then he’ll do the scene absolutely as not written, and then he’ll do the scene in German, and then he’ll do the scene as a lion. He has endless imagination. He’s constantly testing you and pushing you, and trying to drag you into a reality, rather than sitting in the page. For someone of his maturity it’s extraordinarily alive – far beyond anyone I have ever worked with. He’s just constantly filled with ideas and effervescent life.’ So is Sturridge’s goal to be as curious as Hoffman while still working in his eighties? ‘Yeah, absolutely. I still want to care the way he does. He could easily just be putting his feet up now, but he doesn’t want to. Not in a dissimilar way to the story of our film – he needs to create to live.’

Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Styling by ROSE FORDE
Grooming by ALEXIS DAY
The Man I Love premiered at the 79th Cannes Film Festival