FIVE STAR TURNS

INTIMACY 2001

This early film role casts Rylance as Jay, a musician meeting Claire (Kerry Fox) for sex. “I found the making of the film and the subsequent publicity and personal attacks very, very painful,” Rylance said.

WOLF HALL (TV) 2015

Rylance became a household name with his leading role as Thomas Cromwell in the Beeb’s lavish adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novels. He describes the Henry VIII advisor as “a pragmatist and a survivor”.

BRIDGE OF SPIES 2015

Playing Soviet spy Rudolf Abel for Spielberg earned Rylance Oscar and BAFTA film awards to go with the Oliviers and Tonys. “It’s a very dangerous and lonely thing, I imagine, to be a spy,” says Rylance.

THE BFG 2016

Rylance’s second Spielberg film saw him donning mo-cap gear to speak gobblefunk as Roald Dahl’s friendly giant, describing the tech-heavy process as “closer to making a stage play than a traditional film”.

DUNKIRK 2017

Rylance is the stoic heart of Nolan’s WW2 film, as a steadfast dad sailing across the Channel to aid the evacuation. “It wasn’t hard to believe that Spitfires were flying over us, because they were,’ he recalls.