Worth the wait
ACTOR Jack Bannon was rejected from drama school twice but the Norwich, England native never gave up. “I think if I’d gotten into drama school I would’ve said this is easy, this is fun, and wouldn’t have worked as hard as I ended up working to find the right agent, to save the money to get headshots, to email everyone, to put myself out there,” he says in an interview with Tribune News Service. “It gave me an impetus to go and be tenacious and not take ‘no’ for an answer again.” The 29-year-old has the last laugh now, as he landed the lead role on Pennyworth – a 10-episode series chronicling the life of Batman’s butler and father figure Alfred Pennyworth. It opens with the life of a young Alfred, who was formerly a British special forces soldier now working as a bouncer at a London club. With dreams of establishing his own security firm one day, he crosses paths with Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane, the future parents of Bruce Wayne/batman. Bannon talks to WWD about stepping into a role once played by acting heavyweights like Michael Caine and Jeremy Iron: “There have been so many brilliant interpretations, so the way I dealt with it – because it’s a daunting list of names – was that they’re following me more than I’m following them, because in the story, I’m first. Which is a bit silly because, of course, they’ve done it and they’re much better actors than I am.” – Kenneth Chaw
Pennyworth airs every Monday at 9pm on Warner TV (Astro Ch 712/unifi TV Ch 451).